Homers lift No. 17 FSU baseball to series win over Louisville
Saturday's series finale vs. Louisville was quite a moment for Cal Fisher to enter the Florida State lineup for the first time this season.
The Seminoles' first rubber match of the season wasn't just Fisher's first start at FSU. It was the first start any freshman position player has made this season for the Seminoles.
And yet, the shortstop from Deerfield, Wisconsin made FSU head coach Link Jarrett look like a genius for his belief in the freshman. Fisher hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning Saturday which broke a deadlock and put the No. 17 Seminoles (22-4, 5-4 in ACC) up for good in their 9-4 win over Louisville (17-11, 3-6) in the series finale to clinch the series.
Fisher finished his first career start 2 for 4 with his second home run of the season and two runs batted in.
"Fisher's at-bat, got to two strikes, infield was in, for him to hit a home run, a lot of positives there and momentum and energy from that. It was a big part of the win..." FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. "I was pleased with everything he did."
Not to be outdone, FSU right fielder James Tibbs III tied his career high with a four-hit game in Saturday's series finale, including a two-run home run in the third which was his team-high 11th homer of the season. He also added a diving catch in the middle innings to initiate an inning-ending double play.
With FSU leading 5-3 in the seventh, the Seminoles strung together four straight two-out hits to plate three runs and give themselves some critical insurance.
"Good ballgame. Nice response and answer after (Friday). I thought we had a little more energy," Jarrett said.
It wasn't the best start for FSU junior righty Conner Whittaker, who was tagged for three runs, all earned, on six hits over five innings of work. However, he did well to limit the damage with a pair of double plays and needed just 63 pitches to get through five innings.
Whittaker has gone at least five innings in each of his six starts this season and has allowed more than three runs just once.
However, the FSU bullpen was again up to the task, as has been the case throughout this week after a dreadful weekend at Clemson last week.
Carson Dorsey allowed one unearned run thanks to an error by second baseman Drew Faurot and a passed ball by catcher Jaxson West. That was the first (and it wound up being only) run allowed by FSU relievers this week over 17.1 innings.
That's quite a change from the 23 runs FSU's bullpen allowed in the Clemson series which turned what probably should have been an impressive road series win into being swept.
"We executed. It was well done," Jarrett said of the bullpen this week. "It was not easy to go through what happened in those two or three innings (at Clemson) that bit us up there. And they bit hard and they hurt. To say shake it off, you try shaking that off when you're pitching. It's not easy. Our guys responded."
Dorsey, Brennan Oxford, Joe Charles and Andrew Armstrong combined to allow one unearned run on four hits over four innings. Armstrong entered in the ninth inning after the first two batters of the inning reached base and retired all three batters he faced to close out the series.
Up Next
Next week is FSU's first five-game week of the 2024 season. The Seminoles host Jacksonville Tuesday (6 p.m.) and Bethune-Cookman Wednesday (5 p.m.) at Howser before hitting the road for a three-game series at Boston College which begins Friday at 4 p.m.
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