Florida Gators

Gators Sweep Sunshine Showdown
Florida 3, Florida State 1
 
WHAT HAPPENED: Florida swept the season series against Florida State with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night in Tallahassee in the final Fresh from Florida Sunshine Showdown of the season.
 
Florida took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning despite not recording a hit. Brady McConnell flew a ball to deep center that was dropped by the center fielder, allowing McConnell to reach second base.
 
McConnell moved to third on a sac bunt from Jacob Young and scored on a passed ball.
 
In the fifth, Florida State strung together a couple hits and tied the game on a RBI groundout from Alec Sanchez.
 
In the ninth, Kendrick Calilao laced a double to left center and the Noles intentionally walked Wil Dalton to put a pair of runners on with two outs. Coach Kevin O'Sullivan called upon pinch hitter Kirby McMullen and he delivered a double into the right field corner to score both runners for a 3-1 lead.
 
Ben Specht pitched the final three innings to earn the victory, allowing just one hit.
 
David Luethje started and allowed one run over four innings while Justin Alintoff pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Ben Specht – The freshmen tied his career high with three innings pitched and allowed just one hit. He had five strikeouts and no walks. In two relief appearances against FSU, Specht has totaled five innings pitched with nine strikeouts and no walks.
 
STANDOUT STAT: 11 – Florida has won 11 games in a row over Florida State, won 16 of the last 17 and swept the last four regular-season series. With Tuesday likely being the last meeting between Florida and FSU, the Gators finish 77-76 all-time against FSU head coach Mike Martin.
 
FROM THE COACH: Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan – On tonight's game: "It's one of those nights. I've been thinking about this night for a long time, being the last time we get a chance to compete against Coach Martin. 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 and this has really been special tonight for a lot of different reasons.
 
"As far as the game is concerned, 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 long. He didn't get a chance to pitch at Ole Miss so I knew he was going to have to come in and throw some quality strikes at some point. I think he grew up a lot tonight.
 
"I thought for the most part we played pretty good defense. 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. 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. He's one of the most liked guys in the locker room. For him to come up and get a big hit like that in the ninth inning was obviously huge. We needed to play a little bit better. I don't ever remember playing as poorly as we did at Ole Miss. We needed to play better and we did tonight."
 
UP NEXT: Florida returns to Gainesville for a three-game series against South Carolina as part of the Gators' #WeChompWeekend. Thursday's game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPNU and the Gators Sports Network.
 
Friday's game is at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday's finale starts at 3:30 p.m.