Florida State suffered what appeared to be a pretty significant blow prior to its series-opener against Wake Forest on March 13th as starting pitcher Mike Compton was scratched from his start with an abdominal strain.
A redshirt junior and the veteran of the rotation, Compton is off to a stellar start this season with a 1-0 record, a 1.19 ERA and a 6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in four starts. Compton was also coming off the best outing of his career with a 2-hit shutout of Boston College on March 6th.
Compton has already missed two starts, but a pair of young starters have helped eased the pain that comes with being without an ace.
With Compton temporarily on the shelf, freshman Cobi Johnson and sophomore Boomer Biegalski have each done a good job of giving Florida State a chance to win.
The earned run average for Johnson can be deceiving since it hovers well over five, but with a few exceptions, Johnson has pitched well this season. In Sunday’s 13-1 victory at Virginia, Johnson was downright dominant.
In seven innings, Johnson yielded just a run on five hits. Johnson held the Cavaliers scoreless over his final six innings of work and picked up the victory to improve to 3-1 on the season. Johnson is tied with three other Seminoles for the team-lead in victories.
While Johnson is a right-hander, who pitches to contact, Biegalski is more of a power pitcher.
With a 2-1 record and a good 3.15 earned run average, Biegalski leads FSU with 47 strikeouts in a team-high 40 innings. His 40 innings pitched is over 17 more than Compton, the next closest Seminole.
Though he didn’t get a decision in Friday’s 8-4 loss to Virginia, Biegalski gave yet another solid effort. Biegalski allowed three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched and when he was replaced in the sixth inning, FSU clung to a 4-3 lead.
In his prior start, Biegalski had the best outing of his young Florida State career. In a 12-2 victory over Wake Forest at Dick Howser Stadium, Biegalski allowed two runs on just five hits in eight innings without surrendering a walk. The hard-throwing righty recorded eight strikeouts in the victory.
All indications are that Biegalski will again be the Friday night starter as Florida State hosts Virginia Tech over the weekend. Compton will likely miss a third straight start as the abdominal strain continues to linger, but the youngsters of the rotation have done enough to help propel FSU into the top 10 in four of the five major polls. The Seminoles have the second best record in ACC play behind only Atlantic division leader, Louisville.
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