FSU baseball: Pitching fails Noles late against Florida Gators

FSU baseball (12-9, 3-3 ACC) let a late lead slip away in a 9-5 loss against the No. 3 Florida Gators Tuesday night.

The Noles led 5-2 after five innings, but the little things I talked about earlier Monday reared their head again with the FSU pitching staff. Florida had nobody on and two outs in the top of the sixth and was pushed a run across behind a double and a triple.

FSU pitchers walked the lead-off batter in the top of the seventh, who eventually scored on a one-out double to cut the lead to 5-4. However, it was the top of the eighth that saw the wheels come off for FSU pitching.

Florida scored five runs on six hits to make it 9-5. Link Jarrett made an interesting move to bring in Jackson Baumeister from the bullpen with the bases loaded and one out. It was a move I questioned because Baumeister can’t throw anything other than a fastball for a strike.

It was a tough situation for a pitcher like him, and the potent Florida offense made them pay as they were sitting on his fastball. Baumeister allowed four hits against five batters and only recorded one out.

Freshman Ben Barrett pitched well as the starting, going four innings while allowing one earned run on four hits and two strikeouts.

Cam Smith led all FSU hitters with three hits, and Jordan Carrion went 2-3 with a run scored. Jaime Ferrer had a huge bases-clearing double to give the Noles the early 5-1 lead after four innings.

However, FSU batters struck out 10 of their last 15 at bats doing into the ninth inning and had some terrible at-bats in the late half of the game.

I wrote in the preview Florida had a potent offense, and the FSU bullpen once again couldn’t get it done with a lead late. The Noles have lost five of their last six games and will travel to play No. 8 Virginia on Friday.