Gators Silence FSU in First Duel of Season
Tallahassee, Fla. — The No. 7 Florida Gators went on the road and took down the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday, winning 7-2 in the first of three total meetings that’ll occur this season. With this win, the Gators sit at 16-2 on the year and serve their rivals their first loss of the season.
There were two points across the timeline for this game that were crucial in this win for the Gators. The first was the inclusion of freshman pitcher Jackson Barberi. Barberi entered the game in the fourth inning out of the pen to replace Florida’s starter Billy Barlow and went three innings and only gave up one run along the way to his first win as a Gator.
The second pinpoint was the fifth-inning separation created by the Gators’ offense. The offense produced three runs in the inning supplied by Ty Evans, Justin Nadeau and Colby Shelton. These three runs put the Gators up 4-0 and they never looked back from here.
Before these two occurred, though, it was Barlow who dominated the early portion of this contest Tuesday evening. He opened the game blanking the Seminoles in the first.
The offense carried this momentum to begin the second as well. After freshman Brendan Lawson was hit by a pitch and then made it to second base on an error from the Seminoles, Luke Heyman singled him home to supply an early 1-0 lead for the visitors.
Unfortunately for the Seminoles in this inning, their starter Evan Chrest would have to be taken out of the game. After throwing two straight balls, he pointed to some area on his arm that required Florida State’s medical staff and coach to come to check on him. He would subsequently be taken out.
The same thing almost happened to the Gators in the third inning. Barlow was able to record two outs in the inning, but facing Gage Harrelson, he had a pitch lined back into his arm. This caused head coach Kevin O’Sullivan and the medical staff for the Gators to leave the dugout. However, he managed to stay in to finish the frame.
Although freshman right-hander Barberi would enter in place of Barlow in the fourth inning. Barberi quickly closed this inning, finishing with back-to-back strikeouts on fastballs at 96 mph.
The Gators used this to help seize the momentum and control of the game in the fifth. After the first two hitters got on base to begin the inning, Evans brought home Landon Stripling with a sac fly to set the score at 2-0. This was trailed by a Nadeau double off the first base bag to score Heyman and give the Gators a 3-0 advantage. Then, a couple batters later, Shelton singled home Nadeau to cap off a three-run inning.
Florida State did get a run back in the bottom half, though. Seminole second baseman Drew Faurot drove a fastball low and away over the left field wall for a solo shot. This rebound run gave the hosts their first run of the game.
Florida had a chance to answer this with runs of their own but squandered a great opportunity to do so. Despite the first two Gators making their way to second and third base with zero outs, the next three went down to end the top half of the sixth.
The Gators didn’t waste their next opportunity, however. Nadeau led the seventh inning off with a bunt single down the third base line. Then, Shelton smoked a fastball way above the left-center field wall for a two-run home run that provided his team a five-run cushion down the home stretch.
For Barberi, his night ended in the seventh. O’Sullivan leaned on him as much as he could before having to take him out of this game. Right-hander Luke McNeillie stepped onto the mound in his absence and inherited a runner on first as well. McNeillie came out of the pen juiced and ready as he made sure no runs crossed home plate, striking out three of the next four Seminoles he faced to end the inning.
In the eighth, the Gators were able to add an extra insurance run to make it 7-1 thanks to Bobby Boser trading an out for a run in a bases-loaded situation. They had a chance for more, but couldn’t find the necessary hits to capitalize.
Luckily for the traveling team, they didn’t need any more runs. To begin the final inning, the Gators called upon their closer Alex Philpott. While he did give up a solo home run to Seminoles’ freshman Myles Bailey, it would not matter as he closed it out with the next two batters.
By the final out, the Gators would leave Tallahassee with a 7-2 victory. Florida’s next time on the diamond will be when they take on undefeated Tennessee in their first three-game series of SEC play. The first game is on Friday, March 14, at 6:30 p.m. in Knoxville, Tenn.
