With a series win against Pittsburgh and a much-anticipated return to .500 in ACC play, Virginia has done quite well to repair some very evident kinks in the armor. But now, the Cavaliers will confront what is arguably their most pressing challenge of the regular season — a three-game slate away from the confines of Disharoon Park against Florida State, a team that is steamrolling both the ACC and the greater college baseball landscape.
Currently ranked seventh in the nation, the Seminoles sport a boisterous offense that has amassed 282 runs this season, outscoring their opponents by 124 runs. The key to their belligerence lies in their junior shortstop, Alex Lodise, who is assembling a season to remember with a .432/.485/.797 slash line and 13 home runs to boot.
A team of this caliber can hardly be described as one-dimensional though. Top-of-the-line junior starter Joey Volini sports an 8-1 record and an earned run average of 2.39. Southpaws junior Jamie Arnold and sophomore Wes Mendes round out the lefty triumvirate, making the Seminole rotation perhaps one of the most daunting to face in the college game.
If one is to nit-pick any one part of the Seminoles’ on-field output — certainly a difficult task — it might well be the bullpen. Their five highest-usage relievers have pitched to a less-than-stellar average earned run average of 4.65. If Virginia is to have a chance at taking this series, that fate will hinge upon the Cavaliers’ ability to put runners across in the late stages of games.
Just as the Cavaliers have appeared to have found their way or at least found glimpses of a path forward from their initial woes, the Seminoles have been at work recovering from a skid of their own. In recent matchups against Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Florida, Florida State played to just a 4-4 mark. If it were not for a series sweep of Virginia Tech this past weekend, the Seminoles’ position amongst the top echelon of ACC squads would be a tad precarious.
Virginia faces a far different outlook. Even with a recent 3-1 push to rectify a tough series in Raleigh, the Cavaliers are struggling to stay afloat, with this series having the potential to either be a full-scale revival or a dying breath for their season.
The performance of Virginia’s starting pitching may stand to be the point of difference in these games. If senior Jay Woolfolk, freshman Tomas Valincius and, presumably, junior Evan Blanco, can suppress Florida State’s run production just enough in the early stages, then it stands to reason that the Cavalier offense will have some breathing room to make aggressive cuts against Volini and company.
Sophomore shortstop Eric Becker will also undoubtedly be an impact player this weekend, as the Cavaliers’ leader in average and on-base percentage will have to push Florida State’s starters into deep counts at the top of the order. Another player of note is sophomore outfielder Henry Ford, who is having a bit of a resurgence as of late after an uncharacteristically bad run of form to begin the year. He came away with a walk-off home run last weekend against Pittsburgh, and Coach Brian O’Connor will need that clutch spark in what will almost inevitably be a set of tantalizingly close games.
With all of these factors aside, one must not overlook the fact that, in recent seasons, Dick Howser Stadium has become an incredibly difficult venue for opposing teams. Since the beginning of 2024, the Seminoles boast a 50-8 record in Tallahassee, good for the second-best home winning percentage in the ACC in that span, trailing only North Carolina. The Cavaliers are just 4-4 in away games on the year, so toppling the Seminoles on their home turf is an incredibly tough task.
Whatever the outcome, a matchup between one of the country’s premier teams and a fallen preseason giant is bound to be exciting from the very first pitch.Virginia hits the diamond Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
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