No. 24 Florida Topped by No. 10 FSU
Florida opened with back-to-back homers but FSU answered with 11 runs across the first two frames.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 24 Florida was taken down by No. 10 Florida State by a final score of 19-4 in seven innings at Dick Howser Stadium on Tuesday night.
Florida State (27-5) put the game away early, scoring six runs in the first, five in the second and five in the fourth. After starting strong with two in the opening frame, Florida (17-15) was held to two runs throughout the remainder of the matchup.
The Gators broke out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Leadoff man Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372> swatted an opposite field home run to right on the second pitch of the contest. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> then made it back-to-back homers with a drive over the right-center field wall.
The Seminoles answered in the bottom half with six runs of their own. James Tibbs III drove in the first with an RBI double down the right field line, followed by a two-run double to right off the bat of Jaxson West, who later came in to score on a fielding error at first base. Alex Lodise polished off the outburst with an RBI groundout to shortstop, bringing home Marco Dinges for a 6-2 FSU advantage.
Florida cut the deficit to three with one run in the second. After the bases were loaded by a Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> hit-by-pitch sandwiched between singles from Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> and Tanner Garrison<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tanner-garrison/16622>, Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> made it 6-3 with an RBI fielder’s choice to shortstop that plated Evans.
Florida State got the run right back, as Tibbs III led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to left field. The Seminoles proceeded to add four more runs in the frame on a three-run homer to right by Daniel Cantu and an RBI infield single from Cam Smith, making it 11-3.
West tacked on another run for FSU in the third on a solo home run to right field, then the Noles scored five more in the fourth for a 17-3 lead. West was plunked with the bases loaded and Dinges hit a grand slam to straightaway left field. Florida State tacked on two more in the fifth, using a Lodise two-run bomb to right-center to push the score to 19-3.
In the top of the sixth, Florida pushed a run across to make it 19-4. With the bases loaded, Kurland drew a walk to force home Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370>.
Seminoles reliever Andrew Armstrong (4-0) picked up the victory on three scoreless innings of relief. He was charged with one hit allowed and did not walk or strikeout a batter.
Florida starter Ryan slater (2-1) was handed the loss. The right-hander did not record an out and allowed six runs (five earned) on five hits.
FSU starter John Abraham did not factor in the decision. He was chased after one-plus inning and surrendered three earned runs on three hits.
NOTABLES
* Tuesday night’s official attendance was a sell-out crowd of 6,700.
* Florida allowed a season-high 19 runs and 19 hits.
* Kurland hit his seventh home run to lead off the game followed by Caglianone’s team-leading 17th big fly of the year.
* The back-to-back homers marked Florida’s first since Evans, Caglianone and Shelnut swatted three-consecutive dingers in the eighth inning vs. LSU on March 24, 2024.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 18 games while Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> had his own 18-game streak snapped.
* Florida is now 127-134-1 all-time vs. FSU including 46-72-1 in Tallahassee.
* The Gators are 35-22 against the Seminoles under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (9-8 away).
* Florida has won 22 of the last 29 meetings.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On being unable to slow down the FSU bats…
“You got to give credit where credit’s due. They swung the bats really well tonight, but it’s pretty much the same story. We scored two in the first, had a little momentum, and turned around and gave up, I think, six in the first. The first eight guys reached base and right then at that point, we lost the momentum. The bottom line is this: we’re going to continue to work at this thing as hard as we ever have, but we’ve got a lot of decisions to make moving forward and some different things. Obviously, we’ve got a long part of the season left. But, this is disappointing. We’ve had a handle on this rivalry for quite some time, and obviously they’ve made it really interesting moving forward. They outplayed us for three games convincingly, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
On the situational pitching and hitting…
“We went 0-2 double, 0-2 home run on back-to-back hitters. Then, the next guy comes in and walks the first two guys to start the inning. It’s a combination of things. Offensively, I didn’t think our at bats were as bad as they were this weekend, I thought they were better, for the most part. When you give up that many runs early, it’s hard to keep your morale up. But I thought, for the most part, the dugout stayed in the game as long as they could. It just got away from us.”
UP NEXT
Florida welcomes South Carolina to Condron Family Ballpark for a three-game series this upcoming weekend. Games one and two will stream on SEC Network+ on Friday (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (4 p.m.). The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 12 p.m. on SEC Network.
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