Florida State is capable of winning a weekend series in large part because of its weekend rotation. The Seminoles have shown that five times in ACC play.

But they have also struggled on the road, being swept by one of the nation’s top teams (Georgia Tech) and a struggling one (Stanford).

As the Seminoles push forward into May, they have been hurt by injuries and plagued by inconsistencies. They also (understatement) miss first baseman Myles Bailey, the biggest slugger in the lineup and a better defensive option at first base.

FSU has lost five straight one-run games, including a pair at Stanford last weekend, so each base-running miscue or fielding error is magnified in what of late have been more and more tight games.

All of which makes projecting if FSU (30-14, 12-9 ACC) will host a regional very difficult. There are some positives, from FSU’s 21-3 mark at Dick Howser Stadium to the remaining schedule against unranked Pittsburgh (10-11 ACC), at Clemson (6-15) and Miami (12-9).

FSU also is as healthy on the mound as at any point, with Bryson Moore back in his Sunday spot and Payton Manca returning to the mound last weekend in a relief outing at Stanford.

D1baseball’s latest forecast has FSU as the No. 15 national seed, hosting a regional and pairing the Seminoles up with No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech if both teams advance to the best-of-3 Super Regionals. Baseball America has FSU as the No. 16 seed and paired up with top-seeded UCLA.

With just 16 national seeds, that puts the Seminoles right on the edge of hosting. If FSU’s starting rotation can deliver a few more series wins, that could secure a national seed for the Seminoles.

In the outfield

There are also significant question marks. FSU’s outfield for this weekend’s series against Pittsburgh is a question mark. Coach Link Jarrett said he thinks Brayden Dowd is good for the series opener on Friday at 6 p.m. (ACC Network), but he wasn’t sure after the 9-1 win over USF if Chase Williams will be good to go. John Stuetzer is still battling a cut on his left hand, too.

Regardless, Brody DeLamielleure was red-hot in April. The outfielder was hitting .225 going into the month with three home runs and two doubles. He now goes into May hitting .300 with five home runs and six doubles, and he’s become a regular in the lineup.

A few weeks back, DeLamielleure met with an FSU assistant and they worked on some tweaks to his batting stance. It’s made a difference the last few weeks, including a 427-foot home run on Wednesday.

“I met with coach (Brad) Vanderglas in the cage and he showed me some videos of Albert Pujols,” DeLamielleure said. “Just really spreading out more (in his stance), getting my legs. And that helped with my head not moving as much.“

Old friends face off

Jarrett and Pittsburgh coach Mike Bell overlapped by a season at FSU in 1994. They’ve kept in touch through the years, with Jarrett remarking he was a JV coach at Flagler College and Bell was an assistant coach at Florida Southern in the 1990s when they began exchanging ideas and philosophies.

Pittsburgh is among the nation’s leaders in walks, on-base percentage and runs per game. The Panthers (28-15) already have the program’s single-season record with 87 home runs.

“You look at the offensive numbers and what they’ve done,” Jarrett said. “The base on balls to strikeouts and the power and the output and the batting averages. They know what they’re doing. It’s an experienced team.”

Of note

FSU is set to play Pittsburgh on Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. But it’s May, and there’s a high chance for rain on Friday and thunderstorms on Saturday — which means the game times could shift as needed. All three games will be played on ACC Network Extra, and typically the streamed games allow for more flexibility in moving games up or back due to rain and/or lightning.

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