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FSU baseball routs No. 8 TCU with resounding 10-1 win in series opener

In what was the first challenging test of Link Jarrett's Florida State baseball tenure, the Seminoles passed with flying colors.

Hostile road atmosphere? Top-10 opponent? Going against an extremely high-powered offense? None of that could deter FSU.

The Seminoles (5-0) did just about everything right in the opening game of their three-game series at No. 8 TCU (3-2), coming away with a resounding 10-1 win at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas Friday night.

The biggest part of this, no doubt, was thanks to the FSU pitching staff. Jackson Baumeister and Wyatt Crowell combined to allow one unearned run on two hits in the victory. That's impressive against any opponent, but especially so against a TCU offense which began the day averaging 11 runs per game this young season.

For Baumeister, it was his first career Friday start, stepping one day forward from the Saturday spot he began the season in due to a minor injury suffered by Friday starter Carson Montgomery which pushed him into the Sunday starting spot this weekend.

While the stage may be intimidating for some, Baumeister thrived in the spotlight. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, allowing his lone hit with two outs in the frame. The sophomore pitcher wasn't able to close out that inning, but still had far and away the best outing of his young career.

He threw a career-high 5.2 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters, allowing only three baserunners (one hit and two walks).

Crowell, FSU's highest-leverage reliever, was tasked with getting the final out of the sixth and did that with ease, getting a strikeout to strand two baserunners.

From there, the junior pitcher did the rest on the mound for the Seminoles. He recorded the Seminoles' first save of the season, throwing the final 3.1 innings and allowing one unearned run on one hit.

The pair of pitchers struck out 14 Horned Frog hitters and issued four walks. And very importantly for the rest of the weekend, they filled all nine innings, keeping FSU's bullpen in great shape for the remainder of the series.

FSU offense comes alive after slow start

It took a number of innings for either team to generate much of anything offensively in Friday's series opener.

Nander De Sedas' third-inning double was the only hit either team managed until the sixth inning. And he was stranded on base after his one-out hit was followed by a pair of FSU strikeouts.

FSU finally broke through against TCU starting pitcher Ryan Vanderhei in the sixth frame. It began with a leadoff double from catcher Colton Vincent placed just inside the third-base bag and down the left-field line.

Vincent moved up to third base on a bloop single by DeAmez Ross and then came in to score the long-awaited first run of the game on a wild pitch at the start of the very next at-bat.

While the next two batters were retired, FSU came through with a pair of clutch two-out runs after that. Jaime Ferrer chased Vanderhei out of the game with a double off the wall in center which scored Ross. Then Ferrer came around from second base to score on an error by TCU first baseman David Bishop, an aggressive baserunning decision which paid off.

FSU then added two more runs in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Treyton Rank and a sacrifice fly by Jordan Carrion. The killing blow was a five-run ninth inning for the Seminoles, highlighted by James Tibbs' three-run double to left field.

After FSU managed just one hit through the first five innings at the plate, it had much more success over its final four innings at the plate, racking up 10 runs on 10 hits over that span to turn a close game into a convincing victory.

With this late charge, FSU reached double-digit hits and runs for the fourth time in five games this season.

Up Next

With one win in hand, FSU now has two chances to come away with an impressive series win over the eighth-ranked Horned Frogs. The first of those two chances will come Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN+) with freshman pitcher Jamie Arnold on the mound for the Seminoles.

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