Jamie Arnold dominates again; FSU Baseball clinches series with 8-4 win
Another week, another career high in strikeouts for Florida State sophomore Jamie Arnold.
Six days after setting a career mark with nine Ks in five innings, the left-hander from Tampa struck out 11 Western Carolina batters in a career-high six innings Saturday afternoon.
Playing before a jam-packed crowd at Dick Howser Stadium, Arnold and the Seminoles cruised to an 8-4 win to take the series from the Catamounts. FSU (5-0) will look for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m.
For the game, Arnold faced 21 batters and allowed one hit and two walks. The only time he got into trouble was in the second inning when he gave up a double and those two free passes. But after Western Carolina loaded the bases with one out, Arnold struck out the next two to end the threat.
He retired the Catamounts in order in all five of his other innings.
Florida State got on the scoreboard in the third inning when second baseman Drew Faurot tripled off the wall in center field and then scored on a sacrifice bunt by leadoff hitter DeAmez Ross.
The Seminoles then extended their lead in the fifth with some more extra-base hits. Faurot led off the inning with a double down the left-field and then scored on a triple from catcher Jaxson West. Ross would then drive in another run with a sacrifice, this time a fly ball to center field.
That gave Florida State a 3-0 advantage, and the Seminoles rolled from there. They blew the game open with six hits and four runs in the fourth, including back-to-back-to-back doubles from Daniel Cantu, Faurot and West.
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Faurot, a Tallahassee product who transferred in from UCF this season after receiving Freshman All-America honors with the Knights, continued a monster weekend against Western Carolina pitching. One day after going 2-for-4 with a home run on Friday, Faurout went 3-for-3 with a triple, two doubles, 1 RBI and three runs scored.
The Seminoles also got three hits from West (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) and two hits apiece from Ross (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) and Jaime Ferrer (2-for-4).
Western Carolina scored four runs in the eighth off of the Seminoles’ bullpen, with the big hit being a two-run home run by Trent Turner.
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