The UConn pitching staff came into Tallahassee riding quite an impressive hot streak.
Across four games in the Norman Regional last weekend, the Huskies allowed eight total runs across 36 innings, good for a 2.00 ERA.
UConn's path to an upset this weekend in Tallahassee would likely be through more of the same on the mound, a distinct possibility considering it largely stifled a pair of very good offenses last weekend vs. Duke and Oklahoma.
The buzzsaw that the Florida State offense can be when it is clicking wasted no time putting an end to that recent run of success.
The Seminoles (46-15) exceeded that eight-run regional total UConn allowed in the first four innings of Friday's Tallahassee Super Regional alone, plating three runs in the first, two in the second, three more in the third and one in the fourth.
"Clearly a good start to this," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. "I think the game started in a way that reflected how locked in our guys were when they came out of the locker room ... Proud of the at-bats, up and down the lineup."
They chased Big East Pitcher of the Year Ian Cooke after he allowed five runs over 1.2 innings. Then they tagged UConn's Sunday starter, Garrett Coe, for eight runs over 3.2 innings.
FSU's relentless offensive attack did not stop there. Even when the Huskies began trotting out pitchers with minimal experience this season due to the lopsided score, the Seminoles keep pressing.
They wound up setting a pair of NCAA records as their 24 runs and 20-run win margin in Friday afternoon's resounding 24-4 win are both the most ever in a Super Regional game since the format was introduced in 1999.
That offensive production was more than enough security for FSU starting pitcher Carson Dorsey, who coasted with one run allowed on four hits over 5.1 innings of work.
"Every time you go out there, you're trying to be the best you can be, regardless of if they're scoring runs or not," Dorsey said. "But having them score those runs is a great relief in the dugout. You're going out there with the plan to give the bats back to the hitters and allow them to score more runs."
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The FSU offense did a little bit of everything in Friday's opening game. They mashed 18 hits, five home runs (tied for the most in a game this season), walked 15 times and struck out just once in the seventh inning when the result was already firmly in hand.
"I've always said hitting is super contagious," outfielder Jaime Ferrer said. "I think you saw that today."
Marco Dinges and Ferrer set the tone with back-to-back homers in the first inning, Max Williams added another two-run homer in the second and then Ferrer hit his second of the day (and 19th of the season) in the sixth inning.
Even when FSU made offensive subs in an effort to take its foot off the gas in the later innings, the onslaught continued. Backup outfielder DeAmez Ross capped off FSU's scoring with a three-run homer, his second of the season.
"When you (throw it up in the zone), you're gonna get hurt by Florida State," UConn head coach Jim Penders said. "They didn't miss many mistakes."
With five home runs on the day, this year's team is up to 117 homers on the season, skyrocketing from fifth-most in a season in program history all the way up to third. It's the most home runs FSU has had in a season since 1985.
While this team is unlikely to catch the 1982 team (131 homers) and won't catch the 1985 team (146 homers), those teams played 74 and 82 games, respectively, in a very different era of college baseball.
This team's remarkable homer pace of 1.92 bombs per game (117 homers over 61 games) blows the pace of those two teams out of the water.
Members of the team would be the first to tell you afterwards that winning the first game of a best-of-three Super Regional doesn't mean much if FSU can't win another game to finish the job and advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
However, the seven times FSU has won the opening game of a Super Regional in its history, it has won the series six times. The series only was extended to a third game twice.
In order for UConn to even force that third game Sunday, it'll have to find a way to stifle an FSU offense that may have been the only thing hotter than the stifling temperatures in Tallahassee Friday afternoon.
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