Garrett Milchin and Jack Leftwich combined for 12 strikeouts and allowed just three hits.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kendrick Calilao launched a walk-off home run to left field in the bottom of the 10th to lift Florida to a 3-2 extra-inning win vs. No. 24 Florida State Tuesday evening at Florida Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field. It marked UF’s 12th victory in its last 14 games against the Seminoles, and the 18th-ranked Gators (22-11, 6-6 SEC) improved to 20-5 in their new home stadium.
Florida pitchers Garrett Milchin and Jack Leftwich combined to allow just three hits over 10 innings. Milchin turned in his longest career outing, as the redshirt junior went 6.0 innings with a personal-best five strikeouts, allowing three hits and two runs. Leftwich retired 12 of 13 batters he faced in relief, including the first nine in a row, and rung up seven strikeouts in four no-hit innings.
The Gators capitalized on FSU miscues in the bottom of the second, bringing home two after Sterlin Thompson and Jud Fabian reached on back-to-back errors. Kris Armstrong walked to load the bases for Jordan Butler, whose sacrifice fly to left brought Thompson across, and Colby Halter drove in Fabian on a hard-hit sac fly to right field to give Florida the early 2-2 edge.
Florida State tied the game in the top of the fourth on Robby Martin’s RBI double. Martin advanced to third on the throw home, then scored on a Wyatt Crowell grounder to even the score, 2-2.
The Gators threatened in the seventh after Jacob Young reached third with two outs, but Calilao struck out to end the inning and keep things knotted at 2-all. Calilao would deliver in dramatic style the next time he stepped to the plate.
Martin went 3-for-4 for Florida State (16-13, 11-10 ACC), while Florida limited the rest of the Seminoles to 0-for-29 at the plate.
FROM COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the pitching…
“It was obvious from the first pitch of the game that they were very aggressive to his fastball. (Garrett Milchin) located both sides of the plate with his fastball for six innings and threw some breaking balls starting in the second inning and started landing those. He did everything we could have asked from him. Obviously, Jack (Leftwich) was outstanding. I’m really proud of both of those guys for bouncing back. This is the second time Garrett’s pitched against Florida State. I know he was probably motivated to get another opportunity to pitch against them and obviously, Jack bouncing back from the weekend. I’m just awfully proud of both of those guys.”
On Kendrick Calilao…
“It’s one of those things. Kenny is a really good teammate. He continues to work hard and given the opportunity, he took advantage of it tonight. Like I said, good things happen to good people and he’s certainly put himself in a position to be successful tonight with all of the work that he’s been doing prior to tonight. I’m really, really, really happy for him. He deserved a moment like that.”
UP NEXT: Florida welcomes Missouri to Florida Ballpark for a weekend series, opening at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network + and air on radio in Gainesville on WRUF 850 AM/98.1 FM and in Jacksonville 1010 XL or on any mobile device via TuneIn app<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tunein.com_radio_Florida-2DBaseball-2Ds308240_&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=P1H-Nd2uUE6U55fjtZZ9B1Ja0zIIrxRRE_4_KOHJg4Q&s=hVKCPmVcymIGu3_x75FiTa-mtbJ6aUIQdrm7yf7Tkr8&e= > (search for the “Florida Baseball” station).
