Three up, two down: Will the bats be able to match the pitching staff?

Link Jarrett has good news and bad news.

The good news: this weekend, his pitching staff allowed three runs over two games, and his starters allowed one earned run combined over 17 1/3 innings.

The bad news: this weekend, his offense scored 10 runs in three games, and The Citadel combined for seven errors during the three-game series.

While most of the time outcomes are not that black-and-white, looking back on the week, it does seem that way. Over the weekend, Florida State pitched masterfully. It started with Wes Mendes, who continues to look like the ace and top-of-the-line Friday guy the Seminoles need him to be. The strong pitching carried into the second game of the doubleheader, where Trey Beard pounded the zone and allowed one unearned run over five innings, and finished on Sunday with Bryson Moore firing six innings of one-hit baseball. The bullpen deserves just as much praise, as they did not allow a run all weekend after being taxed earlier in the week. Link Jarrett and Micah Posey appear to have pressed the right buttons with the improvements to returning players and the transfers out of the portal. If the bats could catch up, the ceiling would be much higher for this team, but…

The bats are not in a position remotely close to be allowing the Seminoles to dream big. I have said in the first couple of columns that non-conference is called non-conference for a reason, but Jarrett does not seem any closer to getting this figured out than he was at the start of the season. Although FSU put up 14 runs on UNF Tuesday, those numbers are slightly inflated because the Ospreys walked nine and hit six more. There was no pulling the wool over the eyes on Saturday and Sunday, where, although strikeout numbers were down, the quality of at-bat never improved. As mentioned, the Noles are in a race to see if their bats can catch up to their arms before conference play begins and true weaknesses are exposed.

Three up:

#1: Jesuit pitchers

For the third-straight weekend, John Abraham piggybacked Wes Mendes, and for the third-straight weekend, the former Jesuit High School teammates proved too much for their opponent.

I wrote about Mendes last week, but again, it is hard not talk about how vital the junior lefty has been to this team. His stuff clearly ticked up a notch from a season ago with more ride on his fastball and an ability to locate it on both sides. The secondary pitches are separating him from other pitchers around the country, but the intelligence with which he works through lineups has made him elite this season. But now, with Abraham finally finding consistency, opposing coaching staffs are stuck trying to put a lineup together to attack for nine innings. As Jarrett often talks about, they are two vastly different profiles, and the chance to put them back-to-back forces teams into uncomfortable decisions. After seeing a low fastball with a wicked changeup and slider from Mendes, Abraham enters with a high-octane fastball and a power sinker buried in the dirt. Just unfair. Plus, the two working in tandem have saved the Seminole bullpen. The consistency issues from a season ago always cause fans to pause and wonder when the bottom may fall out, but this is not last year, and the cratering is not happening anytime soon.

Link Jarrett on Mendes and Abraham to the local Tallahassee media:

“I thought we threw the ball on the mound really nicely (during game one on Saturday). I thought Mendes had a mixture of everything. Abraham continues to be sharp. He threw some of the better breaking balls that we’ve seen him throw today. Those two did a nice job.”

#2: Pitching depth

Mendes and Abraham deserve their own section for how they have worked together to begin the year, but make no mistake: the pitching staff as a whole led the Seminoles to a sweep over The Citadel.

Trey Beard and Bryson Moore combined for 11 IP without allowing an earned run, settling down early-season questions about their expanded role this season. Beard pitched like the arm Florida State believed it would get out of the portal, a veteran who pounded and controlled the zone with a devastating secondary pitch. Moore also attacked hitters, as he walked only one across six innings, and had a much better feel for his off-speed, especially the curveball. If these two can match Mendes’ start to the year, the possibilities open way up for how this season can go.

However, last season, FSU also rolled out a formidable weekend rotation, but close games like these over the weekend often slipped away, or at least never felt under control. But the bullpen concerns are slowly starting to fizzle after eight combined scoreless innings during game two of the doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday’s finale. Cade O’Leary responded to a bad weekend in Texas with two shutout innings before giving way to Kevin Mebil, who earned his first-career win at FSU with three innings without allowing a hit or a walk. Mebil’s growth will be critical for Florida State’s success this year as Jarrett desperately needs a high-leverage lefty out of the bullpen. On Sunday, the head coach gave the ball to Chris Knier, a forgotten piece from last season with the transfer portal upheaval. He shut down The Citadel to earn a three-inning save and close out the 2-0 Seminole win. Like Abraham, Knier struggled with command last season, but an offseason of work could make him one of Jarrett’s first calls out of the bullpen.

