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Coach Jarrett and the Florida State Seminoles baseball team continued their unconquered streak, winning all three games at the First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, South Carolina, and improving their regular season record to 10-0. This is the first time the program has achieved such a record since 2019 when they started the season with 12 consecutive wins.
The Seminoles have shown a ton of improvement from last season when they started hot going 6-1 before fizzled out about as fast as the Miami Hurricanes’ hopes of making it to a conference championship or owning their football stadium. Now, is this team undefeated? Yes. Are they perfect, no?
This past weekend was a testament to the improvement as the Seminoles faced unfamiliar opponents in Illinois, Michigan State, and Western Michigan going 3-0 and scoring double-digit runs in two of the three games while only allowing one opponent (Illinois) to score more than five runs. The Seminoles also showed that they are not the same team we saw during the 2023 season that started 6-1 before going 17-30 the rest of the season with a final record of 23-31 and missing the ACC conference tournament.
On offense, the Seminoles have been a scoring machine this season totaling 113 runs over 10 games. They average 11 runs per game and have scored double-digit runs in six of nine games to begin the season. This is one of the reasons they are one of only six remaining undefeated teams in the nation. A large contributing factor is their team average of .367 which is in the top five nationally and tops in the ACC. It does help when most of the players that have started 9 or more games are hitting over .300 with the lone player being shortstop Alex Lodise who is in a little slump batting .192. Combined, those nine players have a batting average of .391 and have driven in 89 runs including 9 doubles, six triples, and 13 home runs.
Now, it isn’t all in the batter’s box that has seen this team jump out to a hot start. They have been impressive on the pitching mound as well. Sporting a team ERA of 3.30, the Noles have allowed only 72 hits, and 54 walks while striking out 140 batters through ten games. While all three main starters have been impressive, one that has stood out above the rest has been left-handed sophomore Jamie Arnold (3-0). He has seen 17 innings of work while only allowing 10 hits and zero earned runs. And when the opponents do touch the ball, they haven’t been able to do much as the defense has been good this season with a fielding percentage that ranks in the top 60 in the country at .977.
The Seminoles will now return home for what was going to be a two-game midweek series against FGCU (4-7). But, due to the weather forecast in Tallahassee, the Seminoles game against Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, March 5th has been canceled. The Noles will now play one game on Wednesday, March 6th at 4 p.m. inside Dick Howser Stadium. So, let’s look at what the Noles will face when they take the field against the Eagles.
This will be the twentieth time the Seminoles and the Eagles have faced each other with FSU holding a 13-7 lead in the series. The Eagles, who finished with an impressive 42-18 record last season are not off to the start they hoped for sitting at 4-7. They are coming off a weekend series loss to Xavier after dropping the first two games (6-10,5-9), before taking the final game (5-4). This team does have an impressive win this season as they traveled to Coral Gables on Feb. 28th and took down the Miami Hurricanes in 12 innings by a score of 12-10.
Through eleven games this season, FGCU has a .281 batting average with 112 hits, including 23 doubles, 2 triples, and 14 home runs. They recorded 67 RBI and 71 total runs. As a team, the Eagles have a .455 slugging percentage and have struck out 100 times at the plate, while walking only 52. They have a .387 on-base percentage and have successfully stolen 9 of 13 bases this season.
On defense, the Eagles have struggled posting a fielding percentage of .966, with 14 errors. On the mound, their pitching staff holds a 7.13 ERA. Over 99.2 innings pitched, they’ve allowed 113 hits, including 26 doubles, zero triples, and 15 home runs. They’ve also surrendered 84 runs (79 earned). This pitching staff is decent, so don’t let the ERA fool you. They have allowed an opposing batting average of .289 and struck out 86 batters while allowing 113 hits on the year.
#2 Ian Farrow – Senior right fielder Ian Farrow, who transferred from Miami, leads the team in batting average (.422), slugging percentage (.867) and on-base percentage (.509). So, far this season, Farrow has 19 hits, including five doubles, and five home runs, and has driven in 15 RBIs.
#9 Charles Davalan– Freshman second basemen Charles Davalan is second on the team in batting average (.340), and has a slugging percentage of .574. So far this season, Davalan has reached base 16 times, including three doubles, and two home runs, while driving in 9 RBIs.
#8 Nick Love – Grad transfer right-handed pitcher Nick Love leads the pitching staff in innings pitched with 15 and has an ERA of 5.40. In Love’s five appearances, he has allowed 13 hits, 10 runs (9 earned), 6 doubles, and zero triples or home runs. Love was a big part of FGCU’s victory over the Hurricanes as he pitched 4 innings giving up only 5 hits, and 3 runs (all earned).
Although the Eagles are coming into this mid-week series with a losing record, they should not be overlooked. This is a team that has, in recent years, been a top-tier team and a nail in the hoof of Renegade in years past. As for the Seminoles, this will be a great opportunity to continue to evaluate the pitching staff and hopefully find that mid-week starter to replace Conner Whittaker so he can reclaim his spot as the scheduled Sunday pitcher.
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