Rivals national analyst Adam Gorney has thoughts on FSU QB commitment Tramell Jones and the other prospects at the Elite 11 showcase:

share some insight...and facts, from a retired umpire's perspective.

As many know, I retired from college and high school softball umpiring a few years ago and I try to share information from an umpire's viewpoint whenever it may be helpful.
I worked a handful of practice games over the years for my son's high school baseball team...just on the bases, so that's the limit of my knowledge of umpiring baseball games. Because of that, even though it is standard mechanics for baseball umpires, I personally think it's ridiculous for the plate umpire to ask for help from the first or third base umpire, on a check swing. The base umpires are 100+ feet away from the plate! When I was out there working, I was surprised at what a difference it is from softball. Anyway, I just think it's asking an awful lot for a base umpire to make that call.

We all grow up with the mistaken understanding of rules like "tie goes to the runner" or other "urban myths" that we may have played by, but really weren't/aren't part of the rule book. Since the ruling Friday night, I've heard since that play is a judgement call, it's not reviewable. I do understand that it's not reviewable, but that particular play IS NOT a judgement call. Rule 2.39 is written for what in baseball terms, is called a "Half Swing". It says this:

"An attempt by the batter to stop the forward motion of the bat while swinging, which puts the batter in jeopardy of a strike being called. The half swing shall be called a strike if the barrel head of the bat passes the batter’s front hip. This does not apply to a bunt attempt when the batter pulls the bat back."

So, clearly this is very specific and really not a "judgement call". Of course, the umpire has to decide (judge) if the barrel of the bat crosses the batter's front hip, but it is clearly reviewable and if he "judges" incorrectly, just like any other close play at any base or plate, it can be and SHOULD be reviewed and corrected!!

I don't think there's any doubt that the barrel of the bat went past his front hip and should have been called a strike. I also don't blame the 3rd base umpire completely, because he's 100+ feet away from the plate, and the system put him in a position to fail. It is a bad system from a mechanics standpoint and like Link said after the game...it should be a reviewable play. And to his credit, apparently he's been saying that for quite some time, not just after Friday's game.

Anyway, just my perspective of what happened and what hopefully will happen/change in the future.

Brennen Oxford admitted he watched THAT moment of Friday’s loss to Tennessee an “unhealthy” amount of times.

But after moving past it, he embraced his opportunity for redemption Sunday vs. UVA, pitching the final two innings to keep FSU’s season alive.

Plus, a look at the state of both FSU and UNC’s pitching staffs entering Tuesday’s elimination game.

Julia Apsel went 19-12 with a 1.79 ERA that led the Coastal Athletic Association this spring. The left-hander had 176 strikeouts and just 39 walks in 201.2 innings.

Jaime Ferrer homered twice, Carson Dorsey threw another gem and FSU beat Virginia 7-3 to keep its season alive.

Noles next play the loser of tonight's Tennessee-UNC game Tuesday at 2 p.m.

​

The third men’s major championship of the season comes to storied Pinehurst No. 2, with world No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler looking to add to his PGA TOUR-leading five titles this season.
Pinehurst will not feature any new tees or bunkers, but this will be the first U.S. Open in history to play on a version of Bermudagrass called Champion Ultradwarf. Bermudagrass provides better playing conditions for the resort throughout the year, but it also allows for more leeway in course conditioning for the U.S. Open – plus it thrives in the heat and humidity of the North Carolina summer, per the USGA.
Traversing that grass will be a collection of the game’s best – along with the familiar, unfamiliar, and Cinderella qualifiers the U.S. Open is known for – who are all chasing Scheffler. He is coming off a victory at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and is the first since Tom Watson in 1980 to come into a U.S. Open with five wins already on the season.
(Scheffler also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament, and the RBC Heritage earlier this season.)





