No. 14 Florida State baseball vs. Clemson: Preview, how to watch, game thread

No. 14 Florida State baseball (34-14, 15-9) hits the road for the final time this year as they take on Clemson (29-20, 8-16) in a three-game set from Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Seminoles enter this series on a five-game winning streak after beating USF last week, sweeping Pitt over the weekend, and earning a comeback win over Jacksonville on Tuesday night in the final midweek game of the year for FSU. Now, with a bit of momentum, Link Jarrett’s team tries to add to a resume that sits just outside the top-8 bubble. On Tuesday, D1Baseball released its weekly NCAA tournament predictions and slotted the Noles as a #13 seed, with four SEC teams (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas A&M) and Coastal Carolina ahead of them for a top-8 seed. A road series win this weekend, even against a Tiger team that has not had the campaign they wanted, could give Florida State a much-needed boost in RPI and in Quad 1 wins.

In order for FSU to take advantage of the opportunity this weekend, the Seminoles will need to outduel Clemson’s arms. Wes Mendes and company come into this series second in the ACC in strikeouts during conference play and third in ERA. In comparison, CU has allowed the fewest walks in the ACC during conference play, but its ERA is over a run worse than Florida State’s (4.69 vs. 5.84). Without a midweek matchup next week, and a bullpen as healthy as it’s been all season, Jarrett will have all options at his disposal to navigate through a difficult weekend away from home.

Switching gears to Clemson, this has not been the year they expected, and the Tigers are almost assuredly out of the NCAA tournament, barring a miracle run at the ACC tournament. CU is 8-16 in conference play coming into the weekend, but seems to be turning a corner after defeating Coastal Carolina on Tuesday and taking a three-game set over Boston College. Even still, that may be too little, too late to enter into the NCAA postseason picture, but it makes for a dangerous opponent.

Tiger hitters to know:

• So. C/DH Nate Savoie: Slashing .351/.436/.665 with 16 home runs…Transferred to Clemson after earning First-Team All-WCC honors in freshman season at Loyola Marymount (CA).
• Jr. 1B Luke Gaffney: Slashing .324/.448/.529 with more walks than strikeouts (31: 19)…Started 51 games for CU a season ago before starting in 47 of 49 games this year.
• Sr. C/DH Jacob Jarrell: Slashing .269/.400/.611 with a team-leading 17 home runs…Spent all four years of collegiate career at Clemson and will be honored at Senior Day on Saturday.