Sweet 16! Florida State tops Irish, ties for 2nd-best start in school history at 16-0

The start of ACC play wasn’t quite as comfortable as most of the non-conference schedule, but the Florida State baseball team just keeps on rolling.

With an 8-4 victory over Notre Dame that was a little touch-and-go in the middle innings, the Seminoles on Friday night improved to 16-0 on the season (1-0 in ACC). That ties for the second best start in school history with the 2013 ‘Noles. The 2007 Florida State squad holds the all-time record at 23-0.

Friday’s win, coupled with Texas A&M’s Friday loss at Florida, also means that the Seminoles are the last remaining undefeated team in Division-I baseball. A fact that was not lost on second-year FSU coach Link Jarrett.

“That’s awesome,” Jarrett said. “I told my wife — I haven’t talked a lot about it — I said, ‘That’s something that’s hard to do.’ I don’t think that’s ever happened to me as a coach. I’m proud of that. I didn’t realize that happened. That means a lot. It’s very, very hard to pull something like that off. …

“That’s really cool that that happened. That’s neat.”

Florida State got another impressive starting performance from sophomore right-hander Cam Leiter, who picked up the win by throwing 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 10 batters while walking two, giving up six hits and allowing four earned runs. He is now 4-0 on the season.

Leiter left in the seventh inning after hitting a batter on his 105th pitch of the night, but senior lefty Brennen Oxford came in two batters later to thwart a bases-loaded threat and preserve a 7-4 lead for the Seminoles.

Oxford was called upon to face Notre Dame slugger Connor Hincks — who had already blasted a home run and a triple in the game — and coaxed a routine fly ball to win a lefty-lefty matchup and end the frame.

“We go into this with certain matchup concepts that we feel like, ‘Hey, if this thing gets to this point, what are your options here?’ And that was one,” Jarrett said. “It lined up. And I thought Oxford threw some really nice sliders, and that’s what we needed him to do. … He had a good little outing for us.”

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Florida State’s offense, which has been one of the best in the country so far this season, pounced on Notre Dame’s starting pitcher for five runs in the first.

After third baseman Cam Smith was hit by a pitch, the Seminoles got singles from James Tibbs and Jaime Ferrer, a double from Drew Faurot and a massive two-run homer from Marco Dinges to cap off the scoring. Dinges’ blast to left field was measured at 416 feet and featured an exit velocity of 110 mph.

The Seminoles pushed their lead to 6-1 in the second and had multiple chances to blow things open, but they could never come through with a big two-out hit. Then Notre Dame closed the gap to 6-4 with one run in the fourth and two more in the sixth.

“Those are solid arms,” Jarrett said of Notre Dame’s pitching staff. “And it’s hard to bust it open. You score seven or eight and you feel like you’re on the cusp. … There were at-bats, if we had ’em back, the guys clearly would want to have a re-do on some of those, but I do tip my hat to their guys. They executed pitches.”

With the Seminoles clinging to a 7-4 advantage in the eighth, Smith blasted a solo home run to right field to give Florida State a little insurance. Smith and Tibbs each finished with three hits on the night, and Faurot and catcher McGwire Holbrook added two hits apiece.

Senior righty Noah Short then recorded the final four outs — including a strikeout with two men on base in the top of the eighth — to pick up the save. It was his first as a Seminole.

Florida State and Notre Dame will play Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 3 p.m. Sophomore left-hander Jamie Arnold will make the start for the ‘Noles.

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