JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Florida was defeated by No. 17 Florida State, 14-3, in eight innings at 121 Financial Ballpark on Tuesday night.
 
The Seminoles (20-3, 3-3 ACC) jumped on the Gators (14-10, 4-2 SEC) for three runs in the opening frame. With the bags loaded and one out, Daniel Cantu produced a bases-clearing double down the right-field line to open a 3-0 lead.
 
Florida had an immediate answer ready, quickly tying the matchup at 3-3. Colby Shelton worked a leadoff walk, followed by a single to right-center from Ty Evans. On a 2-1 offering, Jac Caglianone went the other way for an opposite-field, three-run homer down the left-field line to knot the ballgame.
 
The two teams traded zeros in the second and third before Florida State broke through for two more runs in the fourth to take a 5-3 advantage. Drew Faurot connected for a solo home run to left-center while Max Williams singled home Jaxson West. The next inning, Cantu doubled down the left-field line to score James Tibbs III for a 6-3 tally.
 
Florida State began to pull away in the sixth. With two men down, Cam Smith doubled to left-center to bring in West. Tibbs III then singled to right to plate Smith. In the seventh, Cantu led off with a solo home run to right-center, pushing the score to 9-3.
 
In the eighth, the Seminoles put the game away with five runs. It started with a bases-loaded walk of Marco Dinges, followed by a grand slam off the bat of Cantu to bring the score to its final, run-rule-shortened tally of 14-3.
 
UF starting pitcher Alex Philpott (2-2) was handed the loss after allowing five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander was charged with seven hits allowed and one strikeout.
 
Seminoles reliever Joe Charles (1-0) earned the victory on two shutout frames. He allowed one hit and struck out three.
 
FSU starter Andrew Armstrong did not factor into the decision, pitching just one inning with three earned runs. He surrendered two hits and one walk while fanning two.

NOTABLES

• Tuesday's official attendance was 7,710.
• Caglianone hit his 12th home run of the season in the first inning, tying him with Shelton for the team lead.
• Caglianone picked up his team-leading 15th multi-hit game.
• Florida is now 127-133-1 all-time vs. FSU including 15-12 in neutral-site games.
  • The Gators are 35-21 against the Seminoles under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (8-10 neutral).
  • Florida has won 22 of the last 28 meetings.
• The Gators have won 23 of their last 31 regular-season, non-conference games.
  • Since last season, Florida is 32-11 in non-con action.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On the loss…
"It's kind of the same story that we've seen quite a bit this year. We gave up three in the first, but then we turn around and put together a really good inning in the bottom half of the first to tie it up, kind of get the momentum back. But, obviously, we didn't hit very well tonight. It was frustrating to watch because it was the same pattern over and over when they brought in [John] Abraham. It was spin the ball, spin the ball, show a fastball, spin the ball again. That's all he did. Then, at that point, once we didn't get much going against him, their offense did a nice job tonight. But, I thought the game took a turn in the fourth inning when we gave up two, four different times we called for fastballs in and four balls were hit extremely hard the other way. So, we didn't locate the fastball in. In the fifth, we hit [James] Tibbs with a 2-2 fastball in, because he's been hammering soft the first games against us. We hit him, so that leads to another run. Then, [Frank Menedez] is in there against [Jaxson] West. He gets a ground ball. The seven-hole hitter starts the next inning. Left-hand hitter, we walk him to start the inning. Then, we strike out [Alex] Lodise, I believe. Next thing you know we got to turn the order back over again..."

On the pitching moving forward…
"If we had taken care of business with the left-on-left situation with West who is hitting eight, it would have been a lot more difficult to score those runs. We left Frankie in there to face Cam [Smith]. I think Cam is hitting .250 versus lefties and Tibbs is hitting .261. So it's pick your poison, but once we fall behind in the count, I believe it was 2-1, he's got like 43%, I guess, swing and miss on changeups from left-handed pitching. You got to execute the pitch. It's either got to be down and out of the zone for him to chase and if it goes to 3-1, either unintentionally or intentionally put him on. You got first base open and you start over with Tibbs. But, we didn't have much conviction on the changeup and that was a big swing in the game. I thought pitching-wise the fourth, fifth and sixth kind of changed the game there, because we had a 3-3 ballgame. Obviously, offensively we weren't very good tonight again. We're going to have to look at this thing. We're probably going to get to a point where we're going to have to practice on Mondays and then take off on Wednesday moving forward to make sure our guys are ready to play on Tuesdays, because we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again."

On getting outs…
"With Alex [Philpott], three innings is probably enough for him. We go to [Ryan] Slater who is a little older, maybe hold it down for a couple of innings. Don't want to overextend him because we need him for the weekend. Frankie's job, honestly, was to come in and get the last out there in the fifth and throw a clean sixth with eight, nine and one coming up, but we weren't able to do it. But, those are the roles we need to be able to establish and get to and be able to handle those situations. Like I said, we are not asking guys to go out there and get nine, 10, 12 outs. Just four outs and hand it off to the next guy. Like I said, I've seen enough of these games on Tuesdays and we are going to have to make some adjustments."

UP NEXT
Florida welcomes No. 21 Mississippi State to Gainesville for a three-game series this upcoming weekend. All three games will stream on SEC Network+.