Jaime Ferrer leads HR barrage with grand slam as FSU pummels FGCU, 19-3
Not every player on the 2024 Florida State baseball team was here one year ago when the Seminoles lost a hard-fought three-game series against Florida Gulf Coast.
But the ones who were sure seemed to take a little extra pleasure in Wednesday’s 19-3 trouncing of the Eagles inside Dick Howser Stadium.
Led by junior Jaime Ferrer’s fifth-inning grand slam and a strong pitching performance from junior right-hander Conner Whittaker, the Seminoles erased an early 2-0 deficit and scored in five of the first six innings to cruise to the lopsided win.
Florida State improves to 11-0, while FGCU falls to 4-8. And FSU head coach Link Jarrett said last year’s losses to the Eagles were a topic of conversation before Wednesday’s game.
“That was tough last year …,” Jarrett said. “We asked them to come out and, from pitch one, be absolutely locked in. Knowing what that felt like last year. And we stood in right field [after losses] a lot last season and talked about, ‘Just remember how this feels at the end of these games. When you’re on the wrong side of this. And you’re on the wrong side of it the next day.’
“And I felt like they carried that. … It was good. It was nice. I needed it, and the guys needed it. That was a good one.”
The win comes one year to the week after the Seminoles lost two of three to the Eagles at home. FGCU scored 29 runs in that series and appeared to be aiming for a similar performance on Wednesday with back-to-back home runs to start the first inning.
But Whittaker (2-0) settled down from there, retiring 15 consecutive batters on his way to recording the victory. He allowed three runs on three hits while striking out nine and walking one in six innings.
FSU also got a single scoreless inning of relief from Hudson Rowan and two scoreless innings from Yoel Tejeda Jr.
“You learn a lot about Whittaker. To think that three pitches in, there’s two balls over the fence,” Jarrett said. “You just don’t see that. His stuff immediately ticked up. Velocity was better. He got the secondary pitches, and I think he retired 15 in a row.”
After the game, Jarrett theorized that Florida State somehow tipped off Whittaker’s early pitches. But once the junior resolved that issue, he was lights out.
“He stabilized and clearly figured it out on his own,” the Florida State coach said. “It was good.”
As a team, the Seminoles pounded out 18 hits and four home runs. Along with Ferrer’s grand slam, FSU also got two-run shots from Cam Smith and Alex Lodise and a solo homer from Marcus Dinges.
Smith finished the day 3-for-4 with 4 runs scored and 2 RBIs; Ferrer drove in five runs and Dinges drove in four.
“I’m just proud of the at-bats,” Jarrett said. “It wasn’t a good feeling early in the game. You guys felt it. We felt it. Their team last year was spectacular, and they handled us. And you had a taste of that in the first five minutes of the ball game. So, proud of the way the guys responded.”
Next up for Florida State will be a three-game series at home this weekend against New Orleans. The action will begin Friday at 5 p.m.
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