College Softball News

FPN Game of the Week: No. 5 Minnesota vs. No. 4 Florida State

This weekend No. 5 Minnesota (5-0) will travel to Florida to play in the ACC Challenge and will face No. 4 Florida State (4-0) and Notre Dame (3-2) twice. This is a big trip for the Gophers, who in the past appeared to be penalized for their schedule. It is also a big series for Florida State and should give us a good handle as to where both these teams are at early in the season. Both teams went undefeated opening weekend. Florida State faced a little stiffer competition last week, taking two games from a solid Texas State squad. We also preview on latest episode on “In the Circle.”

Times: Friday – 6:30 pm EST. and Saturday – 3:00 pm EST.

Watch Friday: HERE

At the Plate

Minnesota was one of the best statistical offenses a year ago, and the majority of those players are back in 2018. They are led by All-American Kendyl Lindaman who had a solid opening weekend batting .347 with two home runs and three RBI’s. Dani Wagner had a hot bat last week hitting .500 with two home runs and eight RBI’s as well. Overall the Gophers were solid, but not at the level they are capable of. It was the first games for a team who is under new leadership after Jessica Allister left for Stanford in the offseason. They are now lead by Jamie Trachsel who comes over from Iowa State. As a team, they are hitting .319 with six home runs thus far. There is no shortage of power in the line-up, but they will face a great one-two punch against Florida State.

The Seminoles were red hot last weekend batting .422 as a team with seven home runs to their credit. What was impressive is that four of the nine starters at the plate posted an average at or above .500. Leading the way was Carsyn Gordon who hit .667 with two home runs and seven RBI’s. Cali Harrod was not that far behind (.600) with eight RBI’s. Jessica Warren carried a .583/.625/1.33 slash on the weekend also. They were impressive overall. They did have to come back against Texas State in the first game, but a three-run fifth gave them the lead for good. It is hard to look past the fact they outscored their opponents 41-4.

Advantage: Draw

In the Circle

Minnesota is starting a new era one without a pitcher named Sara. Last year Sara Groenewegen graduated. They did pick up Minnesota native and LSU transfer Sydney Smith. Smith looked good in first two starts in maroon and gold going 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA over 13 innings of work. The current Ace of the staff is sophomore Amber Fiser. One interesting fact is that so far in college Fiser has not lost a game. Her career record stands at 17-0 which includes the three games she one opening weekend. She went 3-0 on the weekend posting a 1.59 ERA with 25 strikeouts over 22 innings of work. These two will be the key to the Gophers season. They have the offense to compete with anyone, how the new staff does, time will tell.

Florida State also had to replace their ace with the graduation of Jessica Burroughs. They also went and got a transfer to pair with a string returner. All-American Kyle Hanson comes over from Florida Atlantic after missing most of last season with an injury. If she is back to her old form, she is one of the best in the country. Returning is Meghan King who last season had a breakout year going 27-3 with a 1.50 ERA. Both looked good last week while they each earned two wins. Combined they held the opposition to just a .123 average. Hanson threw ten innings in two starts posting 12 strikeouts and allowing only two earned runs. King also went ten innings allowing just one earned run while striking out seven. They will face a much better offense this weekend, and it should be a great match-up.

Advantage: Florida State

Opinion

As stated earlier, this is a great early season match-up that will help us gauge where the two clubs are at. Minnesota did not seem to fire on all cylinders last week. That can be looked at as both a negative and a positive. On the one hand, we wonder if they are adjusting to the new coaching, on the other hand, they should show improvement at the plate. Defensively they had a few more errors than they probably should have. It should be noted that they were without their everyday shortstop Allie Arneson who is injured. It is unclear as to if she will be back this weekend. They will have to tighten up in the field because Florida State can make you pay for mistakes. The Seminoles were on fire at the plate most of the weekend. They looked more normal in the first game against Texas State but heated up after that game. So which line-up shows up against Minnesota? They are dangerous no matter what. The pitching of both teams will tell the story, as is usually the case in match-ups like this. If Florida State hits as they did a week ago, they will be tough to beat.

Pick: Split

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