Link Jarrett talked a lot entering the season about his belief that the pitching staff and run prevention were going to be what set the tone for this year's Florida State baseball team.
Through one weekend, suffice it to say he's been proven quite correct on that front.
Over 26 innings in the Seminoles' opening-weekend sweep of James Madison, the FSU pitching staff allowed just one earned run, pitching a pair of shutouts. Although the sample size is quite small, FSU's 0.35 earned run average ranks second nationally entering its first midweek game of the season at South Florida on Tuesday (5 p.m. on ESPN+).
"I'm pleased with all three of (the starters)," Jarrett said after Sunday's 10-0 win. "I thought everybody, quite frankly, threw the ball well for us after the starters."
FSU had one known commodity in its weekend rotation in preseason First-Team All-American Jamie Arnold. The junior lefty lived up to the hype Friday night, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning and allowing just one hit with eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings.
There was less certainty around the Seminoles' Saturday and Sunday starters, a pair of transfer additions in Joey Volini from USF and Wes Mendes from Ole Miss. Each of them had started minimally at their previous schools and so were being thrust into roles they had little experience with.
However, both of the new Seminoles aced their first tests with flying colors. Volini allowed one unearned run on two hits over 4.2 innings with seven strikeouts and a walk. Mendes pitched five shutout innings with two hits allowed and eight strikeouts to one walk. Both of them set new career-highs in innings pitched in their FSU debut.
The weekend rotation as a whole allowed no earned runs and five hits over 15.2 innings with 23 strikeouts and two walks.
"We know we're good and we know we've got a lot of arms that are capable," Arnold said of FSU's pitching staff. "It's a great feeling and I think it's good for our hitters to know that if they're not having a good day, we've got the pitching to back it up. It's fun. When you can go out there and shut guys out, it's fun."
The bullpen arms behind these starters also excelled during the JMU series. John Abraham allowed one hit and one walk over three scoreless innings Friday, recording eight of his nine outs by way of the strikeout. Maison Martinez and Peyton Prescott retired nine of the first 10 batters they faced before Prescott allowed the only earned run of the weekend in the ninth inning on Saturday. Brady Louck allowed just one baserunner over 2.1 scoreless innings to close out Sunday's game.
"It gives me a lot of confidence when you have a bullpen like this behind me," Volini said. "We have a bunch of dudes who just throw fuel, fill up the zone, really good stuff."
All in all, FSU's pitching staff was sensational in its opening weekend. The Seminoles rank second nationally in ERA (0.35), third in hits/nine allowed (3.46), seventh in strikeouts/nine (13.8) and 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.67).
It was only three games, but it's hard not to see that as a reflection of the impressive job FSU pitching coach Micah Posey continues to do in his second season leading the pitching staff.
"Micah is the best. I don't think it gets much better than him when it comes to college baseball pitching coaches," Mendes said. "You saw the job that we did this weekend. It really shows the work that Micah does behind the scenes, how much everyone improves from when they get here to when they leave."
FSU will start Jacksonville transfer Evan Chrest for Tuesday's game at USF. While the right-handed pitcher struggled some at JU in 2024 with a 6.82 ERA over 68.2 innings, he was sensational as a true freshman for the Dolphins in 2023, posting a 2.68 ERA over 90.2 innings with 98 strikeouts to 83 hits allowed and 36 walks.
USF, which took two of three games from Iowa in its opening series, is expected to start junior RHP Bryce Archie on the mound. Archie, who also plays quarterback for the USF football team and had a 5-3 record as a starter this past season, had a 8.40 ERA over 15.0 innings for the Bulls in 2024, making 10 appearances and three starts.
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