New-look Colton Vincent sparks Florida State to 5-1 win over James Madison

Switch-hitting isn’t new to Florida State catcher Colton Vincent, even if he never did it in a game during his first two seasons with the Seminoles.

Judging by his performance on Saturday, it won’t be something he stops any time soon.

Vincent, who was a switch-hitter earlier in his baseball career but had only batted from the right side at Florida State, blasted a solo home run from the left side Saturday to spark the Seminoles to a 5-1 victory over visiting James Madison.

Vincent’s homer, a towering blast over the fence in right-center field, broke a 1-1 tie and started a three-run rally in the sixth inning. It was his first home run at Florida State and one of two hits on the day after batting just .195 with six extra-base hits last season.

After the game, first-year Seminoles coach Link Jarrett said the move was a result of a chance encounter during fall workouts.

“I was in the cage in the fall, and he was hitting left-handed,” Jarrett said. “I’m like, ‘Colton, what are you doing?’ He’s like, ‘Coach, I used to do it and I got hurt, and I kinda never really got back into it.’ I said, ‘Well, that looks pretty good to me. Why don’t you try it?’ And he liked it, so he kept doing it. And here we are today.” 

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While it was Vincent who broke the tie, sophomore outfielder Jaime Ferrer delivered the hit that really gave the Seminoles some breathing room. 

After center fielder DeAmez Ross walked and moved to third on a double by fellow freshman Cam Smith, Ferrer ripped a two-run single up the middle to give Florida State a 4-1 lead. The Seminoles then added an insurance run in the eighth.

Ferrer led the Florida State offense with a 2-for-4 performance with 2 RBIs, but he and Vincent were the only Seminoles to record multiple hits. FSU recorded eight hits on the day and touched up James Madison starter Ryan Murphy for just two hits and one unearned run in the first four innings.

“He needed that, and we needed that,” Jarrett said of Ferrer, who went 0-4 for on Friday. “Because that game was still in the balance at that point. That was a good two-strike at-bat. … It’s just kind of good to see him get rolling.”

For the second straight day, the Seminoles got a quality limited start on the mound, as sophomore right-hander Jackson Baumeister allowed just one unearned run on two hits in 4.0 innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Baumeister left the game after walking one batter and then hitting another to start the fifth, but sophomore righty Conner Whittaker came in and pitched the final five innings to keep James Madison in check.

Whittaker got the win after allowing no runs and five hits; he struck out four and walked none.

“I thought Baumeister was sharp out of the gate; the velocity was there,” Jarrett said of the sophomore starter, who was hitting 95 mph consistently with his fastball. 

But once Baumeister got into some minor trouble in the fifth and had already thrown 60 pitches, Jarrett and pitching coach Chuck Ristano decided to make the move. The maximum Baumeister would have been allowed to throw this early in the season was 70 to 75 pitches.

It was a similar scenario to Friday’s 12-7 win, when junior Wyatt Crowell came in and pitched 2 2/3 strong innings to earn the victory in relief.

While Crowell and Whittaker were both preseason candidates to earn starting jobs in the weekend rotation, Jarrett decided to keep them in the bullpen to handle high-leverage situations.

“You have two guys that are fairly experienced in that role,” the Seminoles’ head coach said. “And it seemed like the logical thing to do, just to try to get out of the gate – with so much newness around the pitching staff and the team. … That’s why we did what we did.”

Saturday’s victory, which came before a crowd of 5,505, gave Jarrett his first series victory as Florida State head coach.

The Seminoles (2-0) will go for the sweep of the Dukes (0-2) on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Freshman left-hander Jamie Arnold will be on the mound for Florida State.

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FIRST REPORT

It didn’t take Link Jarrett long to earn his first series win as Florida State head baseball coach.

The Seminoles blew open a tied game with a three-run sixth inning and cruised to a 5-1 victory Saturday over visiting James Madison at Dick Howser Stadium. Combined with a 12-7 win on Friday, Florida State takes the season-opening series and will go for the sweep on Sunday.

Senior catcher Colton Vincent got things started for the ‘Noles with a solo home run to start the bottom of the sixth. After hitting from the right side in 2022, Vincent has adopted a switch-hitting approach this season, and he showed power from the left side with a towering blast over the fence in right-center field.

Florida State then added two more runs on a one-out, two-run single up the middle by sophomore outfielder Jaime Ferrer.

For the second straight day, the Seminoles got a quality controlled start on the mound, as sophomore right-hander Jackson Baumeister allowed just one unearned run on two hits in 4.0 innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Sophomore righty Conner Whittaker then came in and pitched the final five innings to keep James Madison in check.

Along with Vincent’s blast, Ferrer led the Florida State offense with a 2-for-4 performance with 2 RBIs.

The Seminoles (2-0) will go for the sweep of the Dukes (0-2) on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete post-game coverage.

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