Carson Dorsey will again have the chance to set the table for the Florida State baseball team.
Dorsey will start for FSU (45-15) in Friday's game 1 of the Super Regional vs. UConn (noon on ESPN), coach Link Jarrett announced on Thursday afternoon. The left-hander had his best outing of 2024 against Stetson in the regional, posting season-bests in innings (8.2) and pitches (121) while also striking out seven and allowing just one earned run.
Left-hander Jamie Arnold (11-3, 2.45 ERA) will start for FSU in game 2 on Saturday (11 a.m. on ESPN).
This rotation also maintains the rest provided week to week as Dorsey opened last week's regional on Friday, followed by Arnold.
"We’re going to stick exactly with that. Both of those guys are going to have to pitch and both of those guys – they need to pitch well," Jarrett said. "On what day it is, it seemed to be determined almost by the length of what they did last week and giving them the normal schedule of time to do their work with Micah, to do their lifts and to stay on course."
Right-hander Conner Whittaker is an option for Sunday but was not named FSU's starter.
UConn (35-24) has not yet announced its starters.
Jarrett also said it is unlikely that right-hander Cam Leiter will be able to pitch for FSU this season, whether it's in the Supers or in a potential trip to the CWS.
FSU's two-out hitting
FSU has made a habit of producing big innings, often coming through with two-out hits. The Seminoles are hitting .286 with two outs, up from the .263 of last season.
"There isn’t really a two-out approach, really," said Jaime Ferrer, who is hitting .270 with two outs. "At the end of the day, we need to keep the bats rolling. Not only give ourselves some rest on defense but also the pitchers.
"At the end of the day we’ve put up a lot of runs with two outs. Knowing that the inning isn’t over whenever we get two outs. Keeping that same approach. Even though we might have gone two quick outs, we got to keep the same approach. You never know when that big hit is going to come. Hitting is very contagious so when you see the guy in front of you getting a double or a base hit, you want to do the same thing."
There are a number of two-out success stories on the Seminoles in 2024. Cam Smith hit .154 in those situations as a freshman, but he's up to .449 this spring. James Tibbs is up to .382 from .303. Catcher McGwire Holbrook is up to .269 from .167.
Jarrett said FSU's approach should be the same pitch-to-pitch and doesn't change with two outs. But Ferrer and Tibbs agreed there is a desire to keep innings going.
"The competitiveness and the fire that you want to extend innings is something that we take pride in," Tibbs said.
Scouting report on UConn
Jarrett gave some thoughts on UConn during his press conference on Thursday, praising the Huskies' for playing well throughout the season.
"UConn is an exceptional team," Jarrett said. "They’re solid in all phases. They don’t make mistakes. They’re old. They have transfers.
"Quality arms. Very good command of their stuff. Limited mistakes. Run the bases. Experienced lineup. Can beat you in a lot of different ways."
The Osceola did a statistical comparison of FSU and UConn earlier in the week.
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