It's hard to fathom that there are many other occurrences in college baseball history of what Florida State is doing this season with its weekend rotation of starting pitchers.
All three FSU weekend starters are combining to live up to the hype as one of the best rotations in the country early this season. They're also all reunited in Tallahassee after they were high-school teammates at Tampa Jesuit in 2021.
Friday starter Jamie Arnold (a 2022 Jesuit grad), Saturday starter Joey Volini (a 2021 grad) and Sunday starter Wes Mendes (a 2023 grad) are anchoring an FSU pitching staff that entered the week in the top five nationally in earned run average (1.35).
Through two starts for each of them entering this weekend's series vs. Georgetown, the starting trio is a perfect 6-0 with a combined 0.86 ERA (three earned runs allowed over 31.1 innings) and 45 strikeouts to four walks.
After taking different paths to where they are now at FSU, the former teammates are reunited and closer than ever as they look to take the seventh-ranked Seminoles to the top of the college baseball mountain.
Volini, the oldest of the bunch, admits he was also a bit less close to Arnold and Mendes in high school. He wasn't on the Jesuit team as a junior and threw just eight shutout innings (13 strikeouts, four hits allowed, two walks) as a senior in 2021.
"I was mainly hanging out with the senior catcher," Volini told the Osceola.
However, he was well aware even back then of the talent that Arnold and Mendes possessed as younger teammates of his.
"Jamie was definitely a lot smaller and didn't throw as hard in high school, but he knew how to pitch. So once he matured, what he is right now, it's incredible to see his growth..." Volini said. "In high school, Wes was always wild but he threw hard. Watching him now, this past weekend, seeing how efficient he was, having all four pitches in the zone, his development has been insane. He's a dude, he throws a ton of strikes."
Volini stayed in Tampa after graduating, landing on the USF baseball team. He was impactful out of the bullpen as a true freshman with a 3.86 ERA, but blew his elbow out and required Tommy John surgery before a sophomore season he was poised to push for a starting role.
He returned midway through the 2024 season and made 10 appearances (three starts) for the Bulls as a redshirt sophomore.
"It was back in the bullpen and then I got a few starts towards the end but it was just how much can I mature as a pitcher, how much can I figure out how to get hitters out efficiently," Volini said. "I've been working, staying focused."
Volini entered the transfer portal and committed to FSU on June 10, a few days before the Seminoles began their College World Series run in Omaha. Because the season was still ongoing, Volini hadn't talked to Arnold about their possible reunion in Tallahassee.
"I didn't even know he was in the portal because we were still playing. He happened to commit and I texted him, 'Congrats.' Obviously, it was cool," Arnold told the Osceola. "Joey, I was friends with him in high school, but there was never much talk about this. It kind of just happened and it was pretty awesome that it worked out that way."
Volini had made just three career starts at USF before transferring to FSU. Pitching coach Micah Posey admitted during preseason camp that he saw the transfer lefty as more likely to be a bullpen option, perhaps a replacement for Brennen Oxford.
He proved that wrong when he established himself as perhaps FSU's most consistent pitcher over the course of the offseason, earning a spot in the weekend rotation.
"I think we might have put him in a box that we shouldn't have put him in because he's certainly proven that he can be a weekend starter and do those things," Posey told the Osceola just before the season began. "He's been the most consistent guy from the fall and preseason. A true pro in the way he goes about his business and the way he pitches. It's been fun to watch his development."
Volini's first two starts at FSU have been the two longest outings of his collegiate career, lasting 4.2 innings vs. James Madison and 5.2 innings vs. Penn. He's allowed two earned runs over his 10.1 innings and has 13 strikeouts to two walks.
While Arnold and Volini were more of casual friends at Jesuit, Arnold says they've bonded more in their second stint as teammates.
"We're good friends now. Joey is a great dude," Arnold said. "Now that we're in college together, I think we're both a little more mature and grown up. We're good friends and it's fun having him around. I love Joey."
Arnold and Mendes were closer friends in high school. They were the 1-2 pitching punch on the 2022 Jesuit team that won a state championship, combining to throw 126.1 of the team's 213.1 innings.
"Jamie's senior year, Wes' junior year, that was the 1-2 punch and they really fed off each other,'" Jesuit head coach Miguel Menendez told the Osceola.
Arnold as a senior had a 7-3 record and a 2.02 ERA while Mendes as a junior led the Tigers in earned run average (1.16) as well as in batting average (.422) as Jesuit's starting center fielder.
"Wes was the youngin' on the team," Arnold said. "I thought he was better than both of us (himself and Volini), honestly. Wes could hit and pitch. I was jealous of Wes a bit."
The friends stayed in contact when Arnold joined the FSU baseball team for the 2023 season and when Mendes enrolled at Ole Miss as a freshman for the 2024 season.
Mendes saw Arnold struggle some as a freshman (6.34 ERA over 44.0 innings) before he went through his own struggles as a freshman the next year in Oxford (8.39 ERA over 24.2 innings). So when he saw the significant strides that his former teammate made under a new FSU pitching coach in his sophomore season (Arnold had a 2.98 ERA over 105.2 innings in 2024), it made sense Mendes could consider joining the Seminoles if they would have him.
Because Mendes didn't enter the transfer portal until July 3, FSU's season was over, meaning Arnold heard the news for himself.
"When I entered the portal, Jamie was a huge part in getting me here," Mendes told the Osceola. "I saw the developments that Posey made with him, Jamie's progress. Talking with Posey, it was pretty much a done deal."
Added Arnold, "Once he was in the portal, I didn't really have to convince him much. He was between here and some other schools. Obviously, the SEC has big money it can throw at him, but I knew he would come here and feel comfortable. I was really selling him on Posey. I think that was a big thing for him was he saw my development. I told him, 'Posey's the guy, he'll get you right.' We're good friends, we go way back so I think it was an easy decision having me here to come here."
Through two weeks, that decision seems to be paying huge dividends for Mendes. After he had 34 strikeouts to 15 walks as a freshman at Ole Miss, he's got 16 walks to two strikeouts in his first two starts as a Seminole and has allowed just one earned run in two starts for a 0.90 ERA.
Unsurprisingly given the hype around him entering the season, Arnold has been the best of the bunch so far. He's allowed no runs and only three hits over 11 innings through two starts with 16 strikeouts and no walks. He's in line to be a high first-round pick in this year's MLB Draft, and Mendes has the stuff where he could follow in Arnold's footsteps in terms of draft hype in the 2026 draft.
Menendez canceled a Jesuit practice on Feb. 18 so that his team could go see FSU's first midweek game of the season at nearby USF. None of the weekend starters were in line for action that night but another former Jesuit pitcher, FSU sophomore John Abraham, recorded the win with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief work.
Arnold may not have imagined this would be how his final season would play with an unofficial reunion of sorts in the FSU weekend rotation. However, he now thinks it could be a lasting memory of his time as a Seminole.
"The fact that we can end up all getting here and pitching our way into the rotation is sick," Arnold said. "It's probably the coolest thing I'll leave here with."
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