Florida State baseball sees pitching staff's struggles continue, preparing for UF midweek

The Florida State baseball pitching staff set a strong tone limiting Notre Dame to just two runs in the opener of the three-game ACC series Friday.

Unfortunately, it was more of the same struggles for the Seminoles pitching the next two days, allowing 24 runs in the final two games to drop their eighth straight series.

FSU fell to 15-27 overall and 6-18 in conference play. The Seminoles have two more ACC series left this season, but they come against No. 2 Wake Forest (37-6, 16-4) and No. 21 Louisville (28-15, 9-12) and are seven losses behind Pittsburgh for 12th in the conference.

The top 12 teams in the conference make the ACC Tournament.

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That means realistically, Florida State is likely playing for pride for the rest of the season. That and jobs for next year's team.

FSU's mission to salvage what is left of their season starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday against rival No. 4 Florida (35-10) at 121 Financial Ballpark in Jacksonville.

This game is the makeup of the March 28 game which was postponed due to inclement weather.

The Gators have made two come-from-behind victories to take the first two games of this year's series. They won the first game in Tallahassee 9-5 and the second in Gainesville 5-3.

Florida has won 21 of its last 25 meetings against FSU, including two out of three contests in 2022. FSU leads the all-time series 131-126-1.

Freshman Ben Barrett (0-0, 4.35) is likely to earn the start again for the Seminoles against the Gators. Barrett has found success against Florida this season, allowing one earned run on five hits in nine innings to go along with four strikeouts and two walks.

More of the same for the pitching staff

Coming into the series on Friday, the Irish were hitting .242 as a team for the season, the worst mark in the ACC. They were also dead last in hits (311) and runs (228).

Starter Jackson Baumeister did his part to right the ship for FSU pitching, allowing one earned run on four hits in six innings. He struck out nine and walked two. Doug Kirkland picked up the save in 2 ⅓ scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two.

Then the pitching collapsed. Conner Whittaker allowed five earned runs and did not last four innings Saturday. The bullpen allowed seven more runs, with Ryan Denison (two runs) and David Barrett (four) giving up big innings.

On Sunday, Carson Montgomery followed the lead of Whittaker and did not last four innings and allowed five runs. Jamie Arnold came in behind and allowed five runs in his 1 ⅓ and Ben Barrett was tagged for two runs in his ⅔ innings.

The Seminoles' ERA sits at 6.21 for the season, the third-worst mark in the ACC. They are one of three teams without a shutout this season.

This came after Florida State had its midweek game canceled due to inclement weather against North Florida. It had no excuse for an overused pitching staff, at least this week.

FSU has allowed the fourth most hits (410), the third most runs (307) and earned runs (257), as well as walked the second most hitters (233) among ACC teams.

Florida and Wake Forest are among the two best hitting teams in baseball. The rest of the season does not get easier for this pitching staff.

Scouting Florida Gators baseball

Following a sweep at the hands of South Carolina, Florida bounced back with four straight wins, including a sweep against Missouri where they scored 30 runs in three games.

The Gators are fourth in the nation with 86 home runs and 25th in batting average (.307).

Jac Caglianone leads the nation with 23 home runs and is third on the Gators with a .363 batting average. He had four hits against FSU in the first meeting.

Josh Rivera has added 14 home runs and a .378 batting average and leads the team with 12 stolen bases.

Wyatt Langford leads the team with a .397 batting average, a .536 on-base percentage and is third on the team with 10 home runs. He also paces the team with a 1.301 OPS. Cade Kurland also has 13 home runs and is hitting .311.

Tyler Nesbitt started the first game against the Seminoles, while Ryan Slater got the start the second time around. Slater pitched twice against the Tigers and Nesbitt hasn't thrown since April 20, making Nesbitt the likely starter.

In his first outing against FSU, he allowed three earned runs on five hits in 3 ⅔ innings. He has a 3.26 ERA in 19 ⅓ innings for the season.

Florida State vs. Florida

When: Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Where: 121 Financial Ballpark, Jacksonville

TV/Radio: 100.7 FM

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU baseball: Seminoles pitching staff struggles again against Irish