Jackson Baumeister, Seminoles snap losing streak with 5-1 win over Clemson

The start Thursday night was huge. The start offensively — with a two-run home run from Jaime Ferrer in the first inning — and the start on the mound for Florida State sophomore right-hander Jackson Baumeister.

Baumeister retired the first three Clemson batters he faced in order. All on strikeouts. All with fastballs.

However, a strong start would not guarantee a victory. And no one knew that better than the members of the Florida State baseball team, who had set a school record with 10 consecutive losses coming into Thursday night’s series opener against visiting Clemson.

During this painful losing skid, the Seminoles had lost when leading, when trailing and when tied in the early innings.

To finally break this slide, Florida State was going to need Baumeister to deliver a quality start of six or seven innings. The bullpen was going to need to be steadier than it has been for much of this season. And the offense would need to produce at least a couple more runs.

All three things happened, and the Seminoles tasted victory for the first time since March 17. They opened a five-run lead in the fifth inning and held on tight for a 5-1 victory.

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“Very proud of the guys,” Florida State baseball coach Link Jarrett said. “This has been very difficult. I hadn’t been through something like this before, and clearly most of them (the players) had not either.”

With the win, FSU improves to 13-16 overall and 4-9 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Clemson falls to 17-14 and 2-8.

Playing their fifth game in seven days, with an already-thin bullpen, the Seminoles desperately needed Baumeister to put together a lengthy start, and he delivered in a big way.

He set a career high with 14 strikeouts while establishing another career high with seven innings pitched. He walked two and scattered four hits.

“I thought he was phenomenal,” Jarrett said, adding that Baumeister’s fastball, curveball and change-up were all effective on this night. “The starting pitcher provides a spark that can help the offense. I think we saw that today.”

Indeed, Baumeister needed just 13 total pitches to strike out the side in the top of the first.

Then freshman leadoff hitter DeAmez Ross singled to lead off the bottom half of the inning, and sophomore Jaime Ferrer blasted the first pitch he saw for a homer to left field.

Fans were just settling into their seats at Dick Howser Stadium, and the Seminoles were already ahead 2-0. Florida State then added one run in each of the next three innings to give Baumeister some insurance, and he did most of the rest.

The only time the sophomore really sniffed trouble was in the top of the fifth, when he walked the second batter he faced, threw a wild pitch, and then walked the next batter on five pitches.

But after a mound visit from pitching coach Chuck Ristano, Baumeister quickly settled down.

“Coach Ristano came out, and he kind of chewed me a little bit,” the Jacksonville product said. “He said, ‘You’ve been dominating the whole night. Just go right at these guys.'”

Two strikeouts later, the Clemson threat was neutralized. And Baumeister finished his outing in style, retiring all six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings — with four coming on strikeouts.

“If you’re gonna start and be an elite starting pitcher, you’re gonna have to deal with some moments that almost require you to relieve yourself and get out of a mess,” Jarrett said. “And he did that in the fifth. And I thought that was a pivotal part of the start, and probably secured this for us. Because it would have been a different look if we had had to go to the bullpen in the fifth with what [relief pitching] we have available.”

As it was, the bullpen made things a little interesting.

Freshman Jamie Arnold walked one of the two hitters he faced, and junior Doug Kirkland walked two straight before Jarrett decided to bring in junior righty Carson Mongtgomery to put out the fire. And Montgomery recorded his first save by pitching a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to end it.

“This was something we desperately needed …,” Jarrett said. “They’re gonna be excited tomorrow, for the first time in awhile, to kind of have that vibe going again.”

Said Baumeister: “It’s just the monkey off our shoulders. This is exactly what we needed.”

Florida State was led offensively by Ross and Ferrer, both of whom recorded two hits; Ferrer drove in three runs, and Ross scored twice. The Seminoles also got a solo home run from left-fielder James Tibbs.

Ferrer now has a 20-game hitting streak, which is the longest for a Seminole since 2011.

Sophomore righty Conner Whittaker is scheduled to start Friday for Florida State against Clemson. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.

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