Kirby McMullen has been clutch in pinch hitting roles so far this season. Tuesday night at Florida State was no different.
With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, McMullen was called to the plate to bat for Cory Acton. After Kendrick Calilao doubled to start the inning and Wil Dalton was intentionally walked, the junior from Ocala, Florida was put in a pivotal situation.
Florida had been stifled by Seminole pitching for the majority of the game, but that didn’t faze McMullen.
The Gator slugger ripped a 2-1 fastball off FSU relief pitcher Clayton Kwiatkowski to deep right field that bounced off the wall - that allowed Calilao and Dalton to race to the plate and make it 3-1 Gators.
That would be all Florida would need as Ben Specht mowed through
The FSU lineup in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the 3-1 win.
The last time the Florida Gators (22-13) baseball team was swept on the road in SEC play, the team played Florida State (19-13) in the following game and picked up a win, and they did it again.
The Gators used a dominate combined pitching performance from freshman David Luethje, transfer Justin Alintoff and freshman Ben Specht to edge the Seminoles.
The trio of Luethje, Alintoff and Specht allowed only one run on eight hits, and constantly rebounded after allowing base hits to keep the Noles off the scoreboard.
Despite the win, Florida struggled mightily at the plate. The Gators didn’t record a base runner until the fourth inning and didn’t pick up a base hit until the sixth.
FSU starter Conor Grady had a sensational performance in the loss. He allowed only two hits and one unearned run in a full seven innings. He also had nine strikeouts and walked only one batter.
Brady McConnell would be the one to spark the Florida offense though. McConnell led off the inning by hitting a deep-fly ball to center field that was dropped by J.C. Flowers and allowed McConnell to reach second. A sacrifice-bunt from Jacob Young moved McConnell to third.
Another FSU mistake would give Florida a 1-0. With Nelson Maldonado at the plate, Seminole catcher Matheu Nelson allowed a passed ball, and brought McConnell home to score.
Without a base hit, the Gators scored first on their in-state rival.
Florida State wasn’t out of the game though. An inning later in the bottom of the fifth, the Noles made those base hits count. After Luethje walked Nander De Sedas to lead-off the inning, Justin Alintoff was put on the mound for the Gators.
Nelson then stroked a base hit to center and both De Sedas and Nelson stole second and third.
Alec Sanchez then tied the game at 1-1, grounding out to Young at second that brought De Sedas to the plate.
Both teams would have opportunities to break the tie in the later innings. Florida put runner on the corners in the eighth inning, but failed to break the tie.
Florida State had a runner on second in the bottom of the inning, but were neutralized by Specht.
Florida finished the game with only five base hits, but it was just enough to squeak by in the state capital.
No Gator batter reached base more than once and as a team Florida struck out 10 times.
McConnell would go 1-4 with a run scored while Calilao, Acton, Austin Langworthy and McMullen would also have base hits.
The Gators will have a quick turnaround this week as the team heads back to Gainesville for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series against South Carolina.
First pitch on Thursday is at 7:30pm.
