It’s far too soon to restart the national championship talk, but give Florida State baseball some credit for continuing to grind. The Seminoles showed some guts and resiliency in their recent home series with Clemson by taking two of three.
On Monday, FSU fell out of the NCBWA and Perfect Game Polls — the final two in which the Seminoles were still ranked. At 23-15, most still consider this campaign for FSU to be a disaster with many calling for head coach Mike Martin to finally walk away. If there’s one thing Martin deserves credit for, it’s not losing his team.
“I told our ball club that yes, we are proud of what we accomplished,†head coach Mike Martin said, according to a release. “To say that we are back – no. We have a lot of work to do…but we just kept battling.â€
In a thriller that went back and forth, FSU was able to take the nationally-televised rubber game from Clemson on Monday night, 7-6. The Seminoles defeated the now fifth-ranked Tigers the day before on Easter, 7-3. Being able to take a series from one of the nation’s best teams is impressive regardless, but that was even more of the case considering how FSU lost the series opener on Saturday night.
FSU fell behind 10-1 to the Tigers before rallying to knot the game, 10-10. As incredible as the comeback was, it turned out to be all for naught as Clemson took the lead in the ninth on a go-ahead 2-run single from Seth Beer.
Heartbreaking losses like the one felt Saturday have unfortunately not been uncommon for Florida State. In six of FSU’s 15 losses this season, it was either tied or ahead in the sixth inning or later. In two of those, the Seminoles were ahead by multiple runs in the ninth, including a contest to North Carolina on April 1 in which they were one out from a combined no-hitter.
There have been a number of gut-wrenching losses this season that could have led to the team spiraling out of control. The Seminoles have been no stranger to hitting the canvass this season, but to their credit, they continue to get up.
Moving forward, there are still probably more reasons to be pessimistic than optimistic about this team reaching its potential. Despite the offense becoming more consistent, pitching and fielding continue to be issues. The streak of 39 straight seasons with at least 40 wins is also in serious jeopardy. Whether or not the streak goes down remains to be seen, but rest assured, it won’t go down without a fight.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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