It was a dominant defensive effort on Sunday as Florida State took down NC State by a score of 8-1 in a top 25 matchup. The Seminoles made several big plays in the win, including a sliding catch in the outfield from Jaime Ferrer.
It was one of three catches that Ferrer made in the contest as FSU made easy work of the Wolfpack to get revenge after losing the day before. Seminoles coach Link Jarrett offered his thoughts on the play postgame.
“No doubt. Jaime came and got that ball really well,” he said. “He’s worked so hard. If you ever wanna pop out here in September or October when we’re starting this, they’re playing balls off the bat. It’s exhausting. That’s our conditioning and that’s the truest rep you can get at the ball is off the bat. The drills we do, sure. But there’s balls off the bat that and the sink and the angle that these things take in these game, the time of the dive, really good. He’s worked his tail off to become a good athlete.
“He made a couple of nice running plays today and really all season. But today clearly, the one at left center was a nice, beautiful extended catch kind of coming in. Both of our dives in the outfield I think were kind of coming in, which is a tricky thing because it’s not the same gauge as when you’re driving left to right. Having to come in and try to extend to get through it is a little bit tricky.”
Florida State has a fielding percentage of 98.4% this season to rank second in the ACC and sixth in the country. Ferrer has played a large role in that to record 48 catches and 46 putouts so far this season.
The Seminoles are one of the top teams in college baseball, ranking No. 8 according to the D1 Baseball rankings. Their defense has no doubt been a big reason for their success and will hope to continue this level of play down the stretch of the regular season.
FSU has two more conference series remaining before the ACC Tournament begins on May 21. The Seminoles have a meeting with Jacksonville on Tuesday before beginning a series against Pittsburgh this weekend.
First pitch for the series with the Panthers is set to be thrown at 6 p.m. ET on Friday.
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