Play Video
Scottie Scheffler’s efficiency from 125 to 150 yards sparks win at the Memorial

Here’s everything you need to know as the TOUR returns to the North Carolina sandhills for the first time in a decade.
FIELD NOTES: Scheffler (where else would we start?) will tee it up at his seventh U.S. Open. His best result came at Brookline in 2022 when he finished runner-up. He finished third last year at LACC… Tiger Woods returns to action after missing the cut at the PGA Championship. Woods got a special exemption from the USGA after his five-year exemption into the U.S. Open (after his win at the 2019 Masters) ended last year. This will be Woods’ first U.S. Open since 2020 at Winged Foot. He did not play the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2014 but was T3 in 1999 and second in 2005… Rory McIlroy has won twice already this season and finished runner-up at last year’s U.S. Open in L.A. Although McIlroy broke par just once at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014 he would go on to win the next two majors that season… Xander Schauffele got the major monkey off his back at the PGA Championship last month, winning his maiden major by one shot. This will be his eighth U.S. Open start. His best result is a T3 at Pebble Beach in 2019… Collin Morikawa is getting closer and closer to winning another big one. He was in the final group at both the Masters and the PGA Championship and comes into the week after a runner-up result to Scheffler at the Memorial… Wyndham Clark looks to become just the second golfer in 35 years to win the U.S. Open in back-to-back years. Clark won his first major (and second PGA TOUR event) at last year’s U.S. Open by one shot over McIlroy. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this season.


1:07



Play Video
Tiger Woods gets ready for U.S. Open on Sunday at Pinehurst

OLYMPIC QUALIFYING: The U.S. Open is the final week for qualifying for the Olympic Golf competition in Paris. The top four Americans who would qualify are Scheffler, Schauffele, Clark and Morikawa.
NOTABLE QUALIFIERS: Adam Scott will compete in his 92nd straight major championship – – and 23rd consecutive U.S. Open. It’s the second-longest streak in men’s professional golf history. Scott is ranked No. 61 in the Official World Golf Ranking and became exempt after the USGA removed the late Grayson Murray from the list for qualifying purposes… Matt Kuchar was medalist at The Bear’s Club in Florida. He is one of three golfers to have played the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst (he was a 20-year-old amateur at Georgia Tech) who is again in the field 25 years later… Tim Widing, who leads the Korn Ferry Tour Points list after back-to-back victories in April, will make his U.S. Open debut. Widing was tied for medalist honors in Maryland… Frankie Capan III was medalist in North Carolina and will tee it up at his second straight U.S. Open – but this will be his first since making headlines earlier this year on the Korn Ferry Tour with a 58 in the opening round of the Veritex Bank Championship. Capan won the 2017 U.S. Fourball at Pinehurst No. 2… The comeback continues for Harry Higgs, who won two events in a row (in playoffs) on the Korn Ferry Tour in May and earned a U.S. Open spot in a playoff in North Carolina… Michael McGowan, who is from Pinehurst and grew up just a few miles from the resort, earned his way into the field at the Dallas qualifier. This will be his PGA TOUR debut… Francesco Molinari (Dallas) and his brother Edoardo (England) both qualified. This is just Edoardo’s second major championship start since 2015… Colin Prater is a science teacher at Cheyenne Mountain High School (and coaches the golf team). The 29-year-old amateur fired rounds of 68-73 to earn one of two spots in Oregon.
Click here to read more about Final Qualifying.
SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The next Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the Travelers Championship, the week after the U.S. Open… There are no updates from the Aon Swing 5 as the entrants to the Travelers were confirmed after the RBC Canadian Open (Robert MacIntyre, Davis Riley, Ben Griffin, Chris Gotterup, and Victor Perez)… The 10 names inside the Aon Next 10 remained the same from the RBC Canadian Open through the Memorial but with some movement: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (fourth at the Memorial) vaulted from No. 9 to No. 3, the biggest jump… Taylor Pendrith holds the No. 10 spot by just 45 points over Billy Horschel.


