Joey Volini rights the ship, pitches FSU to 3-1 win in opener at Virginia Tech

Heading into this weekend’s top-25 showdown at Virginia Tech, FSU baseball coach Link Jarrett said the biggest thing his team needed was for its weekend starters to make it deeper in games.

Joey Volini did just that in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The junior left-hander, who had an uncharacteristically rough outing last time out, was dominant in No. 9 FSU’s 3-1 victory against the No. 25 Hokies.

Volini allowed just two hits and one run in 7.0 innings, and he worked his way out of several tricky situations. Even though the Hokies’ bats didn’t do much damage against him, Volini did walk four, but he benefited from sharp defense by his teammates and some important strikeouts; he recorded five Ks on the day and improved to 8-1 on the season.

Senior Joe Charles pitched two scoreless innings to record his first save.

After losing a home series last weekend to Wake Forest and then falling to rival Florida in a midweek game, FSU took an early lead in the fourth inning Saturday when catcher Nathan Cmeyla was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Max Williams. Williams had started the inning with a leadoff double.

After Virginia Tech scored its only run in the bottom half of that inning, FSU responded with two more in the top of the fifth to take command of the game.

Right-fielder Gage Harrelson led off the frame with a double and scored on an RBI single from shortstop Alex Lodise. Max Williams reached on a fielder’s choice, which wiped Lodise off the bases, and he later scored on a wild pitch after advancing to third on a Myles Bailey double.

Pitching with a 3-1 lead, Volini flirted with danger in the bottom of the sixth when he allowed a walk and gave up a two-out single. But he struck out cleanup hitter Henry Cooke on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

Things looked a little shaky for Charles in the ninth, as he surrendered back-to-back singles with only one out. But he got the next two batters to fly out to pick up the save.

With the win, FSU improves to 26-7 and 9-4 in the ACC, while Virginia Tech falls to 23-11 and 9-7.

Game 2 of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3:50 p.m. Click here for the live game updates thread.

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