Florida State baseball slips by Florida 2-1 in Jacksonville

The Seminoles and the Gators met at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville Tuesday night in a close game for the second match-up this season, and the Seminoles came out on top 2-1. Earlier in the season, FSU took a trip to Gainesville and beat the Gators 4-1.

Tucker Simpson started on the mound for Florida, and the Seminoles got on the board early. FSU’s Josh Delph led off with a double to left field and advanced to third on an infield single by Marcus Davis. DJ Stewart was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs, but Simpson came back strong with back to back strikeouts. John Nogowski drew a walk on a 3-2 count to score Delph, but a fly-out ended the inning.

Sophomore right-hander Luke Weaver started on the mound for the Seminoles. He started the first game between the two teams and allowed only one run in 6.1 innings pitched. In the second inning, Taylor Gushue started things off with a base hit to right field, but it was erased when Vickash Ramjit hit into a double play. In a two out rally attempt, Zack Powers hit a bomb to the right field wall, which might have been a homer at the Mac, but was instead a double. Josh Tobias stepped up to the plate and was hit by Weaver, and Connor Mitchell tied the game at 1-1 with a hit to center field sending Powers home.

The Gators and Seminoles held the game at 1-1 with impressive performances on the mound from not only Weaver, but also Gator freshman southpaw Danny Young. The freshman was brilliant in relief of Simpson, allowing no runs in four relief innings until the eighth inning.

Jose Brizuela led off the FSU eighth with a double and went to third when Young balked. Righty Ryan Harris relieved and FSU countered with pinch hitter Casey Smit, who  hit a ground-out to first that kept the runner on third. Junior lefty Daniel Gibson replaced Harris with a lefty due up for the Seminoles and he struck out Seth Miller for the second out.

However, Seminole shortstop Giovanny Alfonzo then hit an RBI single to score the lead run, and the Gators went down in order in the ninth inning.

Gator Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said that they can’t seem to catch a break.

Florida State Head Coach Mike Martin said that his team got lucky to have Florida at a time like this.

Florida State’s starting pitcher, Luke Weaver, struck out nine and went on a streak between the second and sixth innings where he retired 11 of Florida’s batters in a row. Weaver said that he’s confident his team will also win its next matchup with Florida.

Florida is now 11-15 on the season, while FSU improves to 23-2. The Gators now look forward to returning to the Mac this weekend where they will open up a three-game weekend series against No. 12 Ole Miss beginning Friday night at 7 p.m.