FSU baseball: Offense carries Noles to series win over Miami Hurricanes

FSU baseball (29-5, 9-5 ACC) clinched its series over the rival Miami Hurricanes with an 11-7 win on Friday night. FSU pounded 13 hits (five doubles and a home run) and scored at least one run in the first seven consecutive innings. Miami jumped out to a 1-0 lead against FSU starting pitcher Brady Louck. Louck only lasted two innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits, and a walk, and struck out one batter. Relief pitcher Brennan Oxford pitched a strong 4.1 innings, allowing one earned run, three hits, two walks, and striking out four batters. Joe Charles went 1.1 innings and allowed two earned runs. Connor Hults pitched a scoreless ninth inning. FSU had five hitters with two hits, with James Tibbs leading the way with another big-time home run to give the Noles some breathing room as Miami attempted to close the gap. Max Williams, Cam Smith, Jaime Ferrer, and Daniel Cantu had two hits. Marco Dinges went 1-3 with two RBI and two walks.

The FSU offense chased Miami's starting pitcher from the game after only 3.1 innings. He allowed seven earned runs, nine hits, and a walk. He only struck out one batter and hit three batters. Miami is a team that has some fight. They scored in their first at-bat and answered with three more runs in the top of the third after FSU had taken a 4-1 lead. However, FSU continued its offensive onslaught and got some big outs from its bullpen. I mentioned in the preview that FSU would need to show patience and get to Miami's bullpen because they lacked depth and were not great. The Noles earned four walks on top of their 13 hits and three hit batters. FSU will look for the series sweep with Conner Dorsey on the mound Saturday afternoon. FSU had beaten Miami in every major sport this season.