TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s bullpen went wild Tuesday night against Florida State — and not in a good way.
UF relievers Greg Larson and Tommy Toledo each gave up a run on wild pitches in the seventh inning as No. 11 Florida State (24-9) downed No. 4 Florida (26-8) 3-1, taking the season series by the same count.
“Some odd stuff happens, especially when we play Florida State,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Some stuff happens that doesn’t normally happen.”
After Larson allowed Sherman Johnson and Justin Gonzalez to reach on singles, the right-handed reliever threw a wild pitch past catcher Mike Zunino, allowing Johnson to score from second and stretch FSU’s lead to 2-0.
Larson was attempting to intentionally walk Taiwan Easterling and threw the first pitch of the at-bat before Zunino was ready.
When Larson delivered to the plate, Zunino had his head turned, talking to home plate umpire Rickey Armstrong, and neither of the two had their protective masks on.
Both Zunino and O’Sullivan argued with Armstrong that the play should not have counted because neither man behind the plate was ready. But the arguments were to no avail, and the play stood.
“I’m not quite sure why we threw the ball, but I understand why the confusion was there,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s just an odd play. … The bottom line is Greg probably shouldn’t have thrown the ball.”
Following the pause in the game, O’Sullivan pulled Larson for Toledo, who hurled his first pitch past Zunino and into the backstop, allowing Gonzalez to score.
All three of Florida State’s runs came on balls that didn’t leave the infield.
The first run came in the fourth inning when a familiar foe put the Seminoles on the board.
Stuart Tapley, who launched a two-run homer in the teams’ previous meeting, singled off starter Alex Panteliodis with runners on first and second and two down in the inning.
Tapley hit a grounder to shortstop Nolan Fontana, who couldn’t gather the sharply hit ball. James Ramsey scored from second base on the play, beating out Fontana’s throw to the plate.
Panteliodis (2-1) said it was frustrating the ball never left the infield each time the Seminoles scored.
“[O’Sullivan] probably wasn’t very happy about it,” he said. “But stuff happens, and it didn’t fall our way tonight.”
While UF’s bullpen surrendered two costly plays, FSU didn’t need to empty its pen to silence the Gators’ bats this time around.
The Seminoles got seven shutout innings from starter Hunter Scantling (2-0). It was the deepest an FSU starter has gone into the game against UF this season.
Scantling allowed only three hits and had seven strikeouts. Much like the Seminoles’ pitchers have done in previous matchups, the righty kept the Gators’ hitters off balance with an array of off-speed pitches and breaking balls, as Florida’s hitters chased pitches out of the zone throughout the night.
Florida’s only offense came in the ninth, when Preston Tucker led off with a double and Brian Johnson picked up an RBI two batters later.
“In the grand scheme of things, when you score one run and you don’t score until the ninth and you get (six) hits, you’re not going to win many of those games,” O’Sullivan said.
Etc.: Outfielder Bryson Smith, who has been suspended since a March 13 arrest for driving under the influence, was in uniform Tuesday but did not play. … Florida is 6-6 after a 20-2 start.
