TAMPA — The Gators’ pitching finally let them down.
After their starters allowed a combined three runs through the first seven games of the season, right-hander Tommy Toledo (0-1) and lefty Alex Panteliodis gave up five runs in the third inning as No. 11 FSU (8-0) defeated No. 1 Florida (7-1) 5-3 on Wednesday night.
“It just kind of spiraled out of control,” said right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, who tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief. “It was just that one inning, that one inning that killed us. We put up zeroes the rest of the game.”
Toledo, making his first start since last season’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, was shaky from the beginning on a windy night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
He got out of the first inning unscathed but threw 18 pitches, including eight balls. Toledo then battled through the second inning before FSU pounced on his inconsistent pitching in the third.
The righty gave up a single and a double to lead off the inning before walking the fourth batter of the inning, FSU’s Mike McGee, to load the bases with one out.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan pulled Toledo after 61 pitches for Panteliodis, who made his third appearance of the season.
Panteliodis was just as ineffective, giving up back-to-back two-RBI hits by right fielder James Ramsey and first baseman Jayce Boyd to put the Seminoles ahead 4-0. They would tack on another run before Panteliodis got out of the inning.
“It kind of got away from us,” DeSclafani said. “We just couldn’t really get to that third out.”
While Florida’s pitching struggled, FSU starter Scott Sitz (2-0) flustered the Gators’ lineup with off-speed pitches through five innings of work,allowing just one run on a third-inning single by Preston Tucker.
The Gators threatened that inning, as they had two runners on base with one out, but a baserunning blunder by Josh Adams on Tucker’s single cost the Gators a runner and halted their momentum. Maddox then popped out to left field on a diving catch by Seth Miller to end the scoring threat.
“That hurt,” O’Sullivan said. “That was a bad mistake. You can’t make base-running mistakes down four … you got to be careful running the bases when you’re down four.”
Florida countered again in the sixth when Kamm Washington and Daniel Pigott hit back-to-back singles off FSU lefty Sean Gilmartin to plate Tucker and Mike Zunino.
But that’s all the Gators would get on the night.
Right-handed reliever Daniel Bennett came in for the Seminoles in the seventh and shut down the Gators for two innings.
McGee, who started the night in center field for FSU, came in to pitch the ninth and struck out the side, giving his club its fifth win in its last six games against UF since last season.
“They kept spinning balls in for strikes and it hurt us,” Tucker said.
Etc: The announced attendance was 7,869. … The Gators have lost six straight neutral-site meetings with the Seminoles since O’Sullivan took over as coach. … Florida’s pitchers walked five batters and hit two with pitches.
