At just about every turn this season, Florida State baseball ace Jamie Arnold has delivered.

But entering his first career NCAA Tournament appearance, it was going to be interesting to see how the sophomore approached the increased intensity and stakes that come with postseason play.

You wouldn't have known anything had changed from how he handled his Saturday night start in the winner's bracket of the Tallahassee Regional.

The lefty once again delivered on just about every front against UCF, racking up 12 strikeouts over seven innings, allowing just two runs on three hits

That wound up being more than enough for FSU's offense as the Seminoles (44-15) coasted to a 5-2 win over the Knights (36-20) in front of a raucous crowd at Dick Howser Stadium to advance into the Tallahassee Regional Championship.

While Arnold largely rolled through his first six innings, allowing just two hits and four total baserunners, UCF loaded the bases against him with no outs in the seventh inning on a walk, a weakly-hit single and a hit-by-pitch.

Just when it looked like his stellar outing may be crumbling, Arnold got a pair of weak groundouts against the next two batters to record three outs and get out of the jam with one run allowed.

He also had a ridiculous stretch over the second and third innings where he recorded five consecutive strikeouts on 15 pitches.

His seven innings of work matched his career high. It was the ninth time in 16 starts this season he threw six-plus innings and the fifth time he threw seven innings.

His 12 strikeouts Saturday were the most by an FSU pitcher in the postseason since 2017. His 146 strikeouts this season are the most by an FSU pitcher since 2000 and sixth-most in a season in program history.

While Arnold didn't deal with too much traffic in his outing, he finished the game holding UCF hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position and 2 for 12 (.167) with runners on base.

Facing a UCF pitching staff that is probably the deepest in the Tallahassee Regional, FSU's offense got off to a hot start Saturday night. The Seminoles mashed 11 hits over the first four innings of the game, chasing UCF starter Ben Vespi after three-plus innings.

While FSU stranded runners in the first and second innings, the Seminoles plated two runs in the third on a pair of RBI singles from Marco Dinges and Daniel Cantu.

FSU doubled its lead in the fourth on a two-run, opposite-field homer by Cam Smith, his 15th of the season, and added a third run that inning on an RBI double from Jaime Ferrer.

Dinges led the way for the FSU offense with three hits, but seven Seminoles had hits overall and eight of the nine reached base.

While FSU managed just two hits over the final five innings at the plate and struck out 13 times Saturday, the damage had already been done and the pitching staff took care of the rest.

Brennen Oxford relieved Arnold and closed out the game with two scoreless innings and four more strikeouts, bringing the pitching staff's tally on the day to 16.

Up Next

With the win, FSU needs just one more win to advance into a home Super Regional next weekend. UCF and Stetson will play Sunday at noon and the winner of that game would have to beat FSU twice to knock the Seminoles out.

The first of those two games is slated for a 6 p.m. start Sunday evening at Howser. Broadcast channel for the game is expected to be announced Sunday morning.

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