Florida State has taken its longest losing streak of the season — three games — and turned it into a two-game winning streak following Tuesday’s 6-1 victory over Jacksonville. With an overall record of 28-8, a 14-4 ACC record and a top 5 national ranking, Mike Martin’s team is in the midst of another stellar season. While Florida State is hopeful that is the year it finally wins that coveted College World Series, this weekend’s upcoming road series will be one of the biggest of the regular season.
For the second straight weekend, the Seminoles will hit the road and this time, will take on one of the more pleasant surprises in the ACC — Wake Forest. At 11-7 in conference, Wake Forest has already eclipsed its ACC win total from a season ago and sits in second place in the Atlantic division, three games back of FSU.
With series against top-ranked Virginia and North Carolina still on the schedule for the Seminoles, the weekend series in Winston-Salem will be critical toward winning the division. Against Georgia Tech in Atlanta over the weekend, FSU suffered its first ACC series loss of the year.
Florida State spent the entire weekend playing from behind. After having its rally fall short in Friday’s 5-3 series-opening loss, Florida State was pounded in the middle game, 12-4. The Seminoles were able to overcome a 4-0 first inning deficit on Sunday thanks to 8 2/3 scoreless innings from the bullpen and three RBIs from outfielder Josh Delph.
Although Florida State was able to salvage a game in the series, it was a weekend to forget for the starting rotation. Of the three Seminoles to get the ball over the weekend, only Luke Weaver — Friday’s starter — was able to make it past the fourth inning.
The starting rotation will once again be tested for Florida State as the Seminoles have to deal with outfielder Grant Shambley and the power-hitting Will Craig. Craig is tied with Florida State’s D.J. Stewart and Duke’s Chris Marconcini for the ACC lead in home runs with seven while Shambley is fourth in the conference with a .343 batting average.
A winning series in Winston-Salem would likely all, but wrap up an Atlantic division title and a top-2 seed in the ACC baseball tournament for the Seminoles. Florida State can extend its lead in conference play to four games over the Deacons by taking two of three or to six by sweeping the series. Clemson currently sits 3 1/2 games back of Florida State, but FSU holds the tiebreaker by winning two of three against the Tigers earlier this season.
If FSU struggles for a second straight weekend however, the race for the top spot in the ACC Atlantic could very well come down to the wire. Following Sunday’s series finale, each school will have nine ACC games remaining on the schedule. Of those nine for Florida State, none will come against a school currently with a losing record in conference, making this weekend’s series even more vital.
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