The Florida State baseball team has had a knack for fast offensive starts early this season.

However, the Seminoles' start in Sunday's series finale vs. Western Carolina was far and away their fastest of the season.

FSU plated four runs in the first inning and 11 runs over the first three innings, coasting to a 20-7 win over the Catamounts at Dick Howser Stadium, improving to 6-0 on the season.

It's the fifth time in six games this season that FSU has scored at least one run in the first inning, but the first time they have scored more than two runs in the first.

The Seminoles chased WCU starter Cannon Pickell in the first inning before he even recorded an out. The first five batters of the inning reached base, two with hits and three with walks.

"Whether the stuff is in the zone or not, you still have to have the ability and the discipline to take some tough pitches," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said of FSU's first-inning success. "We did that and we were able to grab the momentum and the lead there in the first. That continued the whole game. I was pleased with the at-bats."

FSU finished with 20 runs on 16 hits from 10 different batters, the first time the Seminoles plated 20 runs in a game since February of 2020.

No Seminole had a bigger day offensively than right fielder James Tibbs III, who had three hits and three runs in four at-bats including a pair of home runs to rack up six runs batted in. His third-inning grand slam -- his second of the season -- extended FSU's lead to 11-2. And then his seventh-inning leadoff solo shot gave FSU a 13-5 lead at the time.

"It's elite bat skill..." Jarrett said of Tibbs. "The grand slam was a moment that kind of kicked it in a little bit and then the home run he had later was probably actually hit better."

Drew Faurot added three more hits with four RBI, improving his batting average to a team-high .538. Daniel Cantu also added a pair of hits and a pair of RBI in the middle of the FSU lineup.

This strong showing by the FSU offense covered up a disastrous pitching debut by Florida transfer Yoel Tejeda Jr. The sophomore started his outing with 12 straight balls, loading the bases before recording an out or even a strike, and was pulled after facing just three batters and without recording any outs.

Noah Short did fairly well with this inherited jam, allowing two runs he inherited to score.

"Tejeda had been clearly sharper than that leading up. He didn't have it, couldn't make the adjustment. It was important that Noah went out..." Jarrett said. "To get that punchout and hold them, I think they scored two runs, that could have gotten away from us so it was good to see Noah (get out of it)."

From there, FSU turned to freshman pitchers almost the entire rest of the way.

Matt Sauser threw three shutout innings before allowing three runs in his fourth inning of work in the fifth, with Andrew Armstrong making his first appearance of the season to end the threat.

Brady Louck followed that up with two scoreless innings of work, John Abraham allowed two runs in the eighth in his FSU debut and then Connor Hults closed things out with a scoreless ninth inning where he worked around a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Considering the bullpen had to pick up all 27 outs Saturday, it was a serviceable showing. After FSU issued five walks in the first inning (three by Tejeda and two by Short), the FSU staff issued five total walks over the final eight innings of Sunday's game -- two in the ninth -- as well as seven total hits.

FSU's offensive explosion also allowed the Seminoles to save almost all of their high-leverage arms and keep the bullpen in relatively good shape entering their upcoming midweek game.

Up Next

FSU stays at home for its first midweek game at Howser of the season early next week. The Seminoles will host South Florida Tuesday at 5 p.m. (ACC Network Extra).

Jarrett was non-committal about who the starting pitcher of that game will be. He said he would have to sit down with pitching coach Micah Posey to weigh the merits of starting Whittaker in the Tuesday spot as opposed to starting someone else like Carson Dorsey so that Whittaker can move back into his Sunday spot he started the season in.

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