It was an inauspicious start for Florida State against Florida Gulf Coast but the Seminoles' red-hot hitting continued and overpowered the Eagles 19-3 in their midweek matchup on Wednesday afternoon.

After back-to-back solo home runs by FGCU to start the game, RHP Connor Whittaker retired 15 straight batters to keep the Eagles off the bases for four consecutive innings. Whittaker (2-0) tied a career-high with nine strikeouts while his offense went to work and blew the game wide open with a flurry of home runs and timely hitting.

"You learn a lot about Whittaker," FSU Head Coach Link Jarrett began his postgame comments. "To think that three pitches in and there are two balls over the fence? You just don't see that. His stuff immediately ticked up. His velocity was better and he got the secondary pitches (going) and I think he retired 15 in a row. It just tells you a lot about him. It's hard to have three pitches with that result. He's a tough kid. I don't think anyone in that stadium ever saw him waver or give you any body language that would make you think that he was questioning his chances to evade this thing."

After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Seminoles' offense exploded to a 12-2 lead by the end of the fifth inning. Florida State followed that up with a four-run sixth inning to extend the lead to 16-3.

Florida State homered four times Wednesday, including a grand slam in the fifth inning by Jaime Ferrer — his first career grand-slam. Marco Dinges hit his first home run as a Seminole in the fifth inning and Alex Lodise homered in the sixth. Cam Smith capped off his three-hit afternoon with a two-run homer.

The top five batters of the order (Ross, Smith, Tibbs, Ferrer and Dinges) went a combined 8 for 15 with 12 RBIs. With yet another multi-hit performance, Cam Smith elevated his batting average to .500. The short game was working just as well as the long game was, with the Seminoles walking six times and stealing three bases.

"It's hard to do," Jarrett said on Smith's hot hitting. "And he stays on the ball, stays inside it. He's chopped some balls to the left side and when he gets down the line - he can run. So he's had some infield hits. There is just a lot going on and he has reduced his strikeouts. When you are that physical and you can run and have that kind of power, putting it in play is a game changer - and it has changed."

Freshman Cal Fisher also contributed a two-hit, two-RBI performance pinch hitting for Drew Faurot.

On the mound, Whittaker threw for six full innings before being relieved by Hunter Rowan. Rowan and Yoel Tejeda Jr. ended the game for Florida State, closing out the final three innings without a score.

With the win, the Seminoles (11-0) stay undefeated on the young season while Florida Gulf Coast (4-8) continues to struggle.

Florida State hosts New Orleans at 5 p.m. on Friday to begin their weekend series. Right-hander Cam Leiter will start.