1:48



Play Video
Robert MacIntyre wins RBC Canadian Open

COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: With his victory at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, Scheffler continued his dominance on top of the TOUR TOP 10. His fifth win of the season (and 12th top-10 finish in 13 events) saw Scheffler pass the 5,000-point mark for the season… Morikawa finished runner-up to Scheffler at the Memorial and moved from No. 6 to No. 4 in the standings… Sepp Straka made a tremendous leap in the standings after his T5 at the Memorial, moving from No. 22 to No. 10… Byeong Hun An dropped one spot to No. 8, but remains the only golfer to be ranked inside the TOUR TOP 10 every week so far this season.
FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 750 FedExCup points.
COURSE: Pinehurst (No. 2), par 70, 7,543 yards. The biggest change from 2014 to this year is the club switched to bermudagrass from bentgrass. This will be the first U.S. Open played on ‘Champion Ultradwarf Bermudagrass’ greens. In 2014 the waste areas were only about four years old; the sandy areas around the course are now much more robust with a decade of growth. The course was originally laid out in 1907; designer Donald Ross kept a close eye on things as he lived beside the third hole. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restored the course in 2010 – the greens were taken back to their original dimensions and the sandhills now play a bigger part in the aesthetics. The undulating greens are the course’s primary defense, even for the game’s best. The fourth hole was previously played as a par 5 but will now play as a par 4 at 528 yards.
72-HOLE RECORD: 268, Rory McIlroy (2011 at Congressional CC).
18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele (Round 1, 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club).
LAST TIME: Clark won his first major in his seventh major start and six weeks after breaking through for his first PGA TOUR title. Clark shot an even-par 70 in the final round at Los Angeles Country Club to hold off McIlroy and Scheffler, who finished second and third, respectively. Clark bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16 as he inched closer to the finish line, but McIlroy, who finished one shot back, made just one birdie Sunday (on the first hole) and couldn’t press Clark any further as the sun set in Hollywood.

HOW TO FOLLOW​

NOTE: The USGA, who owns and operates the U.S. Open, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. For more information on how to watch this week, please visit the U.S. Open’s website. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume on Thursday, June 20 at the Travelers Championship.
Television:

• Thursday: 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (USA), 5-8 p.m. (Peacock)
• Friday: 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (Peacock), 1-7 p.m. (NBC), 7-8 p.m. (Peacock)
• Saturday: 10 a.m.-noon (USA), noon- 8 p.m. (NBC)
• Sunday: 9 a.m.-noon (USA), noon-7 p.m. (NBC)

Radio on SiriusXM 92/U.S. Open radio:

• Thursday-Friday: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Sunday: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Streaming: Various via USOpen.com. Featured Holes and Featured Groups to be announced.
For more live streaming information, click here for the official USGA Viewing Schedule.




Congratulations again to last weeks winners @DFSNOLE Mrs BFT and @FSU & Golf




With another winning week, Mrs BFT extends the overall season lead.



Good luck to everyone this week

For much of the season, you never knew exactly what you were going to get when Carson Dorsey stepped on the mound. But the last three weeks, he's been absolute nails for FSU with a 2.14 ERA over 21 NCAA Tournament innings.

His start Sunday with the Seminoles' season on the line may have been his best yet considering the context.

FSU sports information:

Florida State Men’s Golf rising junior Luke Clanton completed a memorable four-round performance at the 124th U.S. Open Championship, finishing as the second-lowest amateur at 8-over (76-69-69-74) to tie for 41st overall at Pinehurst No. 2.

The Hialeah, Fla., native became the first amateur at the U.S. Open to record consecutive rounds in the 60’s, shooting separate 69’s in his second and third rounds of play. He became the first Seminole amateur to make the cut at a major since John Pak finished as the Low Amateur at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

“It was such an honor to share Luke’s experience at the U.S. Open,” FSU Head Coach Trey Jones, who was with Clanton at Pinehurst, said. “We are all extremely proud of him for his play, but if you could see how he handled himself with junior and adult spectators – as Seminoles it made us all proud.”

Ohio State’s Neal Shipley, who was paired with Clanton in what was an entertaining group battling for the Low Amateur on Sunday, ended up finishing at 6-over.

One of the signature moments from Clanton came on the 18th hole on Sunday when he nearly holed out an eagle pitch from 129 yards. As he walked toward the green, Clanton tipped his hat to the crowd, who gave him an ovation after what had been a great performance at his first major.

Clanton has enjoyed a banner year that includes first-team All-America honors by the Golf Coaches Association of America as well as leading the Seminoles to a National Runner-Up finish – the program’s best showing ever. Clanton is FSU’s new single-season scoring average leader after carding a 69.33 in 2023-24.

