JACKSONVILLE — Trying to cap off his most dominant performance this year, Danny Young made his biggest mistake of the season.
After giving up a leadoff double to FSU third baseman Jose Brizuela in the eighth inning on Tuesday night, Young balked, allowing Brizuela to advance to third. Brizuela scored the go-ahead run on an infield single three batters later.
“I kind of gave it away there,” Young said. “It kind of stings a little bit.”
Costly mistakes and a poor offensive showing resulted in Florida (11-15) losing to No. 4 Florida State 2-1 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The defeat marked UF’s second against FSU this year.
“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to muster any more offense, because I thought we pitched well enough to win,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
Before Tuesday, FSU (23-2) ranked 11th nationally with 7.9 runs per game.
The two runs UF allowed on Tuesday were the fewest it has given up in a midweek game this year. Overall, Young was strong in relief for Florida, giving up just one run on two hits in four innings while striking out five.
Florida State went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning as leadoff hitter Josh Delph doubled when Harrison Bader and Connor Mitchell collided on a pop fly that then bounced into an empty center field.
“The ball hung up there long enough to where I think we should’ve caught the ball,” O’Sullivan said.
FSU left fielder Marcus Davis advanced Delph to third with an infield single and UF starter Tucker Simpson hit DJ Stewart to load the bases.
After Simpson retired the next two batters, first baseman John Nogowski drew a nine-pitch walk with the bases still loaded.
Nogowski nearly swung at the fourth ball, but the first base umpire ruled that he checked his swing.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s just we got one of those teams where they’re not getting covered up.”
Florida responded in the top of the second. Zack Powers hit a two-out double to right field, and Mitchell drove him in two batters later with a single to right-center field.
Unfortunately for the Gators, that would be the extent of their offensive production.
Seminoles starter Luke Weaver retired the next 11 batters he faced and did not allow another hit. His nine strikeouts tied a career-high. In each of his five starts, Weaver has pitched at least six innings.
During FSU’s 4-1 win in Gainesville on March 12, Weaver threw 6.1 scoreless innings. Weaver has given up just four runs in 33 innings for a 1.09 ERA this season.
“He threw strikes,” O’Sullivan said. “He threw secondary pitches for strikes. He did a very good job. “
O’Sullivan said the Gators’ pitching staff has little margin for error until the team starts making progress at the plate.
“It’s not like anybody plays a flawless game, but every mistake we make has been leading to runs,” O’Sullivan said.
“A run here, a run there. Offensively, we’re not that type of team where we’re going to score 8-10 runs a game, so it’s been hurting us.”
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Zack Powers walks back to the dugout after striking out during Florida’s 4-1 loss to Florida State on March 12, 2013 at McKethan Stadium.
