The Daily Nole

Karp Will Enter Weekend Rotation for FSU

wlpearce.com/FSU athletics

Florida State redshirt junior pitcher Andrew Karp’s shortest outing of the season on Tuesday night wasn’t a result of ineffectiveness. It’s because he’ll be back on the mound this weekend as the Seminoles take on Duke.

That’s what head coach Mike Martin said Tuesday night following a 6-3 loss to rival Florida. Karp was pulled after four inning of work as the Seminoles dropped an eighth straight to the defending national champions.

“He’s going in the rotation Sunday,” Martin said of Karp. “That was the reason he was taken out.”

Karp took the loss on Tuesday to fall to 5-3 on the season after yielding three runs — two earned — on six hits in his four innings of work. Karp threw 77 pitches in the loss.

“That was seven more than we wanted,” Martin said. “I said ‘heck, I said if I let him keep going, he might get to 90’ and then I’d be really mad at myself.”

The Sunday spot has been occupied by freshman Austin Pollock, but the left-hander has gone five innings just once in his last four starts and that was on March 18 against Notre Dame. Pollock has been the Sunday starter since the second series of the season after ace Tyler Holton suffered a season-ending injury in the 2018 opener against Xavier.

As for Karp, he’s been a model of consistency for the Seminoles in 2018. Tuesday’s loss was just the second time this season that Karp failed to go at least five innings. Only once this season has he given up more than three earned runs.

All three of Karp’s losses this season have come to No. 1 Florida, including a 1-0 loss in Jacksonville on March 28 in which the right-hander went the distance. Karp’s 3.28 ERA is second among FSU starters behind only Drew Parrish. Karp’s 56 strikeouts currently leads the team and only Cole Sands has more wins.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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