No. 10 Florida State baseball (19-5, 5-1) looks to win its third-straight ACC weekend series against Duke (17-10, 4-5). Friday night’s game will be a “white out” with the Marching Chiefs in the stands. Saturday’s matchup against the Blue Devils is also already sold out. Last season, Florida State walked off Wake Forest, 5-4, with the Marching Chiefs in attendance.
Last time out, the Seminoles were shut out by Florida, 5-0, in Jacksonville, which clinched a series loss to the Gators for the second straight year. Once again, the Achilles’ heel of this FSU team surfaced at the worst time, with horrible at-bats and even worse defense showing up throughout the game. The Noles punched out 16 times and committed two errors, putting up a sloppy effort before the bullpen finally gave in. As this season goes on, it is evident Link Jarrett’s squad is still growing into itself.
Turning the attention to this weekend, as mentioned, Florida State aims to win its third-straight in conference series to begin its ACC slate. After two decent starts from Wes Mendes and Trey Beard, but not their best, it will be interesting to note how they respond to their first bout of adversity. On the offensive side, it is another massive weekend for the bottom of the lineup as FSU’s rotational players jockey for playing time and trust. With a few position players getting closer to a return from injury, the battles for at-bats are ramping up.
Switching the attention to Duke, the Blue Devils are in year one of the Corey Muscara era after former head coach Chris Pollard took the Virginia job last offseason. As expected, there was turnover across the Blue Devil roster, with Pollard taking some of his best players with him and Muscara bringing in his own people. Duke is coming off a series loss to Virginia Tech last weekend, but mounted a comeback to beat East Carolina during its midweek matchup on Tuesday.
Friday, March 27th, 6:00 PM vs. Duke
- Pitching matchup: Neither team announced starters
- How to watch: ACCNX
- How to listen: WFLA 100.7 FM
Saturday, March 28th, 2:00 PM vs. Duke
- Pitching matchup: Neither team announced starters
- How to watch: ACCNX
- How to listen: WFLA 100.7 FM
Sunday, March 29th, 1:00 PM vs. Duke
- Pitching matchup: Neither team announced starters
- How to watch: ACCNX
- How to listen: WFLA 100.7 FM
Blue Devils hitters to know:
- Jr. CF RJ Hamilton: Slashing .298/.423/.488, tied for the team lead with 18 RBI…Transfer from Vanderbilt after playing sparingly with the ‘Dores.
- Gr. DH Kaden Smith: Slashing .327/.418/.709 in 15 games…Transfer from Charleston Southern, named Big South All-Second team.
- Jr. SS Jake Lambdin: Slashing .267/.386/.552 while playing in all 27 games for Duke so far…Transfer from Xavier.
