For the second time in five days, the No. 23 Gators established a new season-low for hits in a game at Florida State on Tuesday night, mustering just two of them.
They also struck out a season-high 14 times against the Seminoles’ quartet of pitchers.
Florida State used their dominant night on the mound to defeat Florida, 5-0, and even up the season series between the rivals at a game apiece. It marked the first time that the Gators had been shut out since they lost to Tennessee 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2021 SEC Tournament.
Lefty Jonah Scolaro started the game and gave up one of the two hits during his 3 1/3 innings of work with five strikeouts. Conner Whittaker earned the win by striking out five Gators in 3 2/3 innings. Wyatt Crowell and Davis Hare finished off the game by firing a perfect inning apiece.
All five of the runs scored in the game crossed home plate in the same inning. UF (21-12, 5-7 SEC) starter Nick Pogue walked Reese Albert to lead off the bottom of the first following an 11-pitch at bat. Two batters later, Alex Toral smacked an 0-1 fastball the opposite way for a two-run homer to left.
Brock Mathis made it back-to-back blasts by annihilating a 2-0 fastball from Pogue and sending it over the wall in left to make it 3-0.
Brett Roberts singled up the middle to end Pogue’s night after just 23 pitches.
Tyler Nesbitt took over on the mound and experienced some tough luck. James Tibbs hit a slow roller to third for an infield single. Third baseman Deric Fabian’s throw got away from first baseman Kendrick Calilao, which allowed Roberts to advance to third with only one out still.
Logan Lacey snuck a groundball through the right side to pick up an RBI. During Colton Vincent’s at bat, catcher Mac Guscette threw out Lacey trying to steal second, but Tibbs swiped home in the process to make it a five-run inning.
The Gators’ only real offensive threat came in the fourth. Sterlin Thompson led off with a double to the wall in left-center field. Scolaro walked BT Riopelle to put two runners on with one out.
Whittaker replaced Scolaro with a 2-2 count on Calilao and struck him out with his first pitch. He then walked Josh Rivera to load the bases, but Guscette lined out to center on the first pitch that he saw to end the inning.
UF only put one runner on base in the final five innings after that.
It’s a shame that the Gators couldn’t get anything going offensively because their young and much maligned bullpen turned in one of its best games of the season.
Nesbitt bounced back from the run he gave up in the first to hang a pair of zeroes. Nick Ficarrotta turned in one of his sharpest outings in a couple of weeks, striking out three batters in 2 2/3 innings.
Freshman lefty Philip Abner faced the minimum in 1 1/3 innings and struck out three Seminoles (19-13, 7-8 ACC). Freshman righty Karl Hartman, who had given up 11 earned runs in his last 4 1/3 innings of work, pitched a clean bottom of the eighth and registered a couple of strikeouts.
The Gators will hit the road again this weekend for a potentially pivotal series with Vanderbilt. Game one begins on Friday at 7.