All of this may be moot in two weeks, as pitching is so unpredictable, but so far the returns are as positive as they could be.

Jarrett on his arms over the weekend:

“The starting pitchers go out once a week, and when you go out there, we need you to bring your A-game and lengthen this thing out so it’s a shorter duration on the backend…Just proud, number one, of the starters, and then the efficiency out of the bullpen. You couldn’t draw it up much better than that.”

#3: Myles Bailey

With questions abound about the lineup and the infield, Myles Bailey, thankfully, provides answers.

The Tallahassee native clearly took the next step from his freshman year into his sophomore season, turning himself into one of the most complete players in the country. On Tuesday, he hammered two home runs, including one opposite-field bomb over the scoreboard that many Dick Howser Stadium faithful have never seen before. Bailey’s stat line on Tuesday read 3-for-3 with 2 walks, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs.

Over the weekend, The Citadel refused to let Bailey beat them, as the first baseman reached base by either a walk or a hit-by-pitch in each of the three games. He can still be a little trigger-happy, but Jarrett can live with that, knowing what the results are when the bat meets the ball.

Although the power is jaw-dropping, Bailey’s defense deserves just as much recognition. Multiple times on Saturday and Sunday, Bailey bailed out the revolving door at the other infield positions with impressive picks at first base and long stretches to record outs. His play looks easy because of his size, but that should not diminish his advancements as a fielder over the last 12 months. As much of a stabilizing force that he is in the batting order, he provides the same feeling on defense.

Jarrett on Bailey after the UNF game on Tuesday:

“Myles, it’s fun to watch someone with that capability show it off a little bit. You don’t see balls hit the other way like that in this sport, and he can do it. … I think sometimes we overlook (his defense).”

Two down:

#1: Quality of at-bats

Link Jarrett has yet to find an answer for his lineup. After rolling through four different combinations across four games last week, the head coach does not seem any closer to finding a solution. The weekend’s performance was particularly bad as FSU went just 5-31 (.161) with runners in scoring position to go along with 25 runners left on base. Florida State’s issues with runners on base were exacerbated on Sunday, as the Noles hit into a double play four times in eight innings, including the first three frames.

Part of the reason for the struggles stems from an increasingly concerning injury bug, with Brody DeLamielleure and Brayden Dowd each missing a game or more to begin the year. However, the returning production has not been what Jarrett hoped for to begin the season, leading to Chase Williams sitting in the first two games of the series and Cal Fisher sliding down in the lineup.

The head coach is trying everything right now to find a group that works, yet nothing has stuck so far. With five winnable games at home this week, the solutions need to be found quickly before the Noles hit the road for Florida and then three against Wake Forest.

Jarrett on the lineup’s struggles:

“The offensive side was very disappointing. The short-game opportunities were difficult, hard to watch. …We were fortunate to get out of there.”

#2: Defense

Jarrett often talks about good defense blending into the game, so the play in the field stood out like a sore thumb this weekend. In each game, there was a routine play that needed to be made that the Noles botched. In game one of the doubleheader, FSU committed two errors in the fifth inning, including Hunter Carns’ attempt to throw out a runner ending up in the outfield and an error charged to Noah Sheffield on the ensuing play which directly led to a run. In game two, Beard committed an error on a bunt play, allowing a run to score. On Sunday, Sheffield lost a ball in the sun, putting a runner on third.

Beyond the obvious errors, dangerous trends are beginning to surface for the Seminoles. The first glaring concern is the amount of movement along the infield. Jarrett decided to move Fisher back to third on Sunday and play Gabe Fraser at short, after declaring Fisher to be the 6 to begin the year. After seeing the consistency from Alex Lodise and Drew Faurot up the middle in 2025, the difference is night-and-day this season. The other, which remained from last season, is FSU’s inability to control or throw out runners. The Citadel swiped six bags in three games, and the Bulldogs’ legs on the bases were their only chance of scoring. Considering the Seminoles worked on this all offseason as well, stolen bases may be a feature, not a bug, this season.

Link Jarrett on moving pieces around on the infield:

“We’re still working some things out, quite frankly, in the infield, and sometimes a change of scenery can ignite you a little bit at the plate.”