FSU baseball sweeps New Orleans with shutout, Big games on horizon

FSU baseball shutout New Orleans for the second time this weekend to sweep the three-game series with an 8-0 victory Sunday afternoon. Jamie Arnold went five innings, allowing four hits, three walks, and five strikeouts. The FSU offense wasted no time taking the lead behind a solo home run from James Tibbs in the bottom of the first. The Noles would score runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. They pounded out 12 hits overall, four walks, and six strikeouts. Tibbs led the offense, going 3-4 with two RBI. Marco Dinges went 1-2 with two RBI, including a home run. John Abraham was impressive from the bullpen, going 2.2 innings, allowing two hits, zero walks, and five strikeouts. Connor Hults and Matt Sauser pitched .2 innings in relief. This series wrapped up the final non-conference game against inferior teams before starting ACC play next week. The Noles will travel to Gainesville Tuesday evening to take on their arch-nemesis, Florida Gators.

Florida has owned the series lately, but has looked vulnerable early this season after making the CWS Final last season. They would like nothing more than to give FSU baseball its first loss this season. FSU looks to prove their early success hasn't been due to playing mostly inferior teams. The FSU offense has been impressive early, and FSU has gotten solid starting pitching for the most part, with their biggest question marks coming from the bullpen. FSU took leads late into all three games against Florida last season, only to see the Gators snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. I'd expect Connor Whittaker to get the start since he's been going on Tuesday midweek games. It'll be interesting to see if the FSU offense can continue its streak of scoring 7+ runs every game this season.