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Tennessee Baseball College World Series Preview: A Quick Look At Florida State

Photo via Florida State Athletics

Tennessee baseball is back in the College World Series for the third time in four seasons but after winning just one game in its last two trips to Omaha, the Vols are looking for more.

That starts on Friday night when Tennessee will face Florida State in its critical College World Series opener. With the first half of the College World Series being a four-team, double-elimination tournament it is incredibly important for Tennessee to open up with a win if they want to make a deep run.

Here’s a look at the Florida State Seminoles ahead of Friday night’s College World Series opener.

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How The Seminoles Got Here

Florida State is back in the College World Series for the first time since 2019 and is making its return to Omaha in Link Jarrett’s second season leading the Seminoles’ program. Jarrett was previously the coach at Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish knocked off the Vols in the 2022 Knoxville Super Regional.

The Seminoles enter the College World Series with a 47-15 (17-12 ACC) record. During the regular season, Florida State played two common opponents of Tennessee. They won a single game against Illinois and won three midweek matchups against Florida State.

Florida State was the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and swept through the Tallahassee Regional with wins over Stetson (7-2) and twice over UCF (5-2, 12-4).

The Seminoles remained at home for the Tallahassee Super Regional this past weekend where they swept UConn in two games including a 12th inning when in game two to clinch the return to the College World Series.

Team Hitting Stats

Runs: 559 (6th nationally)

Batting average: .316 (9th nationally)

Home runs: 123 (7th nationally)

Doubles: 132 (15th nationally)

Walks: 310 (33rd nationally)

Bats To Know

Cam Smith — .402/.497/.677, 16 HR, 37 EBH, 56 RBI, 39 BB, 44 K

James Tibbs III — .374/.497/.813, 28 HR, 46 EBH, 94 RBI, 54 BB, 31 K

Jaime Ferrer — .319/.419/.648, 19 HR, 29 EBH, 58 RBI, 22 BB, 38 K

Marco Dinges — .321/.412/.596, 15 HR, 28 EBH, 66 RBI, 36 BB, 36 K

Max Williams — .301/.379/.578, 13 HR, 27 EBH, 43 RBI, 18 BB, 50 K

Team Pitching Stats

Earned Run Average: 4.86 (43rd nationally)

WHIP: 1.47 WHIP (54th nationally)

Strikeouts Per 9 Innings: 10.9 (7th nationally)

Normal Friday Night Starter

Sophomore LHP Jamie Arnold: 17 GS, 11-3, 2.77 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 100.2 IP, 155 K, 22 BB

-While Arnold may not be as good as Andrew Abbott and Paul Skenes who the Vols faced in their College World Series openers in 2021 and 2023, Arnold is still a very good pitcher. The sophomore is currently projected to be a second round in the 2025 MLB Draft and could easily play his way into the first round.

Top Bullpen Arms

Redshirt Senior LHP Brennen Oxford: 29 RA, 2-0, 2.94 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 6 S, 52 IP, 65 K, 25 BB

Freshman RHP John Abraham: 2 GS, 22 RA, 5-1, 4.24 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 34 IP, 42 K, 29 BB

Redshirt freshman LHP Connor Hults: 25 RA, 2-1, 4.45 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 4 S, 30.1 IP, 34 K, 14 BB

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