FSU baseball blasts Butler Bulldogs for opening series win

FSU baseball (2-0, 0-0 ACC) opened its 2024 season with a dominating two-game series win over the Butler Bulldogs (0-2). The Noles won the opening game 11-0 (how fitting for Mike Martin Sr.) Friday night and 15-5 Sunday. The Saturday game got canceled due to inclement weather. As I mentioned in the game preview, Butler was not a good team in 2023. However, FSU head coach Link Jarrett saw a lot of great things in the two games, and the Noles dominated an inferior opponent the way you hope they would. I had a good feeling the offense would score runs, and the starting pitcher would be solid. That was the case indeed, as Cam Leiter dominated in game one, and Jamie Arnold coasted through five innings in the second game. Leiter struck out 13 and walked two in five innings, and Arnold struck out nine and walked zero batters. That's an outstanding strikeout-to-walk ratio. The FSU offense blasted four home runs and had 30 hits in the series. They also drew 21 walks and only struck out 11 times. One thing I wanted to see more of was being FSU-aggressive on the base paths. The Noles had 11 stolen bases in the series.

Quick Thoughts

FSU got production for the offensive guys you'd expect, and many young players got some valuable experience. The same goes for the pitching staff, but some veterans in the bullpen struggled with walks in the second game. FSU will get a better test when they travel to face the Jacksonville Dolphins on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. ET. The Dolphins have played the Noles tough the past few seasons, with FSU winning two of three last year. The Noles blew the doors off Jacksonville in the first game, but the Dolphins won the second game by one run, and the third game was a two-run win.