TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — No. 11 Florida State (1-0) began the season with a 4-1 win over James Madison (0-1) on Friday night in the first-ever meeting between the schools. Parker Messick won his ninth consecutive decision, striking out 11 in 5.2 innings.
Messick, from Plant City, Florida, allowed two hits, one run, and struck out 11, one shy of his career high. Messick’s 11 strikeouts are the third-most in program history on Opening Day and the most since Bryan Henry also had 11 in 2007. The sophomore left-hander struck out the side in the first, third and fifth innings, including four looking. As a team, FSU struck out 18 Dukes.
With runners on first and second and two outs, freshman Jackson Baumeister entered in relief of Messick and struck out cleanup hitter Kyle Novak. Wyatt Crowell recorded two outs before senior Jonah Scolaro closed it out for 1.2 innings with one hit, zero runs, and four strikeouts. Scolaro, named FSU’s closer earlier in the week, earned the 10th save of his career and needed just 18 pitches to notch five outs.
The Seminole pitching staff combined for 18 strikeouts, five hits, and only three walks in 35 batters faced.
After James Madison took the lead in the top of the second on Travis Reifsnider’s solo home run, the Noles responded with back-to-back home runs by Brett Roberts and James Tibbs.
Roberts, a transfer from Tennessee Tech, launched a home run in his first at-bat as a Seminole, while the freshman Tibbs went yard on his first pitch at Florida State. The last player to homer in their first at-bat for FSU was Messick versus Virginia Tech in 2021.
On offense, FSU recorded seven hits by seven different players. The Noles added two more runs in the sixth inning through a sacrifice fly by Alex Toral to score Reese Albert and a passed ball which scored Logan Lacey. Albert, a fifth-year senior, was hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career and reached on a bunt single. Lacey doubled for FSU’s third extra-base hit of the evening.
