The Florida State baseball team swept The Citadel over the weekend at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium, winning all three games of the series to improve to 8-2 on the season. Saturday’s doubleheader produced a 6-2 win and a 2-1 ten-inning walk-off, and Sunday’s series finale was a 2-0 shutout that was every bit as clean on the mound as it was frustrating at the plate. The Noles are winning. The pitching is starting to take shape. But the offense? Well, that conversation is getting louder. It’s still early in the season, but better competition is looming and the Noles need to work out the inconsistency sooner than later.
Game One: Mendes Deals, Offense Erupts in the Sixth
The opener was a pitcher’s duel through four innings before things got a little sloppy, and then a whole lot better for FSU.
Wes Mendes was sharp from the jump, finishing with six innings of work, allowing just two runs (one earned) on three hits with four strikeouts. He’s now 3-0 on the season and has looked every bit the part of a Friday night arm. John Abraham came on in relief and was absolutely dominant with three perfect innings, three strikeouts, and a save to close it out. Combined, the FSU pitching staff allowed just one earned run on three hits. Mendes and Abraham have become a nice one-two punch. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that even against a Citadel starter who walked three, hit two batters, and threw two wild pitches, the Noles went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Citadel struck first in the fifth on a pair of FSU errors and scored two unearned runs to take a 2-0 lead. FSU answered in the bottom half when Gabe Fraser worked a hit-by-pitch, stole third, and scored on an Eli Putnam groundout.
Then the sixth inning broke it open. Brayden Dowd led off with a walk, Sheffield reached on an error, Bailey drew a walk to load the bases, and Kelvyn Paulino Jr. plated one with a sacrifice fly. Fraser then singled through the right side for two more, and Putnam added another with an RBI single. Four runs, just like that. John Stuetzer added an insurance RBI single in the eighth to make it a 6-2 final. Fraser was the offensive spark, going 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs, a stolen base, and scoring twice. Putnam went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Dowd reached base four times.
Game Two: A Pitching Gem, a Walk-off, and Offensive Frustration
If game one was encouraging on the mound, game two was downright impressive, a little frustrating at the plate.
Trey Beard made his first start of the season in game two of the doubleheader and did not disappoint. The righty went five innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits while striking out six. For a first start, that’s about as clean as you could ask for. The level of competition vs The Citadel was not close to his first outing against Auburn, but Beard looks much sharper now that he’s had time to get healthy. Cade O’Leary followed with two scoreless frames, and Kevin Mebil slammed the door with three perfect innings and four strikeouts to earn the win. The FSU pitching staff allowed just one earned run across ten innings of baseball.
The offense, though, went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left six on base across ten innings against Bryce Coulter, who was dealing (eight innings, four hits, one unearned run, four strikeouts). FSU’s lone regulation run came in the second when Nathan Cmeyla singled to score Fraser on a throwing error. The Citadel knotted it in the third on another unearned run, and that’s where it stayed through nine.
In the tenth, the Noles manufactured the walk-off the old-fashioned way, chaos and hustle. Cmeyla singled, Chase Williams pinch-ran and stole second, walks loaded the bases, and Bailey hit into a fielder’s choice that should’ve ended the inning. A throwing error by Citadel’s Aryan Patel allowed Williams to score the walk-off run. Ugly? Sure. A win? Absolutely. Cmeyla was the offensive bright spot, going 3-for-4 on the day behind the plate.
Game Three: Pitching Dominates, Bats Leave 10 on Base
Sunday’s series finale was the cleanest performance of the weekend from a pitching standpoint, but the most frustrating from an offensive one.
Bryson Moore was lights out in his first win of the season. The righty went six full innings, allowing just one hit, walking one, and striking out five on 72 pitches. He induced weak contact all afternoon, finishing with a 6-6 ground ball to fly ball ratio, exactly the kind of stuff you want to see from a starting pitcher. Moore’s first two outings this season did not match his potential or expectations, so it was nice to see him have this confidence-building type of performance.
Chris Knier then took over and was equally filthy, tossing three perfect-plus innings of his own (one hit, one walk, four strikeouts) to earn the save. Together, Moore and Knier combined to allow just two hits and zero earned runs against a Citadel lineup that simply had no answer. That is a knockout 1-2 punch, and we’re now seeing a few arms start to separate themselves and rise to the occasion.
Now, the offense. FSU collected ten hits against Citadel pitching. Ten hits and only two runs. They left ten runners on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Let that sink in for a second. The Noles had traffic on the bases all afternoon and could not cash in.
The two runs that did score came via a Hunter Carns sacrifice fly in the second, after a triple to right, and an Eli Putnam RBI single in the fifth. That was it. John Stuetzer went 3-for-4, and Chase Williams went 2-for-4, but the middle of the lineup couldn’t convert when it mattered. Four double plays didn’t help matters either. It was one of those afternoons where the box score looks productive, and the result doesn’t match up.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, FSU is 8-2 and just swept a three-game series. Winning is always a good thing. The pitching staff has started to look like what we hoped it would. Mendes looks like an ace. Beard’s first start was impressive. Moore and Knier were untouchable on Sunday. Abraham and Mebil provide legitimate late-game options. That depth on the mound gives this team a real ceiling. Now we just need to see it consistently and against better lineups.
But the offense is a genuine concern, and it stretches back beyond this weekend. We saw it in the final two games in Arlington, and it has carried over here. FSU left a total of 25 runners on base and went 5-31 with runners in scoring position over the weekend.
When ACC pitching comes to town, the margin for error disappears. These are the at-bats that have to get better. It’s still early in the season, and they have shown flashes. They did have 10 hits on Sunday and 8 on Saturday, but it’s what you do with those hits that matters most, and FSU has to stop wasting so many scoring opportunities.
The Noles have the talent to figure it out. The schedule will demand they do. For now, enjoy the sweep and trust that Link Jarrett will get things worked out. Stay tuned to your source for fan-focused FSU coverage here at Plant The Spear. Thanks for reading and Go Noles!