FSU's bats shred UF in 14-3 rout
JACKSONVILLE — Florida State's bullpen returned to effective form. And the Seminoles' bats? They were alive from the start.
Drew Faurot hit a grand slam in the eighth to give No. 17 FSU a 14-3 run-rule victory over No. 6 Florida on Tuesday night in eight innings at 121 Financial Ballpark. Faurot also had a home run in the fourth as the Seminoles pounded out 15 hits in front of 7,710 fans.
Daniel Cantu went 3 for 5 with a home run and five RBI, while James Tibbs went 3 for 4 with three runs scored.
The Seminoles (20-3) have won the regular season series over UF for the first time since 2015, and they did it by scoring 10 or more runs in each game.
And the Seminoles had quite the bounce back following two demoralizing bullpen performances in losses at Clemson.
"Our response today was as good of a response today as I've ever seen of any team I've ever coached," FSU coach Link Jarrett said. "I've won Super Regionals and you might lose Game 2 and have to win Game 3. And that's obviously a great moment and response. That response of those guys in the dugout that went through just an agonizing three-game series and an eight-hour bus ride home, to jump back on the bus to roll in here the way we felt, I can not say enough about their response and delivery of great performance today."
While Andrew Armstrong struggled in the first inning, allowing three earned runs, FSU's bullpen was lights out the rest of the way. Three relievers allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out 11 batters.
Joe Charles (1-0) tossed two shutout innings of relief with six strikeouts.
Freshman John Abraham tossed 3.1 innings of shutout relief, walking two but striking out five hitters.
Brennen Oxford then shut the door with 1.2 shutout innings, striking out three.
Florida (14-10) has now dropped midweek games to FSU (twice) as well as Jacksonville, Stetson and UCF.
Up next
FSU will play host to Louisville on Thursday at 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra). The three-game series starts a day early due to the Easter holiday.
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