FSU holds off Miami to take series opener

Neither Jamie Arnold nor Florida State’s bats were at their best on Thursday night.

But Arnold tossed seven quality innings, striking out nine, and Max Williams had a two-run, opposite-field home run in the seventh inning as the Seminoles continued rivalry week with a gritty 5-4 win over Miami on Thursday night.

Williams also had an RBI single as part of FSU’s three-run third inning.

No. 10 FSU (28-5, 8-5 ACC) had just five hits and four walks. The Seminoles strung together just enough hits to push runs across against Miami ace Gage Ziehl after FSU scored 46 runs in their last four games.

"Big day, the home run, huge," FSU coach Link Jarrett said. "His other base hit was big. ... You have to stack things offensively if you're going to score when the pitching was on point for both sides like it was today."

It was FSU's first one-run win since the 1-0 victory over Stetson on March 19.

FSU is also 6-1 in April.

Arnold (7-1) was mostly on cruise control until he gave up three runs in the fifth inning, allowing Miami to tie the game. Lucas Costello had a two-run double to put Miami (16-17, 6-10) on the board, while JD Urso had an RBI single.

But the left-hander ate up seven innings, allowing just four hits and two walks. He tossed 102 pitches (66 strikes), doing so to open a series where FSU will be shorthanded without Cam Leiter and Conner Whittaker.

Arnold, the nation's ERA leader, entered the night at 0.94 but saw his ERA rise to 1.61. Still, he set a tone for the series with his outing — the third time this season he has pitched seven innings (also at BC and at Clemson).

"That's the best I've seen Jamie's velocity," Jarrett said. "His slider was good. I thought as he went on he didn't quite have the feel he had for the slider early. But he's come back, this is an earlier week for him."

Jacoby Long hit a solo home run in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4 off Andrew Armstrong.

Joe Charles tossed two hitless innings to pick up his sixth save. Charles also finished a 3-6-1 double play to wrap up the eighth inning.

"Clearly the story was Joe," Jarrett said. "That's the best I've ever seen it. That's 97 and a really good slider. ... And the 3-6-1double play was clearly the difference in this. If you don't execute that, this could get messy."

Cam Smith singled on the first pitch he saw, extending his on-base streak to 43 games. That’s tied with Tony McQuade in 2002-03 for the 18th-longest in program history.

Freshman left-hander Brady Louck will start for FSU on Friday against Miami at 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra).

The Marching Chiefs will return to Howser to play pregame and during Friday's game.

There will also be an outdoor watch party on the Howser green along the first-base line, with a big-screen TV and concession stand for those who don't have a ticket to the sold out games on Friday and Saturday.

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple