“I’m here for one reason. We’re missing something in that corner, in that cabinet; that’s why I’m here.”
After taking down the UCF Knights for the second time in as many days, Florida State head coach Link Jarrett pointed to the trophy case in the back corner of the FSU’s Legacy Room and reminded those in attendance that the job isn’t finished.
The second-year head coach does not feel like a regional win warrants intense celebration. Still, it pushes the Seminoles closer to their ultimate goal after a professional, undefeated display.
Hosting their first regional since 2018, Florida State proved they deserved a top-eight national seed. Their business-like approach throughout the weekend kept them in the winner’s bracket and control of their destiny. For a team without much postseason pedigree, they never lost composure and stuck to the script, leading to three straight convincing victories.
Surprisingly, the pitching became the story rather than the offense. Carson Dorsey and Jamie Arnold earned the only two pitcher spots on the all-regional team because of their brilliance on Friday and Saturday. Brennen Oxford shut the door in relief, following up the starters with five strikeouts in 2 1⁄3 IP, solidifying himself as the top name in the bullpen. On Sunday, Conner Whittaker and the other available arms did enough to keep their team in the game before the lineup lifted into orbit.
While the offense became the tires, not the engine, this weekend, it did enough in big moments to allow FSU to advance. On Friday, Florida State scored three runs in the first three innings, setting the tone for the weekend. Cam Smith’s back-to-back games with two-run HRs made the difference in the wins against UCF. His first dinger put the Seminoles up 4-0 on Saturday, which must have felt like 400-0 for the Knights the way Arnold threw, and his second shot on Sunday sparked the nine-run fifth that supplanted his team in the super-regionals.
Florida State will face off against UConn with a spot in the College World Series on the line — the Huskies come in having taken down the Oklahoma Sooners on their own turf but as UCF head coach and one-time Jarrett assistant Rich Wallace said, “it’s going to be really tough” for a team to win two out of three in Tallahassee.
3 Up
Pitching: Dorsey threw almost 60 pitches last weekend in Charlotte during two games but only recorded four outs combined while being shelled on each occasion. His rough outings made Jarrett toss and turn at night in the days leading up to Friday, debating if he could trust the lefty to start FSU on the right track and send them into the winner’s bracket. He decided to give him the ball, hopeful that Dorsey could go five innings and maintain the bullpen fresh for the rest of the weekend.
Whatever Dorsey did to flush the ACC tournament, he should bottle up and sell.
The former JUCO prospect went 8 2/3s innings and only allowed one earned run. He commanded his fastball and picked his spots on when to get the Stetson batters off-balance with the off-speed while trusting his defense to record outs behind him. Most impressively, he never let go of the rope, heading out for the eighth with 105 pitches thrown and the ninth with 111. Oxford sealed the deal with a three-pitch strikeout, but the day belonged to Dorsey.
On Saturday, Arnold provided an encore with 7.0 IP, 12 Ks, and an immaculate inning, a feat Jarrett admitted to never seeing in person. His energy blew away UCF batters as his fastball reached 97 MPH multiple times, while his slider became the perfect change of pace. Each time he left the mound, he fired up himself, his team, and the crowd, becoming the emotional leader on Saturday night. Along with Dorsey, he finished on the all-regional team and took home MVP honors. After his performance, Coach Wallace told the media, “If that is not the best pitcher in college baseball, I don’t know who is.”
But Arnold cannot pitch every game, and Jarrett turned over the closeout contest to Conner Whittaker; he went four innings, allowing just two runs. Conner Hults, John Abraham, and Joe Charles finished the game as the pitching staff gave up just seven earned runs over 27 innings. The pitching staff provided all the answers for a group that had so many questions coming into the postseason. If Florida State continues to receive starts like they did this weekend, a trip to Omaha feels well within reach.
The long ball: I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it 1,000 times: the offense goes as the home runs go. Florida State hit five in three games and two on Friday and Sunday. Max Williams and Smith hit four of the five as the top-of-the-lineup power swung the pendulum in FSU’s favor multiple times. On the first at-bat of the regional, the former pulled the ball just inside the foul line in right, giving the Seminoles an early 1-0 lead before putting the finishing touch on UCF Sunday with a three-run no-doubt blast to dead center. Smith, the latter, started the rally in the fifth last night with an opposite-field shot on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. A day prior, he doubled the Seminole advantage and had a home run trot for the ages as he brought the Howser crowd to their feet. The offensive lacked consistency this weekend, which will be touched on later, but when all nine batters have light-tower power, a game can turn instantly.
Mental makeup: Playing in front of home fans can be a blessing and a curse. While Florida State's faithful put on an unbelievable atmosphere, the tension can be cut with a knife when the games hang in the balance. The FSU baseball team, with little postseason experience, handled the ebbs and flows of the weekend better than most can say. When the offense had only one hit through four innings Sunday, nobody seemed visibly frustrated, and then the dam broke the following inning. On Saturday, facing the bases loaded and nobody out, Arnold did not let the game get away; he induced a double play and another ground out, allowing just one run to score as the Seminoles stayed ahead 5-2. For such an emotional team, Jarrett instilled a calmness in them to take the game one pitch at a time, which permeates in critical moments. A lot of teams talk about culture, but few have it established.
Florida State rebuilt theirs in one season.
Honorable mention Marco Dinges: Stetson and UCF did not want to let Tibbs and Smith beat them, so the DH needed to provide the clutch hits. Dinges delivered, going 7-14 with two RBIs, and kept passing the baton for the rest of the lineup. While the big knock never came, by putting hard-hit balls in play, he moved runners and created chaos for opposing defenses.
3 Down
James Tibbs: “We tried to choose our outs accordingly,” coach Wallace said about the middle of the Florida State lineup. With four players batting over .300 2-5, it can be daunting for a pitching staff. UCF and Stetson chose not to let the ACC player of the year beat them as he walked six times in three games. Unfortunately, this weekend, his patient approach was the only positive from the RF. After slumping in Charlotte, he bottomed out in Tallahassee. He did not record a hit over the three games, going 0-9 with four strikeouts. He committed an error with one out remaining against Stetson, attempting to throw out the runner at first, but he missed the ball, which rolled down to the wall as the batter stood on third. Eventually, he will snap out of the funk, making it all the more impressive for FSU to advance to the supers without their first or second-best hitter, but this was a weekend to forget.
Consistent offense: Before the fifth inning on Sunday, the Seminoles had one hit in eight frames against UCF, dating back to the prior game. The bats went missing as the poor plate appearances racked up. The lid came off the basket later in the game, but Florida State scored in only four innings against UCF out of 18. Their variety of arms in the bullpen stymied the Seminoles, as they could not crack the code. On Friday, FSU fared better, bringing in runs in the first, second, third, fifth, and seventh, but the ‘Noles never blew the game open when they had the chance.
