According to Link Jarrett, the big inning, home runs, dominant starting pitching, and an ability to respond are trademarks of this Florida State Seminoles baseball team.
With his team’s back against the wall during their first elimination game of the NCAA postseason tournament, FSU went back to what got them here.
A four-run fifth, three home runs, and a Carson Dorsey start that eviscerated one of the best offenses in baseball in the Virginia Cavaliers ensured that the magical 2024 season would continue for one more game.
After scoring 11 runs on Friday, the lineup proved potent once more. The order went 2-3 with RISP, had four XBH, and struck out five times compared to four walks.
However, the story of today’s game centers around Carson Dorsey. He utilized all four pitches and worked in and out of the zone, keeping the UVA offense off-balance all day. His fastball was his bread and butter, and he used it early in counts while throwing it up in the zone to miss barrels. His change-up and slider provided a necessary change of pace and played well off his heater, while his breaking ball devastated batters during two-strike counts. Although he allowed nine hits, he sprayed them across seven innings while giving up just two XBH. After an up-and-down regular season, his postseason play continues to save the Seminoles, and his legend grows every time he takes the mound.
Dorsey brought his A-game from the first inning on. He got started against First Team All-ACC SS Griff O’Ferrall, who destroyed FSU in the first meeting, forcing him to pop out to first. After allowing a single, he used a beautiful pick-off move to get the UVA runner into a run-down for the second out before a strikeout from a curveball ended the first in 13 pitches.
It took a little while for the Florida State offense to heat up against Virginia starter Jay Woolfolk. Max Williams and Cam Smith went down swinging on fastballs that neither could catch up with before James Tibbs flew out to center.
The second inning played out like the first, as Dorsey worked around a one-out double by generating soft contact and trusting his defense, while the 4-5-6 went down in order.
Dorsey began to put a stranglehold on the Cavalier lineup in the third with his first 1-2-3 frame of the afternoon. He started missing barrels with his off-speed after utilizing his fastball the first time through the lineup. The lefty had a feel for his slider and change-up, while his curveball became his strikeout pitch.
Although the lineup struggled early, they cannot be kept down for long. Drew Faurot singled for the first FSU baserunner of the day before the order flipped over. Williams' two-out knock put two-on with two out, and Smith walked after being down 1-2, bringing up Tibbs with the bases loaded. Woolfolk began to lose his early fastball command, and a second straight free pass brought in the game's first run. Dinges grounded out to end the third, but the Florida State lineup woke up.
The lefty sent Virginia down in order for the second straight inning in the fourth as he continued to mow down an offense with the second-highest BA in college baseball.
In the bottom half, Jamie Ferrer started to become an Omaha legend in real time. On the first pitch of his at-bat, he sent a cement-mixer-breaking ball over the wall in left for his second HR of the CW, with a carbon copy blast from his long ball on Friday. Woolfolk came up gimpy after the round-tripper, and after a walk to Alex Lodise, UVA pulled him after 3 1⁄3 IP with an injury.
Dorsey found his first trouble since the second in the fifth, with a hit batter and a walk. But he never let go of the rope. He induced a pop-out to the nine-hole hitter before getting O’Ferrall to line out to short as he posted his fifth consecutive zero.
In the bottom half, the big inning for Florida State finally came. Cam Smith began the two-out rally with a double, sinking just enough before the RF could make the diving play. A Tibbs intentional walk brought up Dinges, and the DH made Brian O’Connor pay. On a 2-2 count, he laced a single between first and second as FSU took a 3-0 lead. Then, Ferrer became an Omaha legend with his third long ball in two games, this one, a three-run jack that just got past the outstretched glove of the LF. Instantly, Jarrett’s team went up 6-0 as their star 2-5 hitters came through and scored.
Virginia tried to put together a two-out rally of their own in the sixth. Harrison Didawick came up with two-on, and when Dorsey needed a strikeout most, he went to his curveball to generate the swing and miss, posting his sixth consecutive zero.
Before the ESPN broadcast came back from break, Lodise put a charge into a high fastball. The SS has been swinging a hot bat in Omaha and received his reward with a solo shot that traveled 408 feet as the ball blasted 107 MPH off the bat as FSU began to blow this one open 7-0.
In the seventh, Virginia finally scratched two runs across the plate after starting the frame with two runners on base with nobody out, but Dorsey fought to the end. He recorded three strikeouts between base hits, including a punch out from his curveball that ended the inning.
Leading 7-2, Jarrett tried his luck by sending Dorsey back out for the eighth, but a lead-off base hit ended his afternoon.
Dorsey’s line: 7.0+ IP, 9 H, 7 Ks, 3 ER, 2 BB
The head coach went back to Brennen Oxford for the second straight game, and the reliever did not look his best. A ground out and a wild pitch put a runner on third with two outs, and a double to dead-center scored the third Cavalier run of the day. A clutch fly out to Tibbs ended the eighth as FSU took a four-run advantage to the bottom half.
A double play in the ninth ended any threat from a one-out walk as Florida State won their first game in Omaha 7-3.
The Seminoles will play Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET against the loser of Tennessee and North Carolina.