Famous for his appearances on the popular Good Good social channels, Clanton became the first Seminole ever to win three consecutive collegiate tournaments when he won the Seminole Intercollegiate, the Valspar Collegiate Invitational and the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial. He earns an exemption to the 2025 Valspar Championship held at the Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Clanton joined teammate Frederik Kjettrup in qualifying for the U.S. Open on June 3. He finished fourth at the qualifying site at The Bear’s Club.

While the Seminoles lose strong senior play from last year’s record-setting team, Clanton returns along with ACC Freshman of the Year Tyler Weaver in what should be another accomplished season for the Seminoles.

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Adam Gorney has thoughts from around the nation, including Zion Grady (at Tennessee over the weekend):

The Florida State baseball team has had a day to recover mentally from its devastating 12-11 loss to Tennessee Friday night in Omaha.

Now, the Seminoles' season is on the line Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field. No. 8 seed FSU (47-16) takes on No. 12 Virginia (46-16) in the first elimination game of this year's College World Series Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

FSU is 60-34 all-time vs. Virginia and won the only game the teams played this season three weeks ago in the ACC Tournament 12-7.

FSU will turn to junior lefty Carson Dorsey (6-4, 4.80 ERA) while the Cavaliers are starting junior righty Jay Woolfolk (4-1, 5.95 ERA). While neither of the pitchers have the best earned run averages this season, both have been excellent in two NCAA Tournament starts each. Dorsey allowed two earned runs over 14 innings in wins over Stetson and UConn while Woolfolk allowed five earned runs over 14.1 innings in wins over Mississippi State and Kansas State.

FSU lineup


Virginia lineup



I'll have updates from Charles Schwab Field throughout Sunday's game as the Seminoles look to advance to a Tuesday game against the loser of tonight's UNC-Tennessee game.

The Rivals Five-Star Challenge will take place next week in Jacksonville. The Osceola staff will be on-site to get a look at the nation's top prospects. Adam Gorney takes a look at FSU commit Tramell Jones and other QBs:

Updates on prospects from around the Southeast, including four-star WR CJ Wiley:

FSU sports information:

Eight athletes with ties to the Florida State swimming and diving teams will compete at the 2024 LEN European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, running from June 17-23.

The top 16 swimmers in the 50-meter, 100 and 200 events will advance to semifinals and the top eight will compete in finals. Relays and events 400 meters or longer will competed in prelims, with the top eight moving on to finals.

Live timing and streaming will be available through European Aquatics.

In addition, Emma Terebo and incoming freshman Michel Arkhanglsky will compete in the French Olympic Trials running from June 16-21 in Chartres, France. Terebo will race in the 50, 100 and 200 back, while Arkhanglsky is entered in the 50 and 100 fly, as well as the 100 back, 200 back and 100 free.

Tommaso Baravelli is scheduled to compete in the Sete Colli Trophy in Italy, June 21-23.

FSU held an individual skills camp on Sunday afternoon where the hosted about 500 prospects from the 2025 through 2028 recruiting classes. There were several new offers coming out of camp.


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Video interviews with Link Jarrett, Carson Dorsey, Brennen Oxford and Alex Lodise talking about FSU's 7-3 win over Virginia this afternoon to keep their season alive and advance to another game Tuesday.

LINK JARRETT: To explain the feeling of sitting up here Friday night is not something I can remotely relay to you. This team's response of playing arguably the best game we've played this year pretty much sums up what's in that dugout. And it's not easy to go to bed after that. It's not a pleasant day.

And to watch them play their best game, that was just a thrill I'll never forget here. And I've had some. That was beyond an experience I've had here and just the response.

And it's hard to say that, wow, you guys have responded all year. That's just your team. Well, when you're in this, it doesn't always tee itself up for you to just go and respond. You have to execute in every phase of the game.

The starting pitcher has to command his stuff. It's got to be good enough stuff to handle the best offensive team or one of the top two in the country in terms of their ability, bat-to-ball skills and athleticism. He had all four pitches going -- fastball, curveball, you landed your slider, was good, and the change-up.

And when he has all of that early and finds it and goes with it, it's exactly what you saw. And when you face those guys in Charlotte, it was a little different story.

So just the toughness to deal with how that relief appearance went in Charlotte that was not good and to respond today with that performance against that team, pretty remarkable.

I think Brian is one of the classiest people in the business. That is a model program. There are certain programs, as you're trying to figure out what you're doing in coaching, that you look to duplicating the things they have done. And that's an A-plus coaching staff.

