Florida Baseball Sweeps Sunshine Showdown Series With FSU

The Florida Gator baseball team sweeps the season series against Florida State with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night in the Fresh from Florida Sunshine Showdown in Tallahassee.

Tuesday’s win makes it 11 in a row for Florida over FSU, as Florida State head coach Mike Martin ends his career with a losing record (76-77) against the Gators.

Make that 1⃣1⃣ in a row!!!

🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊#Gators beat Florida State again, sweeping the season series for the third year in a row. #BeatFSU pic.twitter.com/ZYVlBwG3xN

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 10, 2019

What Happened?

The last time the Gators (22-13) got swept on the road in SEC play, they played Florida State (19-13) in the following game and also picked up a win.

This game was scoreless through three innings until Florida took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Brady McConnell flew out to center but J.C. Flowers dropped the ball for a two base error.  McConnell would move to third on a sac bunt from Jacob Young and score on a wild pitch.

#Gators take the lead!!

McConnell reaches second on an error, moves to third on a sac bunt from Young and comes in to score on a wild pitch.

T4 | #Gators 1, FSU 0 pic.twitter.com/O238479hiZ

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 9, 2019

Similarly, Florida State would deliver a couple of hits and tied the game on a RBI ground out from Alec Sanchez in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Both runners move up on stolen bases and score on a Sanchez groundout.

B5 | UF 1, FSU 1

— FSU Baseball (@FSUBaseball) April 9, 2019

Both teams had chances to score more runs but neither squad could come up with a big hit.  But, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Kirby McMullen pinch hit for Cory Acton and delivered a two run double that scored Kendrick Calilao, who had doubled, and Wil Dalton, who had walked to give the Gators a lead and eventually the win.

#ClutchKirby came off the bench and gave the #Gators a two-run lead!

Headed to the bottom of the ninth, #Gators lead FSU 3-1.

WATCH NOW: https://t.co/ZtYUEoJI9O pic.twitter.com/xXaqqTNkXN

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 10, 2019

Gator coach Kevin O’Sullivan had a lot of praise for McMullen.

“Obviously, the big at bat tonight was Kirby McMullen. I think that’s probably one of the biggest reasons why we’re so excited we won, because everybody pulls for Kirby,” said O’Sullivan. “We needed to play better and we did tonight.”

Florida Pitching Steps Up

For a start, Florida would dominate with combined pitching performances from David Luethje, Justin Alintoff and Ben Specht to edge out the Seminoles.  The trio allowed only one run on eight hits, and O’Sullivan spoke after the game on the performance of his pitchers in the game.

” I thought David gave us a nice start and he threw the ball across the plate for the most part. We got a couple outs there in the middle of the game with Alintoff and that was probably the best Ben Specht has looked all year.”

What’s Up Next

The Gators head back to Gainesville for a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday series against South Carolina as part of the Gators #WeChompWeekend.

First pitch on Thursday is at 7:30 p.m.