FSU baseball offense powers past No. 8 TCU to clinch series win

FSU baseball (6-0) remained unbeaten with a 10-8 win over No. 8 TCU Saturday afternoon to clinch the series win.

The Noles had to fight back from an early deficit as TCU got to freshman Jamie Arnold early in the first inning. However, FSU turned its first triple play since 2009 to limite the damage to one run in the first inning. TCU scored another run in the second to take an early 2-0 lead.

Arnold went 2.2 innings, allowing five hits, one strikeout, one walk, and two hit batters.

FSU was held scoreless until the top of the 4th inning when Jordan Carrion lined a single up the middle for two RBI.

FSU scored three more in the top of the fifth, but it was the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference-maker.

FSU scored five runs in that inning to take a 10-4 lead with home runs from Cam Smith and Jaime Ferrer’s second home run. Carrion and Treyton Rank had two hits each. Jaime Ferrer went 3-4 with four RBI. Cam Smith went 3-5 with an RBI and run scored. Carrion had two RBI, and Rank had a big RBI.

The FSU offense pounded out 13 hits and only struck out three times. Conner Whittaker pitched 2.2 innings in relief, allowing three hits, two earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Doug Kirkland and Brennan Oxford pitched in relief, with Kirkland doing a solid job of getting out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth inning to limit the damage to one run.

TCU scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to trim the lead to 10-6 and would not go quietly.

They led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to chase Brennen Oxford from the game. Andrew Armstrong relieved Oxford, and allowed back-to-back hits that trimmed the lead to 10-8, but got out of the inning without allowing any more damage while sitting the Horned Frogs down in order in the ninth to end the game.

The Noles will look to sweep the series with a win in game three Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.