FSU

FredJacket

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A week ago... we were looking at an uphill climb to .500 (or better) in conference play with Miami & FSU coming to town. Last weekend...we did ourselves a huge solid by sweeping Miami. Now... it is time to close the deal. Need some key injured guys to be ready to go Friday.

Weather could play a factor this weekend. Saturday still looks iffy. DH Fri? or Sun? ... maybe.

Thru 4 weekends of ACC play... the home team has won 23 of 28 series. Five road series winners are:
NCST over Clemson
NCST over VT
Clemson over Louisville
Duke over Pitt
FSU over UNC
 

dawgbasher

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
125
Fred - how about a little scouting report on FSU. Haven't seen them play at all this years. How good do you think they are ? Pitching ? Hitting?
Thanks in advance.
 

LongforDodd

LatinxBreakfastTacos
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A week ago... we were looking at an uphill climb to .500 (or better) in conference play with Miami & FSU coming to town. Last weekend...we did ourselves a huge solid by sweeping Miami. Now... it is time to close the deal. Need some key injured guys to be ready to go Friday.

Weather could play a factor this weekend. Saturday still looks iffy. DH Fri? or Sun? ... maybe.

Thru 4 weekends of ACC play... the home team has won 23 of 28 series. Five road series winners are:
NCST over Clemson
NCST over VT
Clemson over Louisville
Duke over Pitt
FSU over UNC
Saturday is the only iffy day but the hour-by-hour forecast show a 65% chance of rain before noon dropping to 20-30% chance range after noon. Sunday is only cloudy.
 

FredJacket

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Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fred - how about a little scouting report on FSU. Haven't seen them play at all this years. How good do you think they are ? Pitching ? Hitting?
Thanks in advance.
Well… I’m not an expert. I have not seen much FSU action this year. They are coming off a 2-1 home series win over Louisville where they could have easily lost a game they won. They game up 3 runs late to fall behind by 1 run… then got 2 in B9 for the walk-off win. Lost the 3rd game of series… so, FSU is “riding” a conference losing streak (of one) coming into Friday’s game.

They play Jacksonville today.

They lost their Friday starter for the season before he completed 5 innings opening weekend.

They have experience in their lineup. Last year… they salvaged a poor “regular” season, peaking at the correct point by winning ACC tournament, their regional, the super-regional… getting back to the CWS.

They have a very high RPI (#7)... mainly due to starting season 14-0. Since then... they've come back down to earth going 8-7 in their last 15 games. Granted...they (like Ga Tech) are up there on strength-of-schedule too. They are beatable for sure. Lost opening ACC series at Wake. Have managed to get to 7-5 in ACC play against mostly average ACC competition (@WF, ND, @UNC, LOU). Won 3 of those series (2-1 each) and lost series to WF (1-2).

All that...to me... does not change the bottom line. The margin of error (in general) is always thin. Ga Tech has to execute in all phases to have any hope of winning the series. If we play like we did last weekend... a sweep is certainly in reach. It is not realistic to assume we can duplicate that near perfect 3-game stretch. The fact we are playing at home leads me to believe winning series should be well within reach. On the other hand, their are 2 scenarios that could occur too and make success more difficult for the good guys.. FSU plays up to their potential and pre-season hype and/or Ga Tech falls on the wrong side of the margin of error line.

This may be key.. they lead NCAA is walks. Can't allow them those freebies. Here are some key team stats (comparisons) as of this morning…pretty even:


Stat / GT / FSU
BA / .309 / .259
Runs per Gm / 6.7 / 6.6
Slg% / .469 / .406
On Base % / .388 / .394
ERA / 4.69 / 3.92
WHIP / 1.41 / 1.33
 
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dawgbasher

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
125
Nicely done Fred. Thanks. As one who has been involved in baseball a long time, I have always said this. The difference between a good team and a great team is hitters 7 - 9. If they are weak and basically automatic outs, you have 3 total innings in a game that you have really little or no hope to score runs. If they are at least tough outs that can put the ball in play, you have a legitimate shot of scoring runs with the bottom of your order and put real pressure on a pitching staff.
 

