After a bit of a shake-up the last few weeks in Florida State's weekend rotation, things are being restored to start-of-season form this weekend.

As No. 4 FSU baseball (21-3, 5-1 ACC) heads to Notre Dame (13-9, 1-8) for a three-game series this weekend in South Bend, Ind., the Seminoles will be back in their traditional weekend rotation.

Junior LHP Jamie Arnold will start Friday's series opener (4:30 p.m.), redshirt junior lefty Joey Volini will start Saturday's middle game (2 p.m.) while sophomore LHP Wes Mendes will be back in the final rotation spot of the weekend on Sunday (1 p.m.).

"I don't know that the order matters a whole lot, but that's what we felt was best to align it. We're kind of back where we started with it..." FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. "They all have to pitch like we know they can pitch. They all have capabilities that are above-average. They just need to be the best versions of themselves and they give us a chance."

Entering last Saturday's game at Miami, FSU's weekend pitching had been on a sensational run of success. The weekend starters had allowed two or fewer runs in each of their first 16 starts this season before Arnold, FSU's ace, was tagged for a career-high six earned runs on seven hits, with three walks and two strikeouts over just four innings.

It was quite a surprising setback for Arnold, who is in serious contention to be the first overall pick in this year's MLB Draft, after he had allowed just two earned runs and three walks with 32 strikeouts through his first 20.2 innings on the season entering Saturday's loss.

The good news Jarrett confirmed Thursday is that there's nothing wrong with Arnold. It was just a case of him not having his usually stellar stuff on the mound.

"Jamie, that was a peculiar one to break down. He had some bigger misses than we're used to seeing and then clearly they did not swing...He and Micah worked on some things to make sure there wasn't any mechanical tell or some sort of way they were dissecting what was coming. (Miami is) good. They had a good game plan. You have to be able to get your fastball down at times and I don't think he really drove the fastball down..." Jarrett said. "There's a lot of things that that went into that for him, but he feels great. All of his pitches were functional. I just don't think he quite had the command of it. Sometimes you have great outings where everything clicks for you. And then, the guys pitching the big leagues today (on Opening Day), there's guys that are going to go out there with their ‘A’ stuff and it all clicks. There's going to be some guys that probably go out there and it doesn't quite fall into place. That's just the nature of pitching. When you get to go out there once a week, you have to sit on the good and you also have to wear the bad when it doesn't go right. He got good work in and I think he'll be better off because of how it went and then because of some minor modifications."

Mendes also struggled in his start the day after Arnold had issues, allowing six runs on six hits with four walks and three hit-by-pitches over four innings.

Coming off the first adversity of the season for the weekend arms, a Notre Dame lineup that ranks 16th out of 16 ACC schools and 247th nationally in batting average (.251) could be just what FSU's starters need to get back on track.

While FSU is not lacking in bullpen options behind its starters, one reliever, VCU transfer Maison Martinez, has stood out ahead of the pack in terms of consistency through the first six weeks of the 2025 season.

The junior righty has limited walks (three) while racking up strikeouts (23) over his first six appearances of the season out of the bullpen. However, it's been noticed over the last few games that it's approaching two weeks since the last time he pitched on March 15 vs. Boston College.

Asked about his status ahead of the Notre Dame series, Jarrett provided an update.

"He needed some rest. He had thrown a lot and he didn't feel 100%..." Jarrett said. "He probably could have pitched Tuesday (vs. Florida), if you want me to be honest. I kind of felt like he needed the rest and our bullpen depth is good. We haven't been as consistent as I would like in the bullpen, but the depth is there. It's nice when you can give guys a breather. He's back this weekend. He's fine. I'm not saying it's easy (to rest him), but I think it is correct and the right thing for the player."

As velocities continue to ramp up and breaking balls continue to add more break, pitching injuries have ramped up considerably over the last few years across college and professional baseball.

That's led Jarrett to becoming more cautious as he's spent more time as a head coach and seeing these issues arise first-hand.

"I'm probably more cautious the longer (my career) goes. There's times when you're starting out in this business and you want to press and you want to throw your horses out there, the guys that are performing. I guess as I've watched this thing unfold in the last 10 years with the nature of the pitching and how fragile it is and how dynamic it is, as these guys become more dynamic, I think when they don't feel 100%, they might need a little more rest. Because it's the workload and the effort and the caliber of the breaking pitches and the velocities are different. So I'm becoming more conscious."

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