FSU baseball showcases resolve in rivalry week
Florida State enjoyed a short break for the Easter holiday. And then the Seminoles were back at it, a two-game midweek slate followed by a long road trip to Boston and then a wild rivalry week.
FSU played nine games in 12 days, and it of course helps when six are inside Dick Howser Stadium. But even an early start time at Boston College on April 7 resulted in a late arrival, about 1:30 a.m. in Tallahassee the following day. That wasn’t much sleep before round 3 with Florida, and battles ahead with a short-handed pitching staff.
“This team has responded better than any team I’ve been around,” FSU coach Link Jarrett said. “Some of the challenges that we’ve faced in innings, in tough losses, that’s what stands out to me the most about walking in (Saturday) after this game is just their response to everything that’s been thrown at them. And a lot of it is good. But you have to respond to good stuff positively to stack some good things. I was so excited for our fans to see games like this.”
Overflow crowds in four rivalry week games, including the most to ever watch a weekend series (19,157) in Dick Howser Stadium history, saw a domination of the Gators and some gritty wins over Miami. The Seminoles are 8-1 in April, a month where the team’s ranking has skyrocketed into the top 10 of every poll as well as No. 5 in Baseball America’s rankings.
FSU (30-5, 10-5 ACC) opened the season with 19 straight wins, but the Seminoles are playing on another level in the last few weeks.
“I think it’s the best baseball we’ve seen out of us thus far in this season,” third baseman Cam Smith said. “We’ve had a lot of attendance with the fans, a lot of energy behind us. And it just makes our jobs easier.”
Smith has a 45-game on-base streak that dates to last spring. The sophomore is hitting .408 with nine home runs and 10 doubles, spraying hits to all fields and refusing to be a pull hitter.
FSU moves in rankings following rivalry week sweep
FSU features seven batters who are hitting .290 or more, and No. 9 hitter Alex Lodise’s .365 on-base percentage illustrates the strength of the order top to bottom. FSU’s bats produced 41 runs in four games last week to complete sweeps of Miami and Florida in the same season for the first time since 1960.
And the run support, although not as gaudy as in the 19-4 win over Florida on Tuesday, was necessary given the lack of two weekend starters vs. the Hurricanes (Cam Leiter and Conner Whittaker) as well as a key reliever (Ben Barrett). Jamie Arnold delivered seven quality innings in Thursday’s series-opening win, but Jarrett and the staff had to carefully manage the other three games (although there was a slight break with a seven-inning, run-rule win over Florida).
Left-hander Andrew Armstrong played a big role, tossing three innings against UF and 4.1 innings vs. Miami on Saturday. Joe Charles delivered two innings in the game 1 win over Miami, while Brennen Oxford tossed 4.2 innings in the game 2 victory over the Hurricanes. Those long-relief outings have been critical in FSU's wins as well as the big picture of 2024.
Jarrett has often lived by a one-pitch mindset and moving one inning at a time. But even after Saturday’s win completed a sweep of Miami, he said, “I’m not looking at this today. I’m reflecting on the last couple weeks.”
There are more tests ahead for a bullpen that has been leaned on heavily, beginning with a full-bullpen game against Mercer (18-16) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra). And this weekend that will be the case at No. 12 Wake Forest (24-11, 9-9), the first series against a ranked opponent since FSU was swept at top-5 Clemson in March. There are positives in lessons learned and in how teams respond mentally and physically.
“We have a talented group and we have a focused group,” Jarrett said. “Just the conveyer belt of that produces some type of magical potion response. It’s just their dedication, their physical talent and their focus that gives you repetitive chances.
“Whether you’re up, down, tied they just are able to do it because they are good players that are focused. And they stick with it.”
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