Florida State baseball hosted the Jacksonville University Dolphins in its first live-action contest of 2026 fall ball on Friday, Oct. 16. With a revamped roster and the addition of the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system, the Seminoles offered plenty of new looks at Dick Howser Stadium.
More: NCAA approves Automated Ball-Strike system for 2027 season
After the cancellation of its initial fall opener against Auburn University at Blue Wahoos Stadium due to Hurricane Iasais, the six-inning doubleheader marked FSU’s first competition against players outside its program. The ’Noles came away with 5-1 and 4-1 victories over the Dolphins.
“I like the fact that the pitching almost seemed better [than scrimmages],” head coach Link Jarrett said at a postgame news conference. “You feel like you’re going to walk out of here like ‘did it not feel as good when you get out in the actual battle’ and I thought that ticked up.”
McKenzie makes his mark twice
Six different Garnet and Gold pitchers took the mound, each throwing two innings. Senior left-handed pitcher Jackson McKenzie relieved junior right-handed pitcher Rhett Vaughn in the final frame of the night with runners on the corners and no outs. McKenzie closed out the game with 10 pitches, eight of which went for strikes.
“McKenzie, that's a very cool day for him,” Jarrett said. “For those of you that remember [Joey] Volini, the computer and the tech will tell you that the breaking ball is similar to Volini’s breaking ball, and that's probably the best he's thrown.”
Volini pitched for FSU in 2025 before being drafted by the Miami Marlins. Before taking the mound, McKenzie started both games in the lineup. He opened with a long single off the fence before launching a 418-foot home run.
“I've found out that I think I’m more mentally drained than physically whenever I have to do both,” McKenzie said. “So if you tell yourself that you can do it and push through, then you're capable of doing it.”
Transfers bring heat to the mound
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Otto Espinoza was the first arm out of the bullpen, opening his outing with a 94 mph strike. He finished with four strikeouts, the most of any Florida State pitcher on the night. Espinoza was also on the mound for the first ABS challenge of the night, when a called third strike was overturned, extending the at-bat.
“A lot of the times if a call got overturned the pitcher tends to throw a ball the next time and I kind of have that in the back of my head now,” Espinoza said. “It is some adversity that adds on to the game so I think it’s important just to remember that and just go to the next pitch.”
Another promising transfer on the mound was junior right-handed pitcher Sebastian Lippman. He entered game one in the fifth inning and, after allowing a leadoff single, stranded the runner and retired the next three batters on 10 pitches.
Lippman hit 99 mph multiple times. His velocity dipped slightly in his second inning, but his fastball stayed in the 95-99 mph range as he closed out the game.
“When you see that kind of velocity and athleticism and power, it’s somewhat rare,” Jarrett said. “That was loud, and we knew it was loud, and it was good to see it in this setting, probably even better than we’ve seen it in our scrimmages.”
Offense searches for consistency
Offensively, the Seminoles showed flashes of power but struggled to find consistent contact at the plate. Home runs from McKenzie, sophomore center fielder John Stuetzer, and senior catcher Kaden Frommelt provided FSU’s biggest swings, while senior third baseman Cal Fisher added a triple off the center-field wall.
“The offensive part, [we saw] flashes, but not maybe as consistent as you as you go through the whole lineup in either game,” Jarrett said.
While the ’Noles showed their pitching strengths and power potential, consistency at the plate remains an area to build on as fall ball continues. The Garnet and Gold return to Dick Howser Stadium at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, to face the University of North Florida in another six-inning doubleheader.
Gia Ciaccio is a Staff Writer for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
This article originally appeared on FSU News: Florida State baseball sweeps Jacksonville to open fall ball