Dating back to the start of preseason camp, Florida State baseball coach Link Jarrett had a good idea of what his 2025 team's identity would be.
"I feel like this team has to be very difficult to score on. If you're difficult to score on through the caliber of the pitching and the athleticism of the defense, those athletes (in our lineup) that are playing good defense, they're going to figure out some way to score..." Jarrett said back in January. "If you're hard to score on, it does change maybe what you have to do offensively to push your way in some of these games."
There were times this regular season where that was very much the identity of this team. FSU held its opponent to three or fewer runs in 25 of 50 regular-season games. There were also times where that lapsed in a significant way for the Seminoles, who allowed nine or more runs in 11 regular-season games.
This past weekend, though, the Tallahassee Regional felt like a culmination of what Jarrett was hoping this team's identity would be. Over three games in the regional, the Seminoles committed no errors and allowed just seven runs over 27 innings of work. Two of those games and 18 of those innings came against a Mississippi State offense that was top five in the SEC in batting average and home runs this season.
"(Pitching coach) Micah (Posey) calls a great game. He knows these guys inside and out, he's got great relationships with them, he develops them," Jarrett said, giving credit to his pitching coach for this regional showing. "Then you have to navigate based on who's on the mound and clearly a ton of what you're seeing with the hitter. But it really starts with knowing your personnel and he's great with that. The developmental side of it, the scouting report side of it and the execution angle, great."
That tone was set in each of FSU's three games by the starting pitchers. While Joey Volini's outing was cut short after just three innings by an extended weather delay vs. Bethune-Cookman on Friday, Jamie Arnold and Wes Mendes each had season-best outings in wins over Mississippi State. Arnold struck out a season-high 13 batters over seven innings on Saturday and then Mendes threw a career-high eight innings on Sunday, striking out nine batters. The pair of extended starters combined to allow five runs on 10 hits over 15 innings in two games against a MSU offense that entered Saturday averaging 7.9 runs and 10.4 hits per game.
Through 15 weekends this season, FSU's trio of rotation starters have combined to start all 43 of the team's weekend games, posting a combined ERA of 3.81 over 236 innings.
"I haven't gone through a season that I can recall as a head or assistant coach with three starting pitchers that performed from the first weekend till this one," Jarrett said. "There's other guys who are very capable of starting, but these three are the ones who seemed to put us in the right direction and gave us plenty of options in leverage moments."
The success of the starters wasn't a big surprise over the weekend. The bigger shocker came from FSU's bullpen, a facet of the team that has dealt with some wild swings of success and failure this season. Over the weekend, though, it was basically all ups for FSU's relievers, who combined to throw nine innings of shutout work in the Tallahassee Regional, allowing five hits, walking three batters and striking out 13.
"You hear me talk about leverage relief, every outing in this was a leverage-relief outing. It's not who closes and sets up for me. It's coming in with your "A" stuff and recording outs..." Jarrett said. "You're not going to hold teams like this at bay unless you get good starts and you have quality execution on the back side of the game."
Three different relievers combined to throw six innings of shutout work in Friday's regional opener after Volini's outing was ended due to weather. Then sixth-year senior Joe Charles finished off Arnold and Mendes' strong starts in the final two games, throwing all three relief innings over the Saturday and Sunday wins vs. MSU and allowing just one baserunner on a walk while striking out six of the 10 batters he faced.
For a long stretch of this season, there was no single player in FSU's bullpen who it felt was a reliable option that could be counted on each time he took the mound. Down the stretch of the regular season and now into postseason, Charles has become that go-to reliever. Over his last seven appearances, Charles has allowed four runs on seven hits over 14 innings (2.57 ERA), racking up 24 strikeouts and issuing just five walks.
"The hardest thing to do in our sport is come in and throw up zeroes in the seventh through the ninth. This is an offensive game, it's made for offense. His ability to not get sped up and to be a weathered, older guy that has kind of experienced it all (helps him)..." Posey told the Osceola. "Even (Sunday) night, he got two quick outs and then he kind of looked like he lost it and then he reeled it back in. That's kind of what you need from that guy.
"If you look at his last however many outings, he's been in the pressure cooker and he's delivered just about every time."
Pair what FSU got on the mound with a perfect defensive weekend -- FSU now has a .980 fielding percentage -- and a powerful offense and it certainly changes the complexion of this team and how long the Seminoles' postseason run could continue if this level of plays is carried over into Corvallis this weekend.
