The 'lucky 11s' keep rolling for Florida State baseball in its torrid start to the season.

The Seminoles defeated Florida Gulf Coast 19-3 Wednesday in front of 4,092 fans at Dick Howser Stadium. The victory brings FSU to an 11-0 start, its best start since a 12-0 start in 2019.

On opening day, the Seminoles won 11-0, they are 11-0 now and off to their best start since Mike Martin's final season at FSU.

"11 is looking down at us and loving it," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said postgame about Mike Martin and his famous 11 nickname.

"That was fun today. I am proud of them.:

Starting pitcher Conner Whittaker delivered a strong outing despite allowing home runs on two of his first three pitches and the Seminoles hit four home runs to beat FGCU (4-8).

After allowing home runs on two of the first three pitches, including back-to-back pitches, Whittaker (2-0) settled in and delivered a quality outing for FSU (11-0).

The Seminoles' offense struck back with four home runs and 18 hits for the game after trailing 2-0. They got back a run in the bottom of the first inning and took the lead in the bottom of the third. They padded on runs in subsequent innings to walk away with another big total.

The Eagles took two out of three against the Seminoles in a weekend series last season. It was something Jarrett said his team had not forgotten.

"Their team last year was spectacular and they handled us," Jarrett said of FGCU. "You had a taste of that in the first five minutes of the ballgame. So proud of how the guys responded and opened that game up with Ferrer's grand slam. We were in a position to open that game up, but it didn't happen until his at-bat there."

Here are our takeaways from the game.

Strong bounceback from Conner Whittaker

FGCU second baseman Charles Davalan took the first pitch of a game for a ball before lining a towering home run to right field over the green fence. On the next pitch, right fielder Ian Farrow deposited a home run the opposite way to right field.

It was all Seminoles and Whittaker from there.

Whittaker retired 15 hitters in a row between the first and fifth innings. He threw six innings, tied a career-high with nine strikeouts, and walked one on 90 pitches against FGCU (4-8).

"He's a tough kid," Jarrett said of Whittaker. "He's got character. I don't think anybody in this stadium ever saw him waiver or give you any body language that would make you think he was questioning his chances to evade this thing. So that stands out as much as anything."

Jarrett wondered out loud about the possibility of Whittaker tipping his pitches to start, allowing the first two hitters to know what was coming.

"He stabilized and clearly figured it out on his own," Jarrett said.

Strong performance from the top of the order

The top of the FSU batting order got it done again. The top five of DeAmez Ross, Cam Smith, James Tibbs III, Ferrer and Marco Dinges combined to go 8-for-17 with a double, two home runs, 12 RBI and 12 runs scored, and four walks.

Ferrer hit a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was his third home run of the season and his first grand slam. Dingo followed up his home run with a solo shot, the first of his FSU career.

It was the third home run in four games for Ferrer. He also drew a bases loaded walk earlier in the game

Alex Lodise and Smith each added two-run shots in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was the second homer of the season for Lodise and the third for Smith.

Smith (25-for-50) is hitting .500 for the season now. He has a hit in every game this season and his hitting streak sits at a career-high 15 games.

"It's hard to do," Jarrett said of Smith hitting .500 this deep into the season. "He stays on the ball and stays inside.

"He's chopped some balls to the left side and when he gets when he gets down the line, like when he opens it up, he can run. So he's had some infield hits, there's just a lot going on, and he has reduced his strikeouts."

FSU has scored double-figure runs in seven of the first 11 games. The Seminoles entered the game tied for sixth in college baseball with 11.3 runs per game.

Gavin Adams injury update and Yoel Tejada returns to the mound

Gavin Adams is done for the season following Tommy John Surgery, Jarrett announced following the game.

Adams, a junior transfer from Indian River State College, did not appear in a game this season for the Seminoles and will likely be able to ramp up a year from now.

"I think this could have happened in the Butler rainout day when he jumped on the mound," Jarrett said. "Unfortunately, that surgery is far too prevalent in our sport."

".... So the timeline of this is still looking at the better part of the year for that procedure. And it's unfortunate because you guys have never gotten to see in a game what that looks like. And he had a lot of good baseball ahead of him, was making strides in the outings and we're getting a little better and a little cleaner.

"I feel awful for him because he put in a lot."

In the top of the eighth inning, Florida transfer Yoel Tejada made his first appearance since his start on Feb. 25 when he walked three hitters on 12 pitches and was taken out without throwing a strike.

Tejada pitched two scoreless innings, striking out two and issuing two walks.

"It was better today," Jarrett said of Tejada's outing. "There's more in there. When it lines up and syncs up, it's really special arm talent. But when you spin that's why he was pulling those fastballs to his glove side, where today I think he was on it better."

Up next:

The Seminoles welcome New Orleans (7-4*) for a three-game series this weekend at Dick Howser. The series begins at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. first pitch times Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The Pirates are coming off a weekend series sweep of Alabama A&M last weekend in New Orleans and were scheduled to play South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Conner Whittaker, Jaime Ferrer lead FSU baseball to win over FGCU