The Oregon State baseball team will host the Florida State Seminoles in the Corvallis Super Regional with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
The best-of-three series opens Friday at 3 p.m. at Goss Stadium, and it will be the first meeting between the college baseball powers.
As the Beavers clawed and scraped their way through the losers’ bracket in the regionals, Florida State breezed into the next round of the NCAA baseball tournament. The Seminoles swept three games at the Tallahassee Regional, outscoring Bethune-Cookman and Mississippi State by a combined score of 21-7.
Mississippi State provided a mild scare in a testy regional final, carrying a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. But Florida State responded by scoring five runs over the next two innings to dismiss the Bulldogs and win the regional.
It is a loaded team with imposing starting pitching, depth throughout the lineup and decades of tradition. Here’s a look at the Seminoles:
A traditional power
The Seminoles are making their 19th super regional appearance, the most by any program since the format was created, and sit three wins away from their 25th trip to the College World Series. Most of the postseason success came under legendary former coach Mike Martin, who transformed the sleepy program into a national power in the 1980s and 90s. Coach Link Jarrett, who played shortstop under Martin in the early 1990s, took over as coach in 2023 and guided Florida State to the College World Series in his second season. The Seminoles lost in the semifinals to eventual national champion Tennessee, and that’s the one knock on a program that owns the second-most NCAA postseason appearances (61) and wins (207) — despite decades of success, Florida State has never won a national championship.
Potential No. 1 MLB pick anchors staff
The Seminoles’ weekend rotation, which features a trio of talented left-handers, is as good as any in the country. And it starts at the top with ace Jamie Arnold, who is in contention to be the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 MLB draft.
The 6-foot-1 junior is 8-2 with a 3.12 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 78 innings this season, and he boasts one of the most lethal pitch combinations in the country, including a mid-90s fastball, strikeout slider and commanding changeup. Arnold is experienced, bringing 21 careers wins over 40 starts into the series. He’s accomplished, having earned First-Team All-American honors last season. And he’s hot, coming off a 13-strikeout, seven-inning win over Mississippi State in the regionals. The Beavers’ red-hot offense will face its stiffest test of the season when it meets Arnold.
Beyond their ace, the Seminoles’ staff features two more left-handers: Joey Volini, a 6-4 junior transfer from South Florida, and Wes Mendes, a 6-1 sophomore transfer from Ole Miss. Mendes, who is expected to the be the staff ace next season, is 7-2 with a 4.66 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings. He carried Florida State into Corvallis by defeating Mississippi State in the Tallahassee Regional final, recording nine strikeouts and allowing just two runs over eight innings in a dominant win. If there is weakness in the staff, it might be Volini. He’s 8-5 with a 3.68 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 80 2/3 innings, but he limped down the stretch of the regular season, suffering losses in four of his last five starts.
A player of the year candidate
While Arnold draws the draft buzz, the Seminoles’ best player is Alex Lodise, a slick-fielding, power-hitting shortstop who became the second player in ACC history to win both the conference’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the year awards in the same season. He enters the super regional hitting .405 and slugging .736, with 17 homers, 18 doubles, 67 RBIs and 61 runs scored. He leads all Power Four hitters in batting average and ranks among the top 12 nationally in hits (91) and total bases (167). The 6-1 junior is a leading contender for several national honors, including the Golden Spikes Award, and is ranked No. 45 on MLB.com’s top draft prospect list. There aren’t too many teams that feature a shortstop on the level of Oregon State’s Aiva Arquette, but Florida State is one of them.
Power, depth across lineup
But Lodise is hardly the only fearsome Florida State hitter — the Seminoles feature depth, power and production up-and-down the lineup. They bring to Corvallis a .311 batting average and .528 slugging percentage, which rank 19th and 15th in the nation, respectively, and have belted the 19th-most homers (100). Seven regulars are hitting .310 or better and four have hit 16 or more home runs.
Right fielder Gage Harrelson, who is hitting .335 with 63 runs scored and 15 stolen bases, is a spark plug in the leadoff spot, while the middle of the order is manned by junior center fielder Max Williams (.318, team-high 18 homers, nine doubles, 49 RBIs) and first baseman Myles Bailey (.328, 17 homers, 10 doubles, 53 RBIs), who is one of the most prodigious freshmen in the nation. Meanwhile, all-ACC first-team second baseman Drew Faurot is hitting .308 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs in the six hole.
Florida State features five players on MLB.com’s top 200 draft prospect list.
— Joe Freeman | [email protected] | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.