A two-game sweep at No. 5 Louisville, along with a 14-5 run to end the regular season, prompted a message Monday from a few Atlantic Coast Conference coaches: Be wary of the Florida State baseball team.

Despite some rocky patches throughout the year, FSU (35-20, 14-14) was one of the hottest teams in the ACC over the final month of the regular season. The ACC Baseball Tournament starts Tuesday in Louisville, but the Seminoles won't play until Wednesday at 11 a.m. when they face Notre Dame.

"Florida State just does a really good job of sticking with their offensive approach," Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said Monday during the ACC coaches' postseason teleconference. "And now that they're healthy and firing on all cylinders, they're a dangerous team for sure."

Of the five ACC teams ranked in the Baseball America Top 25, Louisville is the only team that had a better record than FSU over the final 19 games of the regular season. The Cardinals went 15-4, while No. 2 North Carolina, No. 11 Virginia and FSU were all 14-5.



No. 12 Wake Forest was 12-7, while No. 17 Clemson was 9-10.

Prior to April 15, the Seminoles were 2-7 against teams that had been ranked in the Top 25 at some point this season. They're now 6-4 in their last 10, and they were the first team to beat the Cardinals in a series all year.

"Well, I think that we've got everybody back now with the exception of [starting right fielder] Rhett Aplin, and we're disappointed Rhett is not able to be with us." Seminoles coach Mike Martin said during the teleconference. "I think we're just reaching a time of the year in which school is out and guys are able to concentrate strictly on baseball. It's just an exciting time for them right now."

Clemson coach Monte Lee, whose team lost two of three against FSU in mid-April, echoed Martin's sentiments about being healthy. He then added how a healthy lineup coupled with plate discipline can create challenges.

Lee said FSU is known for not swinging at balls out of the strike zone, which can run up a pitch count in the early innings.

"It's a dangerous team to play," Lee said. "Because a lot of times, if your pitcher is not in the strike zone, he'll be at 100 pitches by the fifth inning. I think that first and foremost is the key when you're looking at Florida State."

Lee said FSU was struggling earlier in the year with its pitching staff but then described sophomore left-handed starter Tyler Holton as a "true ace."

Holton has easily become FSU's best player over the last month, if not the entire season.

He's 8-2 with a 2.55 earned-run average and 109 strikeout to only 24 walks. Opponents are batting a paltry .169 against him. Among ACC pitchers, he's second in strikeouts and sixth in ERA in a conference that includes Louisville's Brendan McKay and UNC's J.B. Bukaskas. Both McKay and Bukaskas are projected by Baseball America to go in the top 10 picks of next month's MLB Draft.

Aplin's injury also led to Holton becoming the team's starting right fielder when he's not on the mound. He's batting .375 with two home runs, seven RBIs and is currently riding a six-game hitting streak.

"You know, Holton is a guy which, for whatever reason, he doesn't give up any runs," Lee said. "He's very difficult to hit. He locates three pitches, and they've got a guy that when you match up with him, you better hope like crazy your starting pitcher gives you an unbelievable start because you're not going to score a lot of runs."

Holton went eight innings and allowed three earned runs while recording nine strikeouts when FSU took a 7-3 win over Clemson on April 16.

Walter and Wake learned first-hand about Holton when he threw a complete-game shutout in the second game of a doubleheader May 13. Holton's complete game was sandwiched between two starts in right field, when he combined to go 4-for-6 with a home run and two RBIs.

Walter said FSU, which entered the season as a College World Series favorite, endured a 21-15 start because the team was missing key players like star junior infielder Dylan Busby, star freshman infielder Drew Mendoza and sophomore outfielder Jackson Lueck, among others.



"They'll go as far as their pitching goes because the offense is going to be there. They're going to score runs," Walter said. "It's just a matter of having to win four games to win the ACC Tournament -- it's going to depend upon how their pitching holds up.

"But, yeah, they're a lot more dangerous than people think."

-----------------------

Talk about this story with other FSU Baseball fans on the FSU Baseball Forum