Their team, frontline, they play the game the right way. So, again, hats off to them. It's not easy to be in this stadium this time of year, and they clearly are regulars.

I thought the fifth inning -- we talk about self-contained relief, if you're going to start games and get through enough of it to really make this a start, I thought the fifth, when he went F7, hit by pitch, walk, right, great play in center field by Williams to lay in on the little soft fly ball and then an L6.

And that's becoming your own relief pitcher. If you can't do that, you're not going to be in the conversation to pitch six or seven or eight innings of a game. So, huge.

And I think sometimes the momentum that you gain from getting out of it on the field, you come right in, and we had a really good bottom of the fifth. There were two outs and nobody on, if I'm not mistaken, and Cam hits the ball and turned into a double.

And Tibbs, I think they walked Tibbs. And Marco had the two-strike hit. Nice job by Ty Megahee of slowing it down. He sensed Marco was getting a little bit frustrated and used an offensive visit, which was well done on his part. And then Ferrer hits another home run.

I thought the fifth inning was really the turning point in the game. Lodise's nice home run. And Oxford, think about how that kid felt leaving here Friday when you've waited your whole life -- you've been in two programs and you wait your whole life to step on that mound -- and he had to deal with what he had to deal with in that game.

We should have won that game. And his response to be better -- his stuff was actually better. Really proud of him and happy for him.

Good play at second. Two good plays at short. Really three good plays at shortstop. Really nice play at third base, a nice diving play. And then Ferrer made a nice running catch towards the foul line and clearly probably didn't need to slide for the one that evaded him there late.

That's enough from me. These guys did the real work today. But I'm proud of the response and the answer by this team. I don't know that I've ever been through anything like Friday night, and I haven't been a part of a response to something that I'd never seen on this stage before.

Q. Carson, for you, obviously you clearly have respect for the Virginia offense and what they're capable of; you saw it firsthand. Curious, first off, how you adjusted your approach against them. I know it's different when you're starting. And just what has been the key for you to unlock the success you've had during these three postseason weeks here?

CARSON DORSEY: Yeah, today we had these guys behind us the whole time making great plays the whole game. But being able to have more than just the fastball working and trusting in those pitches is what really made the difference between today and the last time.

Q. Jaime, can you speak about the second at-bat, the home run there? And tell us about your approach today and how you were able to take advantage of a really big moment there for your team.

JAIME FERRER: I was just trying to see something up. He struck me out in the at-bat before on all heaters. I felt I was feeling the heaters. I was trying to be fastball timing. I was trying to see something up. And I saw a slider up in his hand. And I got enough on it to get out of the ballpark.

During BP we noticed a lot of balls were leaving the park if they were elevated to left field. At the end of the day you've got to stick to your same approach. You've got to look for one pitch. And when you get it, you can't miss it.

I think the team that does that more times than not will have a lot of success at the plate. We had a few key hits.

And being able to come out clutch for my team is awesome. We still get to dance and we still get to play on Tuesday and compete for a national championship, which at the end of the day is everyone's goal here. And all eight of these teams are championship-caliber teams. For us to come out here with a win means the entire world to us.

Q. Jaime, I know you homered on the first pitch against Woolfolk in that fourth inning, but you guys worked a lot of long at-bats against him early. Was that a game plan going in against him to make him throw a lot of pitches early in the game?

JAIME FERRER: Not necessarily. At the end of the day it's great to get the starting pitcher out of the game early. But the at-bats that we put up, like, for example, having Marco, Tibbs, Cam and Max putting up long at-bats in front of me helps me at the end of the day. I get to see more pitches and a scouting report from them.

He's a great arm. For us to be able to knock him out of the game early was huge for us. And just the game plan that we have and the trust that we have in each other is what helps us put up big innings.

Q. Carson, that seemed like one of the highest volume usage of the curveball for you today. How good did you feel with the curveball? And how far has that pitch come since you started working with Micah this season?

CARSON DORSEY: Yeah, we saw it worked early in the game, and we decided to stay with it. Don't change what's working.

Q. Jaime, what's it like to see guys like Alex and also Cam getting it going for you guys in the fifth inning before you squared your second home run of tonight?

