The Florida baseball team capitalized on every error Florida State committed on Tuesday night.
A fielding error helped UF take the lead in the fifth inning, and a throwing error helped take it back in the seventh.
The Gators finished the game with no earned runs as a result. But the four unearned runs they scored were enough to secure a program-record 10th-straight victory over the Seminoles.
Florida defeated Florida State 4-2 at a neutral site at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville to clinch the season series for the fourth year in a row.
UF’s Nolan Crisp and FSU’s Jonah Scolaro kept both offenses scoreless through four innings. Scolaro allowed just one hit in that time frame, while Crisp held the Seminoles to none.
Jud Fabian reached base on an fielding error to lead off the top of the fifth inning, and Austin Langworthy drove him in with an RBI double down the right-field line to put the Gators ahead 1-0.
The Seminoles (17-7) took their first lead of the night in the bottom of the sixth. Matheu Nelson led off with a walk, and Mike Salvatore followed with a two-run homer to put FSU up 2-1.
But it didn’t take long for the Gators (17-10) to respond.
In the top of the seventh inning, Jacob Young came to bat with two outs, Fabian on second and Brady Smith on first. Young singled to second base, scoring Fabian, and reached second on a throwing error by Salvatore, the second baseman. Brady McConnell hit a two-RBI double in the next at-bat, scoring Smith and Young and giving the Gators a 4-2 lead which held for the remainder of the game.
Crisp threw a career-high five innings, allowing two runs on three hits and finishing with a career-high four strikeouts. He was relieved by Jordan Butler for 0.2 innings, who faced just three batters and struck out one and was then replaced by the winning pitcher, Christian Scott.
Scott threw 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, a career-high, allowing just one hit and striking out five, also a career high.
The Seminoles exhausted much of their bullpen. Five pitchers followed Scolaro, and Antonio Velez recorded the loss.
UF finished the game with 10 strikeouts, and all nine batters struck out at least once. McConnell’s go-ahead RBI was arguably the biggest at-bat of the game. He was the best hitter for the Gators, accounting for two of the team’s six hits and two of its three RBIs.
No. 24 UF improves to 3-5 against ranked opponents this season with the win over No. 20 Florida State.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Florida center fielder Jud Fabian scored two runs during UF's 4-2 win over Florida State in Jacksonville on Tuesday.
