Arnold doesn't skip a beat as FSU baseball tweaks rotation; softball falls short at Louisville
BRIGHTON, Mass. - Sophomore Jamie Arnold allowed two earned runs in 7.0 innings to keep his season ERA under 1.00 and Jaime Ferrer launched a pair of home runs in Florida State’s 12-4 win at Boston College Friday afternoon.
The Seminoles improved to 25-4 overall and 6-4 in the ACC, while the Eagles dropped to 16-12 and 5-8 in the league.
Arnold, who was named to the midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list, is now 6-1 with a 0.94 ERA after matching a career high with 7.0 innings pitched. He added nine strikeouts and did not allow a run after a three-run home run gave the Eagles the lead in the third inning.
Arnold stepped into the Friday night role as Cam Leiter was held out as a precautionary measure.
Ferrer answered with a solo home run, plated two runs on a two-out error that tied the game at 3-3 and added a three-run home run to push the FSU lead to 10-3 in the sixth inning. It was Ferrer’s second career multi-home run game, with the first coming at TCU last season.
Ferrer’s 11 home runs are second-most on the team and the most in a season for the third-year Seminole.
Eight of FSU’s nine starters had at least one hit, and all nine reached safely. James Tibbs, Marco Dinges and Drew Faurot had a pair of hits, with Faurot hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning, his fourth of the season. Tibbs and Ferrer are each hitting .429 over 10 ACC games this season.
Noah Short and Connor Hults pitched 1.0 innings in relief of Arnold.
OF NOTE:
Jamie Arnold allowed two earned runs and tied a career high with 7.0 innings pitched. Arnold entered Friday top 10 nationally in ERA, wins, strikeouts and WHIP.
Jaime Ferrer hit his 10th and 11th home runs of the season, his second career multi-home run game. Ferrer’s 11 home runs are his most in a season. Ferrer has reached base safely in 35 consecutive games.
Cam Smith hit a double and drew a walk, extending his on-base streak to 39 games, tied as the 23rd-longest streak in FSU history.
James Tibbs III was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Tibbs now leads FSU with a .423 batting average and 47 RBI. In ACC action, Tibbs and Ferrer are both hitting .429.
Over his four-game hitting streak, Tibbs is 11-for-15.
Max Williams earned his first outfield assist as a Nole, ending the fourth inning with an 8-4-2 out at the plate. After that out, FSU outscored the Eagles 11-1 to close the game.
Marco Dinges stole his second base of the year; as a team, FSU is 40-for-42 on the basepaths.
With three home runs Friday, FSU has hit 56 on the season; last year, the Noles hit just 55 in 54 games.
Drew Faurot’s solo home run in the ninth inning was his fourth as a Seminole.
Arnold, Short and Hults combined to strike out 11 batters; FSU has double-digit strikeouts in 24 of 29 games this year.
UP NEXT: Florida State continues the series with Boston College Saturday at 12:00 p.m. RHP Conner Whittaker will pitch for the Seminoles.
FSU softball falls short at Louisville
LOUISVILLE - The No. 18 Florida State softball team (26-10, 7-3) came up just short against Louisville (23-14, 4-6) by a score of 5-4 on Friday night at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville, Ky. The Seminoles jumped on the board early as Kaley Mudge opened the game with a walk, and Kalei Harding hit one into the gap for her 12th double of the season to put the Noles up 1-0 after the first inning. FSU kept the bats going in the second inning has Jahni Kerr led off with a double, and after a walk by Devyn Flaherty, Mudge continued her perfect week with a double to left center field to give the Noles a 2-0 lead. Mudge is currently 6-for-6 in her last three games and has driven in three runs. After Makenna Reid held the Cardinals hitless for the first three innings, Louisville was able to tied the game on a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Cardinals would add two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. FSU responded in the top of the six as Kerr picked up her second hit of the night, and Katie Dack drew a walk to put runners on for the Noles.
With Autumn Belviy and Amaya Ross coming in to run for Dack and Kerr, FSU had two runners in scoring position with two outs for Devyn Flaherty. Flaherty hit a ground ball that got away from the first baseman allowing Belviy and Ross to sprint home to tie the game. FSU had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh but were unable to score a runner from third with one out. The Cardinals took advantage and used a two-out single for the walk-off victory. Game two of the series will be Saturday at 1 p.m. on ACCNX.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU baseball opens series at BC with win; softball falls short vs Cards
