With a 36-11 record, Mike Martin’s Florida State baseball team is in the midst of yet another solid season. The Seminoles were able to complete the sweep of Minnesota over the weekend and a big reason for that was the effort from the Florida State bullpen.
During their three-game set with Minnesota, the Seminoles were without closer Jameis Winston, who was serving a suspension. Winston has been excellent at the back end of the bullpen all season long as has Gage Smith while Dylan Silva has been very good in middle relief situations.
Over the past few weeks however, another Florida State reliever has emerged as a viable option out of the pen. With Winston suspended and Smith struggling on Saturday, senior Peter Miller came in and shut the door in the bottom half of a doubleheader against the Golden Gophers.
Florida State was able to rally to take the first game of the series after Smith had blown a save in the ninth inning, but the second part of the doubleheader seemed to be slipping away from the Seminoles as well. With FSU nursing a 3-2 lead, Minnesota put runners at the corners with only one out when Miller got the call.
Minnesota needed only a fly ball to tie the game, but Miller calmly entered to strike out both David Bettenburg and Dan Motl for his first save of the season.
After starting pitcher Taylor Blatch gave Florida State just two innings on Sunday, Miller came to his aid by throwing three scoreless innings as Florida State pulled away from Minnesota for a 7-1 victory. One week prior, Miller kept Florida State in the game against top-ranked Virginia after starter Bryant Holtmann was pulled in the fourth inning.
After struggling as a starter early on in the year, Miller may have found his niche out of the Florida State bullpen. Miller of late, has been able to get FSU out of tight spots while his experience as a starter has allowed him to go multiple innings as well. Over his last 6 2/3 innings pitched, Miller has posted a 1.35 ERA with 10 strikeouts.
With the ACC and NCAA Tournaments upcoming, the performance of the bullpen will go a long way in determining the Seminoles’ fate as many believe that this could finally be the year that Florida State brings home that coveted College World Series. Silva and Smith have had little issue eating innings while Billy Strode has become one tough lefty with Winston thriving at the back end of the pen.
Of late however, Miller has shown his versatility and has become much more reliable after his early season struggles. If the senior from Lutz can continue to pitch as well as he has over the past week, he’ll give Martin yet another viable option in relief. With arms tiring late in the season, adding another reliable right-hander to one of the nation’s best and deepest bullpens will just make Florida State that much more dangerous.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