"I feel like this team has to be very difficult to score on. If you're difficult to score on through the caliber of the pitching and the athleticism of the defense, those athletes (in our lineup) that are playing good defense, they're going to figure out some way to score..." Jarrett said back in January. "If you're hard to score on, it does change maybe what you have to do offensively to push your way in some of these games."
There were times this regular season where that was very much the identity of this team. FSU held its opponent to three or fewer runs in 25 of 50 regular-season games. There were also times where that lapsed in a significant way for the Seminoles, who allowed nine or more runs in 11 regular-season games.
This past weekend, though, the Tallahassee Regional felt like a culmination of what Jarrett was hoping this team's identity would be. Over three games in the regional, the Seminoles committed no errors and allowed just seven runs over 27 innings of work. Two of those games and 18 of those innings came against a Mississippi State offense that was top five in the SEC in batting average and home runs this season.
"(Pitching coach) Micah (Posey) calls a great game. He knows these guys inside and out, he's got great relationships with them, he develops them," Jarrett said, giving credit to his pitching coach for this regional showing. "Then you have to navigate based on who's on the mound and clearly a ton of what you're seeing with the hitter. But it really starts with knowing your personnel and he's great with that. The developmental side of it, the scouting report side of it and the execution angle, great."
That tone was set in each of FSU's three games by the starting pitchers. While Joey Volini's outing was cut short after just three innings by an extended weather delay vs. Bethune-Cookman on Friday, Jamie Arnold and Wes Mendes each had season-best outings in wins over Mississippi State. Arnold struck out a season-high 13 batters over seven innings on Saturday and then Mendes threw a career-high eight innings on Sunday, striking out nine batters. The pair of extended starters combined to allow five runs on 10 hits over 15 innings in two games against a MSU offense that entered Saturday averaging 7.9 runs and 10.4 hits per game.
Through 15 weekends this season, FSU's trio of rotation starters have combined to start all 43 of the team's weekend games, posting a combined ERA of 3.81 over 236 innings.
"I haven't gone through a season that I can recall as a head or assistant coach with three starting pitchers that performed from the first weekend till this one," Jarrett said. "There's other guys who are very capable of starting, but these three are the ones who seemed to put us in the right direction and gave us plenty of options in leverage moments."
The success of the starters wasn't a big surprise over the weekend. The bigger shocker came from FSU's bullpen, a facet of the team that has dealt with some wild swings of success and failure this season. Over the weekend, though, it was basically all ups for FSU's relievers, who combined to throw nine innings of shutout work in the Tallahassee Regional, allowing five hits, walking three batters and striking out 13.
"You hear me talk about leverage relief, every outing in this was a leverage-relief outing. It's not who closes and sets up for me. It's coming in with your "A" stuff and recording outs..." Jarrett said. "You're not going to hold teams like this at bay unless you get good starts and you have quality execution on the back side of the game."
Three different relievers combined to throw six innings of shutout work in Friday's regional opener after Volini's outing was ended due to weather. Then sixth-year senior Joe Charles finished off Arnold and Mendes' strong starts in the final two games, throwing all three relief innings over the Saturday and Sunday wins vs. MSU and allowing just one baserunner on a walk while striking out six of the 10 batters he faced.
For a long stretch of this season, there was no single player in FSU's bullpen who it felt was a reliable option that could be counted on each time he took the mound. Down the stretch of the regular season and now into postseason, Charles has become that go-to reliever. Over his last seven appearances, Charles has allowed four runs on seven hits over 14 innings (2.57 ERA), racking up 24 strikeouts and issuing just five walks.
"The hardest thing to do in our sport is come in and throw up zeroes in the seventh through the ninth. This is an offensive game, it's made for offense. His ability to not get sped up and to be a weathered, older guy that has kind of experienced it all (helps him)..." Posey told the Osceola. "Even (Sunday) night, he got two quick outs and then he kind of looked like he lost it and then he reeled it back in. That's kind of what you need from that guy.
"If you look at his last however many outings, he's been in the pressure cooker and he's delivered just about every time."
Pair what FSU got on the mound with a perfect defensive weekend -- FSU now has a .980 fielding percentage -- and a powerful offense and it certainly changes the complexion of this team and how long the Seminoles' postseason run could continue if this level of plays is carried over into Corvallis this weekend.
