Culmination of Jamie Arnold's sophomore surge set for Friday night in Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. — After saying Jamie Arnold would probably get the ball for Florida State's first start in the College World Series Wednesday, Link Jarrett made it official Thursday.
It'll be FSU's ace on the mound Friday at 7 p.m. (ESPN) at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha against No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.
"Arnold will go and then you're going to use some relievers you would think at some point in this thing," Jarrett said in his press conference. "Maybe not. It would be great if we didn't."
On an FSU staff that has dealt with injuries and seen some wavering in the back end this season, Arnold has been Mr. Reliable for the Seminoles. He enters the College World Series with 11 wins (the most by an FSU pitcher since Mike Compton's 12 in 2012), a 2.77 ERA (best by an FSU pitcher with 100+ innings since Drew Parrish in 2018), 155 strikeouts (most by an FSU pitcher since 1994) and just 22 walks allowed.
He's gone five-plus innings in all but one of his starts this season and the one time it didn't happen was because of a weather delay. Even more than that, he's thrown at least six innings in 10 of his 17 starts and seven innings five times.
"A real low slot and a really whippy arm. I think when Florida State started their year the way they did, he had a lot to do with it," Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said of Arnold. "When you have a great pitcher like a (Paul) Skenes, it helps you on that game day and then it helps on all the other days too for obvious reasons."
Facing the Volunteers may be the toughest test of the season so far for Arnold. Tennessee has hit 173 home runs this season, 22 more than any other team in the country and the second most any college team has ever hit. It is also in the top 25 nationally in scoring (9.2 runs per game, 7th), batting average (.310, 20th), slugging percentage (.613, 2nd) and doubles (150, 3rd).
"Damaging, threatening, physical, intense, balanced. Just pick whatever you want, man. I mean, I know what we're walking into and I know what we walked into in 2022..." Jarrett said. "I know how good they are. They're unbelievable, unbelievably talented. This is a little bit of Clash of the Titans...This is top-of-the-food-chain stuff."
On paper, it's an even better offense than the 2022 Tennessee team. That team was also the No. 1 overall seed and Jarrett's Notre Dame team beat those Volunteers in a super regional in Knoxville two years ago, holding the Vols to nine runs in the two losses that weekend.
"I told the guys and I'll tell them again: Once the game starts, it doesn't know. So our stats, their stats, the game doesn't know what's supposed to happen. You have to go manage and take charge of the game," Jarrett said. "There will be opportunities for that game to go one way or another. Either you're bringing your A stuff in the A moment or you're not and the pendulum, it will go one way or another."
Friday night's start will also be probably the biggest stage Arnold has thrown on in his baseball career. The sophomore lefty had never pitched in an NCAA Tournament before this year, although he did win a state title his senior season at Tampa Jesuit.
Throughout this season, a pretty common theme has been Arnold being at his best against the most talented offenses. In the ACC Tournament vs. a Virginia team that led the ACC in homers and was among the national leaders in batting average, he limited the Cavaliers to two earned runs on four hits over six innings, striking out nine and walking just one.
Facing a red-hot Clemson team on the road back in March mere minutes after the Tigers run-ruled FSU 15-5 in the first game of the doubleheader, he limited Clemson to one run on three hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking two.
In consecutive road starts vs. Wake Forest and Duke, he allowed a combined five runs over 10 innings with 21 strikeouts. In his NCAA Tournament debut two weeks ago vs. UCF, he allowed two runs on three hits over seven innings with 12 strikeouts.
Reflecting on Arnold's sophomore breakthrough, Jarrett thought back on a moment that seems to have been a turning point in the pitcher's career a year ago.
"We had a serious heart-to-heart. (Former FSU pitching coach Chuck Ristano) and I sat down with him about halfway through last year," Jarrett said. "I wrote what I thought were the top left-handed arms looking forward to next year's draft. I just did it. 'Here we go. There's what we see right now. You either want to be in that conversation and I don't know what to tell you the other side of this board is. I didn't write anything on it because there's nothing to write. You're either going to go in this direction or you'll go, just to try to make him understand how good he could be at this ...
"Micah (Posey) does a great job of pitching management, day-to-day stuff. Use those resources, but the individual still has to own it and attack it and do it every single day with some intent and some energy. He's done it. So then when he walks out there, you're starting to see a more physical kid, a more confident kid, a more determined kid ... We talk about it, work on it. There's still more. But the growth and maturity and the outings have been really good."
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