JAIME FERRER: It's awesome. I always say that hitting is very contagious. We see the guys in front of you that are putting up good at-bats and they're having success. It means the game plan that we're going up to the plate with are working.

And it gives us confidence. And you don't want to be the guy that doesn't get a hit when everyone's getting hits. It's super contagious.

We like to have fun. Seeing them in front of me gives us a lot of confidence and gives us a game plan. When they come back in the dugout, like I said, and we know how their fastball is looking that day because the guy that you're facing isn't the same arm every day. One day he might have a little more life to his fastball.

Getting that feedback from them and kind of having mature guys in the lineup, 1 through 9, is something that helps us a lot, for sure.

Q. Jaime, as one of the leaders of this team, what was the emotions like yesterday after coming off of Friday and what allows you guys to be able to respond the way you do?

JAIME FERRER: It's hard. It was a hard loss on Friday, a game we felt like we should have won late in that game. But for us to come back and have another opportunity to come out here and compete and play in front of these fans is a true blessing. It's something we don't take for granted.

We have leaders, 1 through 9, and the entire team. So for us to be out here to play and have another opportunity to play for a national championship is something that we don't take for granted. We started 0-1 but we've seen teams that have done it. We have that opportunity so we're not going to take it for granted.

Q. Being here in that uniform, how much do you think about 11 when you see the jerseys everywhere and how much do you think about your coach when you're coaching at Omaha?

LINK JARRETT: A lot. And I hear his voice. There's things that as the game's going I kind of hear: "You've got to have somebody on the mound at the end of the game that you trust. If you remember one thing I've told you, let it be that."

And then three hours later he'd say, "If I've ever told you one thing, don't get beat deep." It was on -- I just hear that all the time. And he's the best. Like, he's the best that's ever coached this sport at this level.

This is a different game than when you watched the Yankees and the Red Sox play. He mastered the art of coaching at this level. He did. So I hear it. I think about it.

And it burns me up that I didn't participate in the games that won it for him. It's tough.

I'm happy to be here, but I'm not going to be happy until we've delivered the result.

There's plenty of teams that are here that have not answered and done it. I get it. But when you've been on that field so many times as a player and you walk out of there and you were empty at the end, it sticks with you.

So my quest in coaching was to learn what to do to make sure that that did not repeat itself for the guys on our team. So that's all you do.

And then if that's not good enough you can lay your head down knowing you gave it all you had. And I hear his voice and his voice meant so much. And it still does because I still hear it.

Like I told you, I finally imitated him to him, and he was, "Oh my good...." he loved it. He's the best. And he laid the foundation for me in this game. And I didn't have anywhere to go.

It was probably about this time in June when he told me I could be on the team at FSU, as a senior, not as a sophomore and an eighth grader like the guys do now. I could go on and on, but he's the best.

Q. Did you guys do anything special in the off-day there after the tough loss on Friday to bounce back, get ready for today's game?

LINK JARRETT: I came and watched my son throw batting practice and sat behind the first base dugout like a normal -- I guess that's what a normal dad, maybe just something like that. My headache, I cannot tell you how bad my head ached Friday night. Saturday, I cannot tell you. There's no way to dodge it. That's how bad you felt.

We went to the Kiwanis and the American Legion Service Club lunch, and it was great. It was great. It's just weird how stuff happens.

The games were coming on. So they had ESPN on the back. And the second speaker was up there and behind it was us getting walked off.

And our guys sat there and had to take that, and so the headache got a little -- it wasn't anybody's fault. These are the things that happen when you don't win. There it is, boys, we didn't get it done. And you can take one more look at it.

And the pitchers weren't stretching through the hitters. I asked the assistants. You ask the hitters what they want to do. We can go hit. We can not hit. Does hitting in the cage at this time of the year matter? It mattered to three guys that wanted to do it. The rest of them said we're good.

So the talk this morning was firm, and I talk to them before every game. We go over the starting pitcher -- tendencies of the team, top relievers -- and then I close it out and off we go.

So they knew. This is no fairytale here. You're either going to deliver the goods and go down the list of how you have to play correctly to win here, or you're not and you'll pack up.

So in a nutshell, that was part of it. And it's a tough reality, but it is a reality. Man, they came out, they were on it.

