Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin Jr. knew coming into the season he had an elite pitching staff. He also thought the Seminoles' defense and ability to put the ball in play at the plate would be much improved in 2022.

Well, the FSU bats certainly made a lot of contact in Friday night's season opener. But it's hard to know about that improved defense just yet, because the FSU pitching was so dominant.

Staff ace Parker Messick and the Florida State bullpen combined to allow just one run while striking out 18 as the Seminoles beat visiting James Madison, 4-1, at Dick Howser Stadium.

"Florida State fans are happy for the W. Also, it was a quick ball game," Martin Jr. said. "It was starting to get chilly there at the end. I liked a lot of the things that we did.

"The at-bats were more competitive than last year. Against a good arm. Against a good ball club. These guys can flat-out play. Parker wasn't super sharp. But he gutted it out."

***Don't miss out on our great FSU Sports and Recruiting coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial!***

Box Score: FSU 4, James Madison 1

Messick gutted out his way to 11 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings; he allowed just one run and two hits.

The only damage Messick allowed all night came with two outs in the top of the second inning. That's when JMU's Travis Reifsnider drove a 3-2 pitch over the screen in right field for a 1-0 lead over the Seminoles.

It was a lead that would last three pitches.

Tennessee Tech transfer Brett Roberts drove a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right-center to tie the game in the bottom of the second, and then freshman James Tibbs blasted the very next pitch over the left-field fence.

The back-to-back homers gave the new-look Seminoles a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Messick and the FSU bullpen dominated the Dukes on the mound, while the offense put together enough solid at-bats to add insurance runs in the sixth inning.

Reese Albert led off the inning with a bunt single, and Logan Lacey followed with a two-strike double to right-center to put runners on second and third. Miami transfer Alex Toral then drove in his first run as a Seminole with a two-strike sacrifice fly to left. Lacey then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another for a 4-1 advantage.

Three Florida State relievers -- freshman Jackson Baumeister, sophomore Wyatt Crowell and redshirt senior Jonah Scolaro -- then took care of business from there.

Baumeister and his 96 mph fastball struck out two in his inning of work, Crowell had one strikeout in 2/3 of an inning, and Scolaro added four strikeouts in his 1 2/3 innings to get his first save of the season.

The pitching was so dominant that FSU's defense only recorded one groundball out the entire game, and that was a check-swing roller to first in the ninth inning.

"We're gonna strike a lot of folks out," Martin Jr. said. "It's a blessing to have what we have."

Meanwhile, the FSU offense, which was plagued by strikeouts of its own a year ago, K'd only three times on the night.

"That's better than 14 or 15, right?" Martin Jr. said with a laugh. "Whatever it was (last year). Golly, I don't even want to think about those days. That was rough to say the least. It's good to have a group that (buys in). They're feeing off each other, they're buying into it and care about each other.

"Approach is everything."

The Seminoles and Dukes play again Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding the series on Sunday.

----------------------------------------------------

Discuss this story with other FSU fans on our Seminole Baseball Message Board