Skip to main content
Florida State
Join Now

Friends will be foes as FSU takes on UCF in Regional winner's bracket

On3 imageby: Ira Schoffel06/01/24iraschoffel

With close friends on both teams, Florida State baseball coach Link Jarrett didn’t have a preference for who won Friday’s late Tallahassee Regional game between UCF and Alabama.

His only hope, Jarrett joked, was that the game went 17 of 18 innings so that both teams got “exhausted” and ran through several of their bullpen arms.

Jarrett didn’t necessarily get that wish, but the Knights and Crimson Tide did engage in a fierce battle that went down to the wire, as UCF scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to pull out an 8-7 victory. That propelled the No. 3 seed Knights into a clash with the top-seeded Florida State Seminoles in a winner’s bracket game today at 8 p.m. on ESPN+.

The winner of the FSU-UCF game will advance to Sunday’s regional championship round. And it’s a game that could be emotional for players and coaches on both teams.

First-year UCF head coach Rich Wallace was on Jarrett’s staff at Florida State last season and with him at Notre Dame before that. Wallace acknowledged that it was strange being on Mike Martin Field on Friday and looking up at the coaches’ offices, where he worked just 10 months ago.

Squaring off against Florida State players he recruited and coached — and a head coach he used to work for — is going to be a unique experience.

“It’s obviously going to be a little different, a little odd,” Wallace said. “He’s one of my best friends, he’s the best coach in college baseball. I don’t know if I want to beat him anymore than anyone else, I just want to find a way to get to Sunday. If we can get through them to get there, that’s all we’re really worried about.”

Wallace, who is a UCF alum and starred there in the early 2000s, has already led the Knights to impressive heights in his first season. This marks their first NCAA Regional appearance since 2017, and Friday’s win was their first tournament victory since 2012 against Stony Brook in a Miami Regional.

While Wallace has close relationships with several of the current Seminoles, two players on the UCF roster are very familiar to Jarrett.

Outfielder Jack Zyska and catcher Danny Neri both played on Jarrett’s Notre Dame teams. And in 2022, they teamed up to shock then-No. 1 national seed Tennessee in Knoxville and advance to the College World Series.

Neri and Zyska both started Friday in the Knights’ win against Alabama, and Zyska was one of the stars of the day. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles, 3 RBIs and one run scored.

“Regional baseball’s different. The whole environment, the intensity around the whole thing,” Zyska said. “Having played in it definitely gives you a little more experience, so you’re not like feeling for things, you’re kind of the aggressor. Hopefully, I showed that.”

In today’s winner’s bracket game, UCF not only will face the host school and a Top 8 national seed, but the Knights will see Florida State ace Jamie Arnold, who is 10-3 with a 2.45 ERA.

It’s a challenge that Zyska said excites him and his teammates.

“You’ve got to through them, so excited,” the sixth-year senior said of playing the Seminoles. “And hopefully they bring their best.”

SIGN UP: Join Warchant’s FSU Community for $1 today

One year ago, Rich Wallace was coaching third base for Florida State. Today, he will lead the UCF Knights in an NCAA Regional game against the Seminoles. (Gene Williams/Warchant)
One year ago, Rich Wallace was coaching third base for Florida State. Today, he will lead the UCF Knights in an NCAA Regional game against the Seminoles. (Gene Williams/Warchant)

*Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State baseball fans in the FSU Baseball Forum*

You may also like