Florida State coach Mike Martin is the winningest coach in the history of Division I baseball, but he will finish his career with a losing record against Florida.
Martin has Kirby McMullen to thank for that.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game, Martin was 76-76 all-time against UF. With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the ninth inning, McMullen came in to pinch hit with first baseman Kendrick Calilao on second and right fielder Wil Dalton on first.
McMullen slapped a two-RBI triple down the right-field line to break the tie, and the Seminoles failed to respond in the bottom of the ninth.
The Gators completed the season sweep of FSU with a 3-1 win in Tallahassee, extending a program-record 11-game win streak over their in-state rival.
“I’m obviously really excited. We played better tonight, number one, but all the games we’ve competed against Florida State over the years have been extra special,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in a release. “And this has really been special tonight for a lot of different reasons.”
UF (22-13) did little offensively through eight innings. The Gators scored just one run and totaled three hits prior to the final frame. That one run was more the result of Florida State’s mistakes in the field than Florida’s success at the plate.
UF shortstop Brady McConnell led off the fourth inning with a fly ball to center field that J.C. Flowers could not come down with. Flowers’ error allowed McConnell to advance to second and a Jacob Young sacrifice bunt sent him to third.
FSU pitcher Conor Grady made his only mistake of the game in a passed ball while facing Nelson Maldonado, allowing McConnell to cross the plate for the first run of the game.
Grady (5-3) threw a career-high seven innings. He allowed just two hits, one run, one walk and struck out a career-high nine batters.
But his strong performance was erased in the ninth when Chase Haney gave up the go-ahead triple to McMullen.
The Seminoles (19-13) responded in the fifth inning. Nander De Sedas led off with a walk and Matheu Nelson followed with a single. They stole second and third during Mike Salvatore’s at-bat, who struck out. With runners in scoring position, Alec Sanchez drove in De Sedas on a groundout to first and tied the game at one.
While Florida State leaned on Grady from the mound throughout the game, UF had a three-pronged pitching attack.
David Luethje got the start and went four innings. He allowed five hits and one run. He also had one strikeout and a walk. Luethje was followed by Justin Alintoff, who threw two scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out two batters.
Ben Specht was the last arm out of the bullpen and earned his first career win after three scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and finished with a career-high five strikeouts.
Florida’s offense has been lackluster as of late, and that offensive drought did not necessarily end on Tuesday. The Gators totaled just five hits and struck out 10 times, but McMullen’s heroics were enough to beat Florida State and complete the sweep of the Seminoles for the third season in a row.
“He always does everything he can to help the other guys be successful on the bench, and he’s always in the game whether he has a chance to play or not,” O’Sullivan said. “For him to come up and get a big hit like that in the (ninth) inning was obviously huge.”
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Florida pitcher Ben Specht earned his first win after throwing three scoreless innings in UF's 3-1 win over FSU on Tuesday in Tallahassee.
