Cavaliers Host Seminoles

The UVa baseball team righted the ship this week after much ado about losing four straight games (including a sweep at the hands of Virginia Tech).

Well, things are about to get really difficult as this weekend the Florida State Seminoles (17-5, 5-1) come to Charlottesville with much hoopla. Although they've got a great record, their rankings are a bit odd. Currently, the Seminoles are ranked anywhere from 7th (College Baseball Newspaper) to 20th (d1baseball), but most polls have them between 11 and 13.

Last weekend FSU took two of three from Wake Forest in Tallahassee, losing only a tight one on Friday 4-1. During the week they fell at highly touted Florida 14-8.

Last year, the Hoos traveled to Tallahassee and was able to win two of three before the Seminoles got revenge in the ACC Tournament, 6-4. At home, the Hoos have been quite fortunate against FSU winning every series in Charlottesville since 2004, and has only lost one series to the Seminoles since 2008 (swept in Tallahassee in 2012).

Like years gone by, FSU's staff is good, but not great, choosing to rely on the launching pad of Dick Howser. As a staff, they have put together a 4.22 ERA and are surrendering more than a hit per inning (201 hits in 194.0 innings). Add in 67 walks and you have a 1.38 WHIP. FSU hasn't announced their starters for this weekend, and looking at their last weekend against Wake and their midweek game against Florida, I have no idea who'll take the mound.

Since they don't pitch particularly well, FSU has to hit, and they hit pretty well. Although they've only got a .270 batting average (UVa's is .268), they have .416 on base percentage and .431 slugging percentage. They've also been able to launch 19 home runs so far, but that is likely due to 17 of their 22 games coming at home.

The good news for UVa is FSU has been suspect in the field so far this season, only accumulating a .956 fielding percentage due to 37 errors. Those errors have lead to 15 extra runs being put up against them, so UVa needs to take advantage of any mistakes the Seminoles make.

Although all the eyes will be on Charlotte this weekend, I hope the Davenport faithful show out in support of this young team that needs a boost.