Q. What was the mood like this morning? Were they loose? Did they have a good warm-up? Did you feel like they were going to play one of their best games? What was your impression of how they were getting ready to go into this?

LINK JARRETT: Probably better than I expected at breakfast. Probably better than I expected. I had media from 7:45 to 8:30. And when I came back in, they were already in there. And it was okay. Better than I thought. And I can read the room fairly well. I think they were okay.

Now, the pregame, that was pretty good. I said, guys, you want to take ground balls during BP like you normally do. I don't care if we do our two-man fungo infield-outfield type. I don't care. You've earned my trust.

If you want to chill out eat your sandwich and get out of the sun and chill, I could care less. All I care about is, when it's 1:06 that you have your A game. So no in and out.

I could tell the BP was really good. The infield defense stuff, I hit the fungoes the whole time, they were on it. And the outfielders were moving around and moving into different positions. We have a lot of different spots we ask them to play. I saw them doing it. So they were really locked in.

Now, that can happen and you can still get your tail beat. But you could sense that the vibe and the focus was there.

Q. Going back to Dorsey for a minute here, I know it's been an interesting year for him, ups and downs. Feels like in the postseason, I know he had those two rough outings in the ACC tournament but --

LINK JARRETT: At Clemson? You were there, weren't you? Two grand slams in two days to the same guy.

Q. It was tough. To see what he's doing now, right, these three starts in a row in the postseason, just nails. How have you been able to get him there and how is he able to do this?

LINK JARRETT: Learning yourself and what it feels like. He's a talented kid. But Gulf Coast Community College, great. Tyler Younger great coach. Their guys are prepared.

But nobody's quite adept at this type of thing or some of those games until you've been in it a little bit. It's hard to feel how you might feel when you're on this stage, and the arm feels different, your body feels different, the adrenaline. It's new.

So maybe that had something to do with it. Mastering the pitches, and the breaking ball helps because, like Kershaw, the bigger kind of gets people off the riding fastball, the harder slider and change-up. If not, the change-up and the slider are almost the same speed. So that thing visually alters what the hitter sees and kind of feels and then the speed difference is big.

When you had Leiter, Arnold, Whittaker and we had Dorsey in the pen and Charles and others, it was different. So we were trying to use him out of the bullpen. So did we -- he said, Coach, I don't care, I just want to pitch and go to Omaha; that's what I want.

Some guys, when you talk about leverage relief -- starting, you throw once a week, you know when you throw your bullpen, you know when you lift twice, you know what condition you're doing, your flat ground. You know the day you can do PFP and the day you can't. It's a little more streamlined. So a lot of guys kind of enjoy that because it's easier.

So in the midst of what we had going early, when we had not lost a game for a third of the season and he was in relief, you saw the Clemson thing. It just worked out when Leiter went down that, hey, let's try this starting thing and maybe he can get more comfortable. And there have been some really, really good starts against some tough, tough, tough top national teams.

Q. When Woolfolk went out, how did the approach change with Savino coming in? I know you guys saw Savino in Charlotte. Did the approach change at all? And were you impressed with how quickly you adjusted to him?

LINK JARRETT: We have nine different things the hitters choose from to try to do when they're at the plate, nine things. It's not rocket science. You probably turn on TV tonight and watch a game here, the big leagues. They're probably doing similar stuff, but we try to work on that.

So what you need to grab as there's as many pitching changes as we've seen in these two games here, just different -- Woolfolk's fastball was hot. And those guys talked to each other early. It was 93, 94, but they're, that thing is riding as much as we've seen. I don't know what really happened.

But then Savino is more slice and dice and changeup and move it around. So it's a calibration of the feel of the fastball probably more than anything else. But the guys have taken to this and it allows you to go to a different golf club for the shot that you need to try to hit.

And these guys are -- like Jaime is starting to figure it out and Tibbs is figuring it out. Cam Smith, the development and use of some of these approaches makes the adjustment much easier when you know what mental button to push.

All seven of Florida State's official visitors will be leaving campus early on Sunday morning. As they depart and we get a chance to speak with them, their interviews will be uploaded to YouTube and posted in this thread here. As of right now Joshua Moore, Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, and Malik Clark are the only three in the building, with the others arriving later after breakfast.