Link Jarrett shares message to Florida State players after elimination from postseason

Florida State hired Link Jarrett away from Notre Dame to try to rebuild the baseball program. However, his first season in Tallahassee has been a long and difficult one, with the Seminoles being eliminated from the postseason race. It’s the first time in 44 years that Florida State is going to miss the postseason.

After being eliminated, Jarrett explained his message to the Florida State players.

“In a roundabout way, yes,” Link Jarrett said. “They owe it to themselves, their teammates, fans, families, to come out, play hard, and play good baseball.”

Link Jarrett has previously said that making the ACC Tournament was a “huge” motivation for the team going into the final few weeks of the season.

“And there’s times you feel on top of the world, you still have that same obligation, responsibility. So, don’t let that slip because the season ends after next weekend. You can’t. These moments are too valuable and there’s a million people that would trade with us in a second to be in this program and playing in a game like this,” Jarrett said.

“So, if that being out of it takes you away from your game, then you shouldn’t be playing at this level and you probably don’t appreciate what you have like you should.”

Despite being motivated by the chance to compete for a spot in the ACC Tournament, the Seminoles ran into Wake Forest, one of college baseball’s best teams. By that point, the Seminoles needed to be nearly perfect to make it to the ACC Tournament and the Seminoles ran into a buzzsaw in the Demon Deacons.

The Seminoles still have four games remaining, one against Kennesaw State and a three-game weekend series against Louisville. Link Jarrett’s goal is to keep his team focused and end a difficult season on a high note.

Link Jarrett on the intensity of playing Wake Forest

Going into Sunday’s game against Wake Forest, Florida State had lost the previous two games and was eliminated from postseason contention. Worse than that, the Seminoles were outscored 17-3 in those first two games.

Then, somehow staying competitive, Link Jarrett saw his team win in walk-off fashion to avoid a series sweep.

“Well, there’s a lot of this stuff that goes on. And it seems in baseball in general to have escalated a little bit. There’s moments that I didn’t think it should be something that would create somebody chirping at somebody else. But we do see it. And once that starts, I mean, clearly, they’re a very talented team. But I think once it starts on both sides then things start to ramp up and people start looking for a reason to get intense and emotional. There’s only one thing you can do to kind of contain and throttle that and that’s play well. And focus on the things that allow you to win games and play good baseball,” Jarrett said.

“So, that part of it can’t override what you’re having to do to focus and navigate and perform within the game. If that adrenaline from the excitement allows you to play a little bit better, great. If that’s taking us out of our game or them out of their game, it’s a really a misdirected sort of energy. That probably doesn’t play out for you in the long run. Now, after the game, let it fly a little bit. But they’re a good team and I think you know, we have a guy on our team who was there.”

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