Three errors, two walks, two wild pitches, several defensive miscues, two hit batters and 13 runs were what occurred over the Florida fifth and sixth innings on Tuesday night as the Gators rallied from six runs down to stun Florida State in Gainesville, 20-7.
FSU (13-2) raced to a 6-0 lead, thanks to an RBI double from Drew Mendoza in the first, a solo home run from Nander De Sedas in the third and a grand slam from J.C. Flowers in the fifth, but things went south for the Seminoles in a hurry. Florida (12-5) pulled to within a run with five in the bottom of the fifth with two coming on consecutive wild pitches.
Florida State was able to push its lead to 7-5 with an RBI single from Mike Salvatore in the top of the sixth before the Gators scored eight in the bottom half. Florida would go ahead for good on a bunt by Austin Langworthy that was thrown into right field by Austin Pollock, allowing two runs to score.
Florida however, wasn’t done. The Gators added seven more in the eighth, including a grand slam of their own by Kendrick Calilao. Blake Reese added a 2-run home run later in the frame.
The loss for FSU was the ninth straight to rival Florida and the 14th in 15 tries. The 20 runs was the most for Florida against the Seminoles since 1980.
Calilao was one of six Gators with multiple hits on Tuesday night as Florida racked up 17 as a team. Each of Florida’s first five hitters scored three runs. Salvatore had two of the six FSU hits.
Chase Haney took the loss for Florida State, allowing four runs on three hits with two hit batters. Justin Alintoff earned the win for Florida. Entering Tuesday night, FSU had just five errors for the season, but committed three on Tuesday night.
FSU will remain on the road to face NC State for three games, beginning on Friday. The Seminoles and Gators meet again in two weeks in Jacksonville.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
Florida athletics
You must be logged in to post a comment Login