Jackson Baumeister put together a second straight commanding performance on the mound.

Baumeister matched a career-high by throwing seven innings, striking out eight and allowing two earned runs as the Florida State baseball team defeated Mercer 4-2 in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.

"JBaum, I felt like he got better," FSU coach Link Jarrett said. "I felt pitch 90-100 quite frankly was as good or better than pitch 1-10. He was battling the mound a little bit early in the game. Seemed like it was a little wetter than normal. But he worked through it. First inning clearly the only inning he was in trouble. He got out of it. I guess his best fastball was probably in the sixth inning. I thought I saw a 97. Pretty impressive. He settled in and took control of the game."

FSU (16-28) snapped a three-game losing streak and looks to capture its first series win since Pitt on March 10-12 with a victory on Saturday or Sunday.

The sophomore right-hander scattered five hits and did not issue a walk, although he hit a batter, following up back-to-back games in which he had nine strikeouts. Baumeister (4-4) has won back-to-back games, including a victory at Notre Dame last Friday and has lowered his ERA to 4.76.

Freshman Titan Kamaka had a solo home run in the fourth to break open a tie game and later added an RBI double in the fifth. It was Kamaka's first home run since March 25. Kamaka went 2 for 4.

"When you watch the mechanics and the swing, it’s a simple, nice swing," Jarrett said. "And he’s got good strength in the hands and the ball jumps off his bat. And it has since day 1. The home run, big. The double, huge."

Andrew Armstrong got the first out of the eighth, making his 28th appearance of the season. Doug Kirkland pitched 1.2 innings for his third save. He had three strikeouts.

Treyton Rank went 3 for 3 with two runs scored.

Baumeister came into the game with 13.59 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranks 10th in Division I.

Trevor Austin had an RBI single for Mercer (28-18) in the first inning.

FSU will play host to Mercer on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will stream live on ACC Network Extra.