Through two days, the 2025 ACC Baseball Tournament has been quite chaotic.
On the first day of the event on Tuesday, the three lowest-seeded teams all won their games. On Wednesday, No. 14 seed Boston College and No. 16 seed Cal each pulled off significant upsets to advance into the quarterfinals, with No. 15 Pitt blowing a ninth-inning lead and coming up just short of joining them.
That early chaos may have led FSU to landing on what was probably the most obvious pitching choice for its first game in the conference tournament. While head coach Link Jarrett said in a Zoom interview with FSU media members on Wednesday that all three FSU starters would be possibilities to start the Seminoles' ACC Tournament opener Friday afternoon, that debate ended up where many probably expected it to land.
Second-seeded FSU (37-13, 17-10 in ACC) will start junior ace Jamie Arnold (6-2, 2.59 ERA) in its quarterfinal matchup vs. No. 7 seed Duke (37-18, 17-13) Friday at 3 p.m. at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
"When you look ahead, you want to make sure you're aligning things for the following weekend, too," Jarrett said of the deliberation. "So you keep the regional round in mind as you look at who you would throw and how much they would throw in this tournament."
Duke will start junior lefty Owen Proksch (2-2, 4.21 ERA), who became the Blue Devils' Friday starter midway through the 2025 season. As a reliever last season, Proksch faced FSU twice, allowing two earned runs over 1.1 innings, both of which came in the ACC Championship Game. Arnold faced Duke once last season, striking out nine and allowing two earned runs over five innings in a road win.
With FSU only guaranteed one game in the tournament due to a new modified single-elimination format which includes all 16 ACC teams, it makes sense for the Seminoles to throw their ace in their opening game. Especially in a week where so much is on the line for FSU.
For the second straight season, FSU enters the ACC Tournament firmly on the bubble for being a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament whose entire path to the College World Series goes through home games. This week last year, FSU won its ACCT pool with an upset of Virginia and then knocked off Wake Forest in the ACC Semifinals to clinch the No. overall 8 seed in the tournament.
This year, two wins would again likely be enough for FSU -- which entered the week at No. 14 in the RPI -- to land in the top eight. If FSU beats Duke on Friday, it faces the winner of the UNC-BC game Saturday at 5 p.m. If that game is against the Tar Heels as expected and the Seminoles avenge their series loss last weekend, that could be enough to propel them past the likes of Oregon, Oregon State and Coastal Carolina and into a top-eight overall seed for the second straight season.
"It's definitely in the back of the mind, but I think it's really, this is a cool experience..." FSU shortstop Alex Lodise said of the stakes entering this week. "I think you just want to come up here and win games. Link always talks about game by game, and then worry about what comes next. And I think if we just do what we need to do and play the way we need to play, everything will work out. We just gotta win one and then win one and then win the third, hopefully. We've just gotta go play good ball and we'll be alright."
On the first day of the event on Tuesday, the three lowest-seeded teams all won their games. On Wednesday, No. 14 seed Boston College and No. 16 seed Cal each pulled off significant upsets to advance into the quarterfinals, with No. 15 Pitt blowing a ninth-inning lead and coming up just short of joining them.
That early chaos may have led FSU to landing on what was probably the most obvious pitching choice for its first game in the conference tournament. While head coach Link Jarrett said in a Zoom interview with FSU media members on Wednesday that all three FSU starters would be possibilities to start the Seminoles' ACC Tournament opener Friday afternoon, that debate ended up where many probably expected it to land.
Second-seeded FSU (37-13, 17-10 in ACC) will start junior ace Jamie Arnold (6-2, 2.59 ERA) in its quarterfinal matchup vs. No. 7 seed Duke (37-18, 17-13) Friday at 3 p.m. at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
"When you look ahead, you want to make sure you're aligning things for the following weekend, too," Jarrett said of the deliberation. "So you keep the regional round in mind as you look at who you would throw and how much they would throw in this tournament."
Duke will start junior lefty Owen Proksch (2-2, 4.21 ERA), who became the Blue Devils' Friday starter midway through the 2025 season. As a reliever last season, Proksch faced FSU twice, allowing two earned runs over 1.1 innings, both of which came in the ACC Championship Game. Arnold faced Duke once last season, striking out nine and allowing two earned runs over five innings in a road win.
With FSU only guaranteed one game in the tournament due to a new modified single-elimination format which includes all 16 ACC teams, it makes sense for the Seminoles to throw their ace in their opening game. Especially in a week where so much is on the line for FSU.
For the second straight season, FSU enters the ACC Tournament firmly on the bubble for being a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament whose entire path to the College World Series goes through home games. This week last year, FSU won its ACCT pool with an upset of Virginia and then knocked off Wake Forest in the ACC Semifinals to clinch the No. overall 8 seed in the tournament.
This year, two wins would again likely be enough for FSU -- which entered the week at No. 14 in the RPI -- to land in the top eight. If FSU beats Duke on Friday, it faces the winner of the UNC-BC game Saturday at 5 p.m. If that game is against the Tar Heels as expected and the Seminoles avenge their series loss last weekend, that could be enough to propel them past the likes of Oregon, Oregon State and Coastal Carolina and into a top-eight overall seed for the second straight season.
"It's definitely in the back of the mind, but I think it's really, this is a cool experience..." FSU shortstop Alex Lodise said of the stakes entering this week. "I think you just want to come up here and win games. Link always talks about game by game, and then worry about what comes next. And I think if we just do what we need to do and play the way we need to play, everything will work out. We just gotta win one and then win one and then win the third, hopefully. We've just gotta go play good ball and we'll be alright."
