Wyatt Crowell brilliant in first start, FSU takes series from Pitt

Wyatt Crowell’s first start at Florida State will be one he won’t soon forget.

The junior left-hander tossed six shutout innings, scattering three hits and four walks and striking out a career-high 10 in the Seminoles’ 5-3 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. He threw 100 pitches, 59 for strikes.

Crowell (3-0) had made long-relief outings in 2022 and in the first few weeks of this season, but coach Link Jarrett opted to move his top left-handed reliever into the rotation for the opening weekend of ACC play. And Crowell turned in the best mound appearance of his impressive career, surpassing a 5.2-inning outing in a win a week ago against FGCU.

Crowell worked out of situations where he had runners on base in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Crowell loaded the bases with no outs only to record a pair of strikeouts and get a weak grounder back to the mound, which he flipped to catcher Colton Vincent for the third out.

He lowered his ERA to 0.87. He had 23 strikeouts and seven walks coming into Saturday.

FSU (11-3, 2-0 ACC) provided plenty of run support in the bottom of the first. Jaime Ferrer had an RBI single, Jordan Carrion had an RBI double and Cam Smith had a two-run single to give the Seminoles a 4-0 lead.

Pitt coach Mike Bell, who previously had been FSU’s pitching coach, was ejected in the first inning after Carrion — who was called out on a throw home — was overturned upon review. The call of catcher’s interference gave the Seminoles an added run and considerable cushion.

Smith went 2 for 3, while Carrion went 2 for 4.

FSU’s bullpen gave up a pair of runs in the seventh, both charged to Doug Kirkland. Jaime Arnold entered the game and pitched into the ninth before leaving the game after giving up a run and with the bases loaded and two out. Andrew Armstrong got a strikeout to wrap up the game and pick up his second save.

While he was unable to close it out, Arnold did record five strikeouts in two innings.

Crowell threw 5.1 shutout innings in a win over NC State last March, allowing just four hits and recording five strikeouts. He also tossed five shutout innings at Clemson last April, giving up two hits and striking out six.

FSU will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. (live stream on ACC Network Extra).