Link Jarrett says pitching success was 'great' for Florida State over weekend

Over the weekend, Link Jarrett saw his Florida State Seminoles sweep Mercer in a three-game series. In what has been a difficult season, it was a good late-season boost for the team as it prepares for the ACC Tournament.

As Jarrett explained, one of the major keys to the sweep this weekend was Florida State’s pitching.

“It’s great,” Link Jarrett said. “You know, it gives some of these guys a chance to catch their breath a little bit in the bullpen and that’s the idea with starting pitching, to be honest, is you really extend, and then your bullpen becomes matchups and how things feel and look based on the score of the game.”

In three games against Mercer, Florida State only allowed five total runs and even had a shutout in game two. That’s the result of excellent pitching, something that Link Jarrett and the Seminoles haven’t been able to rely upon this season.

“And we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to use the bullpen that way. There’s times we’re just trying to get somebody in there, somebody else to extend. So, that was great,” Jarrett explained.

“And, again, that’s the concept with your starting pitchers is they can lengthen it out once a week, but that hasn’t always been the case with us. But this weekend it has been and it’s great and it gives some of those other guys a chance [Andrew Armstrong] and [Doug] Kirkland and some of those guys who have thrown a lot a chance to breathe a little bit.”

Florida State has eight regular season games remaining. That includes two three-game ACC series. One of those is against Wake Forest, one of college baseball’s best teams. The other is against Louisville. The Seminoles also have games against Jacksonville and Kennesaw State.

Link Jarrett on returning to Notre Dame

Prior to becoming the head coach at Florida State, Link Jarrett was the head coach at Notre Dame. There, he found a lot of success. Ahead of his return, which saw the Irish take two out of three from the Seminoles, Jarrett spoke about the moment.

“It will be unique to walk out onto the field, the field that I kind of redid the turf, redid the bullpens, the cages, the graphics, the dugouts — really, all of it,” Jarrett said.

“To walk back in after you’ve been away for a while and take a look at what this actually looks like, it will be unique on a lot of layers. There is no way around it.”