The Florida State baseball team has grown awful comfortable of late playing games inside the friendly confines of Dick Howser Stadium.

The No. 5 Seminoles (18-2, 3-0 ACC) have played their last 12 games and 18 of their first 20 games this season at home. That changes this weekend, though, as they begin their first road weekend series away from home Thursday (7 p.m. on ACC Network) at Miami (13-9, 0-3).

This series begins a seven-game stretch of games away from Howser. After such a home-centric start to the season, it also marks the tide changing in terms of the home/road split the rest of the way. Starting this weekend, 16 of FSU's final 32 regular-season games will be away from home.

"You have to pitch and you have to defend. That always travels, that gives you a chance," FSU coach Link Jarrett said when asked what are the keys to success in road games. "People talk about in football that defense travels and defense wins championships. The pitching and the defense, if you can do those two things in any venue, wherever you are, you're going to find yourself in every single game. If you cannot, this thing can get away from you."

The good thing for FSU is those are two things this year's team does very well, especially in weekend games. The Seminoles enter this weekend with a 2.67 ERA, which ranks third out of 299 D-I teams. And they have a .979 fielding percentage, which is tied for 27th-best nationally.

That impressive ERA number has been carried in large part by FSU's three weekend starters, Joey Volini, Jamie Arnold and Wes Mendes. This trio has combined for a 0.82 ERA over 77.1 innings this season with 118 strikeouts to 13 walks with just seven total earned runs allowed in 14 starts.

Arnold is one of only two current Seminoles (along with Ben Barrett) who was with the team the last time FSU played at Miami two years ago. By that time in the Seminoles' 2023 season, they had gone off the rails and suffered a sweep by the Hurricanes by a combined 27-6 margin.

FSU got Miami back last year with a sweep of its own in Tallahassee, but Arnold is looking forward to another trip down south take on a primary FSU rival after he allowed three earned runs on seven hits over 2.1 innings two years ago vs. UM.

"I'm excited," Arnold said of his return to Miami. "It was not fun the last time we went so we're looking to make it a little better than last time."

No. 5 Florida State vs. Miami

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 6 p.m.

Where: Mark Light Field, Coral Gables, Fla.

TV: ACC Network (Thursday and Friday), ACC Network Extra (Saturday)