FSU baseball: Fans react as Noles eliminate North Carolina to survive and advance

FSU baseball staved off elimination for the second consecutive game with a 9-5 win over North Carolina at the MCWS on Tuesday afternoon. Andrew Armstrong made his first appearance on the mound since May 25 and matched his longest outing with 4.1 innings pitched. Armstrong allowed five hits, three earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout. Conner Whittaker came out of the bullpen and wasn't effective, but Conner Hults pitched the final 4.1 innings in what may have been his best outing all season. Hults only allowed two hits, one walk, and two strikeouts on 57 pitches. FSU played excellent complementary baseball early, with Armstrong keeping North Carolina off the scoreboard and the FSU offense drawing first blood. FSU took a 1-0 lead on a Daniel Cantu RBI single in the bottom of the second.

Fan Reaction

They scored two more in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded walk to Jaime Ferrer and a sacrifice fly to Daniel Cantu. North Carolina answered with a run in the bottom of the third, but the Noles put up a four spot in the top of the fifth on four hits. North Carolina would not go quietly as they answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-5. However, back-to-back home runs by Jaxson West and Max Williams were some nice insurance runs. FSU did most of its damage without much contribution from its stars. FSU pounded 14 hits but left 14 runners on base. Cam Smith, James Tibbs, Marco Dinges, and Jaime Ferrer went 3-17 with one RBI and five runs scored. Max Williams went 3-5 with two RBI. Daniel Cantu went 2-3 with two RBI, and Jaxson West went 4-5 with two RBI. It was an all-around team effort, and FSU got some A+ performances from guys that haven't contributed much this postseason. They will face Tennesssee on Wednesday at 3 p.m. They will have to defeat the Vols twice to advance.