3 Up, 3 Down: FSU controls its own destiny heading into regular season finale vs. Miami

No. 1: Top of the lineup

It took Link Jarrett almost the entire year to decide what he wanted his top of the lineup to look like, and even with Chase Williams’ return pending, it seems that the three of John Stuetzer, Bryaden Dowd, and Brody DeLamielleure are locked in heading into the final week of the regular season.

Each player picked a game to carry the lineup. On Tuesday, Dowd smashed a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Noles some breathing room and pull away from Jacksonville. In the series opener against Clemson, DeLamielleure delivered in a massive way, going 2-4 with a homer and three RBI to help lift the Seminoles to an 8-4 win. Stuetzer put in his best performance on Sunday as he went 3-5 with a double and two RBI, including a run driven in during the sixth and eighth to edge Clemson to take the series. In three of the four games this weekend, two of the top three hitters in the lineup recorded a multi-hit game, and the trio combined to drive in 10 of the 22 FSU runs this week.

Even among an impressive week from Dowd and Stuetzer, DeLamielleure stood out above the rest. He has been Florida State’s most impressive hitter since becoming a mainstay in the lineup, and these last four games were his best stretch of the season. The Jacksonville native went 10-18 this past week with five RBI and a multi-hit game in each contest. Link Jarrett desperately needed a middle-impact bat, and DeLamielleure has elevated his game at the perfect time.

No. 2: Starting pitching

Florida State goes as its arms go, so it should be no surprise that after all three starters worked deep into the games against Clemson, FSU took the series.

On Friday, Wes Mendes got the Seminoles out of the gate with a performance worthy of a Friday-night starter: six innings of three-run ball, his third quality start in his last four outings, while striking out 10 and only walking two batters. Clemson did an admirable job of trying to work up the left-hander’s pitch count, but with Mendes’ repertoire of pitches, he always found an answer to the problems presented. On Saturday, Trey Beard breezed through the first three innings and went one over the minimum his first time through the lineup, before finding trouble later in the game. Still, 5 1/3 IP with three runs allowed will win a college baseball game more often than not. However, on Sunday, Bryson Moore may have turned in the most impressive start of the weekend, going six innings and just giving up one run on an efficient 75 pitches. He seems to relish the big moments, and this start was similar to his seven-scoreless innings against Virginia earlier in the year. Moore gets into trouble when his control eludes him, but when he pounds the zone and establishes the fastball, there is an argument that he is the second-best starter on the staff.

The only way Florida State can make a postseason run will almost certainly have to come from the strength of its starters. Luckily for the Noles, however, these three arms seem ready to carry the load.

No. 3: Intangibles

Like the rest of the season, multiple times this week, FSU could have let go of the rope and found itself in a different situation, yet this group never gives in, and the Seminoles had a winning week because of it.

On Tuesday, Florida State fell behind 2-0 after four innings and pulled Cooper Whited after the lefty went only 2 2/3 IP to save him for the weekend. Jarrett’s team responded as Brodie Purcell, who had a notable week, steadied the game on the mound with three innings of shutout baseball, while the bats slowly awoke from their slumber as the Seminoles scored two in the fifth, one in the seventh, and two in the eighth to push their winning streak to five. On Friday, FSU’s injury situation worsened as Abraham left the game with two outs in the ninth inning due to an injury. Clemson threatened and brought the tying run to the plate, but Payton Manca just missed a barrel to get a flyout and secure the series-opening win. Two days later, the Noles were coming off a disappointing loss and faced a Sunday rubber match. Jarrett’s team quickly put the defeat behind them, scoring three in the second and one in the third to take an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

It is rarely easy for Florida State and almost certainly not pretty, but this team continues to find a way to get it done and put itself in a position with everything to play for.

3 Down

No. 1: Hitting with runners in scoring position

Winning is all that matters at this time of the year, but Florida State could have made it easier on itself and its fan base by pushing this week’s games out with some timely at-bats.

The Noles exemplified their issues with runners in scoring position on Sunday, when FSU left 15 men on base and allowed Clemson to hang around before Purcell shut the door. Florida State went 4-23 (.174) with runners on base and 3-15 (.200) with runners in scoring position. On the one hand, the 15 hits point to a lineup turning in the right direction, but it matters little if FSU cannot blow games open and take them by the scruff of the neck.

No. 2: First base

Nothing signals alarm bells for Florida State more at first base than Jarrett inserting Ben Barrett into the lineup to take his first in-game at-bats since 2023 and play first base. Barrett actually did as well as anyone could have hoped at the plate, going 3-11 with only two strikeouts over the three-game set, but his two errors on one play in the seventh on Sunday told the story of how far he has to go to become a complete player. The issue is that Jarrett was forced to make a radical decision because of Eli Putnam’s struggles at the plate, who went 0-4 with three strikeouts on Tuesday against Jacksonville before not starting a game over the weekend.

This problem for Jarrett is not going away and could get worse with Chase Williams, hopefully healthy for the Miami weekend, needing to reclaim his spot in the batting order, and Jace Estes possibly in play for the postseason. Neither Barrett nor Putnam is one of FSU’s best nine hitters, yet somebody has to play first. Could there be another wrinkle up Jarrett’s sleeve to sort out the first-base issue?

No. 3: Injuries

Even though Florida State continues to find ways to win, there are still questions about whether or not this team will run out of steam. On Friday, the injury situation got worse for the Noles as John Abraham exited with two outs in the ninth and did not pitch the rest of the weekend. If a list were made of the players FSU could not afford to lose after Myles Bailey and Mendes, Abraham could easily be the third name on the sheet. Without Abraham, the Seminole bullpen goes from a strength to a question mark and puts tons of pressure on Purcell and Chris Knier, who are not as consistent.

Abraham’s knock continues a trend of unfortunate injury luck for Florida State, which is already without its best hitter, Bailey, and did not have Chase Williams, an instant spark plug, in its lineup against Clemson. Against teams with elite talent in the postseason, it is difficult to say whether Florida State has the horses to match up with them.