Gators Rout Seminoles

By Ben Jones

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

@warchantben

 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida saved the celebrating after its win on Friday night. Now Florida State will try and save its season.

 

Florida steamrolled rival Florida State 13-5 to open this weekend's Super Regional at McKethan Stadium before a crowd of 5,709, the tenth-most in stadium history.

 

"There wasn't a whole lot of jumping around," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "I think they handled it great. I was kind of impressed with how they were looking at me in the dugout after the game. They were all kind of intent. We've talked the whole week about what's at stake here. They were good. They were grounded."

 

The Gators took over early, rocking Seminoles starter Boomer Biegalski and pushing its lead to 13-0 before a short flurry from FSU in the final innings. Florida is now one win away from advancing to the College World Series for the fourth time in the past six years, while Florida State is one game away from elimination.

 

"Anybody that saw it could see it the way I saw it," Florida State coach Mike Martin said. "It was just an old-fashioned switching. They beat us in every phase and obviously deserved to win."

 

Florida dropped two of three games in the regular season against Florida State, but all three were midweek contests. The Seminoles hadn't seen sophomore righty Logan Shore, Florida's Friday night starter, in any of those three games.

 

He pitched 5.2 shutout innings, striking out five while giving up five hits and two walks. Florida State started plenty of rallies, but finished none of them. The Seminoles started the night 1 for 11 with runners on base before finishing 4 for 16.

 

"The offense has really been coming through for me the last few starts," Shore said. "I can't credit them enough. It's awesome going out there, especially in a big game like this. Adrenaline is going in the first inning a little bit, and it really helps me to calm down."

 

Biegalski posted his worst start of the year. He left the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the third for little-used reliever Jim Voyles. Biegalski, who had spent most of the year as FSU's Friday night starter, had gone at least five innings in every start this year before Friday's implosion, when he used 61 pitches just to get a half dozen outs.

 

Four of Florida's first five hitters registered hits in the first inning, eventually scoring four runs on Biegalski. He also had an error in the first inning, the first of three on the night from the Seminoles. Every starter in Florida's lineup would reach base by the end of the night, and five reached base multiple times even though many were pulled in the later innings.

 

FSU's bullpen barely slowed things down. Voyles gave up a homer to co-SEC freshman of the year JJ Schwarz (2 for 3, 3 R, 2 RBI) in the fifth while pitching three innings. FSU limped home from there, using four pitchers in the final three innings while trying to survive until Saturday. Florida added two more runs in six and four more in the seventh to extend its lead. Josh Tobias and Mike Rivera each had three RBI on the night.

 

Florida State's DJ Stewart ended the shutout with a two-run homer in the top of the eighth, but the game was already well in hand by then.

 

"We've got a game against Florida State tomorrow," O'Sullivan said. "We're not going to put any more pressure on it than that."