Link Jarrett breaks down strong start for Florida State in ACC Tournament

Florida State is off and running at the 2024 ACC Baseball Tournament. The Seminoles led Georgia Tech 8-1 through five innings thanks to strong pitching and four home runs.

FSU coach Link Jarrett joined the ACC Network during Tuesday’s matchup to discuss his club’s mindset as the ACC Tournament got underway.

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Jarrett felt good about how things set up for Florida State heading into the tourney.

“Well, the nice thing was we had [Conner] Whittaker available, and it really, from a standpoint of the schedule, feels like a normal week,.” Link Jarrett said. “You have the Tuesday-Friday, so that’s easy, in theory. It gave Whit a chance to go. We’ve been trying to bring him back and extend him a little bit. That was about where we wanted him.

“So here we are. Now beyond that, our bullpens pretty fresh, because we moved last weekend to Thursday, Friday, Saturday. So you have that extra day. So we’re alright with the bullpen.”

Whittaker has been working his way back to full strength after missing more than a month in April and May. He entered the ACC Tournament with a 4-0 record after making 10 appearances, with seven starts. He also had a 5.27 ERA.

Whittaker pitched two scoreless innings against Georgia Tech.

Florida State is the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament after going 39-14 (17-12) during the regular season.

The Seminoles went 23-31 in Jarrett’s first season last year but are much improved in 2024.

Jarrett came over to Florida State after previously serving as the head coach at Notre Dame. He led the Irish to the College World Series in 2022, before accepting the Florida State job.

During his playing days, Jarrett played for the Seminoles. He’s thankful to be leading this program now and doing an excellent job.

“We onboarded 26 new players, which is not easy. The transfer era allows you to make some roster maneuvers that you hope help. Clearly they have,” Jarrett said. “You have some really talented players. We have the ACC Player of the Year that went through a couple of years and has grown and developed. So you see a mixture of guys that went through it with us last year and even the previous year that have matured and developed, combining that with recruiting and some of the transfers.

“It’s got a good look and feel. They have to understand what we’re trying to do systematically with the program. That’s the hardest thing. But you have talented kids that work really hard. That’s a really nice foundation.”