THWG

Helluva Engineer
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4,187
Well… I’m not an expert. I have not seen much FSU action this year. They are coming off a 2-1 home series win over Louisville where they could have easily lost a game they won. They game up 3 runs late to fall behind by 1 run… then got 2 in B9 for the walk-off win. Lost the 3rd game of series… so, FSU is “riding” a conference losing streak (of one) coming into Friday’s game.

They play Jacksonville today.

They lost their Friday starter for the season before he completed 5 innings opening weekend.

They have experience in their lineup. Last year… they salvaged a poor “regular” season, peaking at the correct point by winning ACC tournament, their regional, the super-regional… getting back to the CWS.

They have a very high RPI (#7)... mainly due to starting season 14-0. Since then... they've come back down to earth going 8-7 in their last 15 games. Granted...they (like Ga Tech) are up there on strength-of-schedule too. They are beatable for sure. Lost opening ACC series at Wake. Have managed to get to 7-5 in ACC play against mostly average ACC competition (@WF, ND, @UNC, LOU). Won 3 of those series (2-1 each) and lost series to WF (1-2).

All that...to me... does not change the bottom line. The margin of error (in general) is always thin. Ga Tech has to execute in all phases to have any hope of winning the series. If we play like we did last weekend... a sweep is certainly in reach. It is not realistic to assume we can duplicate that near perfect 3-game stretch. The fact we are playing at home leads me to believe winning series should be well within reach. On the other hand, their are 2 scenarios that could occur too and make success more difficult for the good guys.. FSU plays up to their potential and pre-season hype and/or Ga Tech falls on the wrong side of the margin of error line.

This may be key.. they lead NCAA is walks. Can't allow them those freebies. Here are some key team stats (comparisons) as of this morning…pretty even:


Stat / GT / FSU
BA / .309 / .259
Runs per Gm / 6.7 / 6.6
Slg% / .469 / .406
On Base % / .388 / .394
ERA / 4.69 / 3.92
WHIP / 1.41 / 1.33
Thanks for the scouting report @FredJacket. Like you said, the key to this weekend is not giving up free passes. FSU always does a great job in teaching plate discipline to their guys and they work the count and grind every at bat. If the starters keep doing their thing, then I have faith that we will win the series.
 

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,589
Gotta feel like Hall MUST move one of the starter into the bullpen for this series (and future SCC series). I just feel if we are relying on anyone else besides Archer to put up zeroes late in the game, we are kidding ourselves. If we have a big lead (5 or more runs) then OK, I get using some of the lesser lights (including Datoc)...but less than that and it is either Archer or whichever starter he decides to put out there.

if he doesn't do that, I will be....unhappy. ESPECIALLY if it costs a game.
 

dawgbasher

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
125
Hearing Murray may not be able to play this series. I have not been able to absolutely confirm this however. English has big knot on his shin from foul tip. Not sure about his status nor the status of Waddell. Losing Murray and/or English could be a huge blow for this series.
 

FredJacket

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6,290
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Hearing Murray may not be able to play this series. I have not been able to absolutely confirm this however. English has big knot on his shin from foul tip. Not sure about his status nor the status of Waddell. Losing Murray and/or English could be a huge blow for this series.
Was just about to post that I'm more concerned about the offense than pitching for the first time I can recall because of the injury possibilities (based on Tues's game) This is not good... if it ends up being this way. Next man up!

Can Curry do what English has been doing...and be a regular in batting order?
 

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,589
Hearing Murray may not be able to play this series. I have not been able to absolutely confirm this however. English has big knot on his shin from foul tip. Not sure about his status nor the status of Waddell. Losing Murray and/or English could be a huge blow for this series.
Man, if true that is TERRIBLE news. Sheesh. Why can't good things happen to us?
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
I soooooooo want a series win. Getting to 8-7 after playing Clemson, VT, NC State, Miami, and FSU? Yes please. FSU is a great team but has been average in ACC play.
 

senoiajacket

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Messages
1,141
Maybe all the injuries are why we are not playing a DH tonight? Looks like rain tomorrow & colder Sunday, so today would have made sense for a DH.
 

senoiajacket

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Wonder what our batting average is with RISP. Maybe it is selective memory but it seems like we are constantly leaving mean or 2nd & 3rd or loaded.
 
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