JACKSONVILLE -- Baseball players dream of having the type of game Alex Lodise had Tuesday night.

The Florida State shortstop was a homer short of a cycle entering the ninth inning. But it didn't seem he was going to get a chance to finish the cycle as FSU took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning.

As fate would have it, a pair of two-out runs from Florida gave the Gators the lead and Lodise the opportunity.

He did not miss it.

After the first four batters of the FSU ninth reached to tie the game at 4-4, Lodise crushed the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence for a walk-off grand slam to complete the cycle.

"I knew as soon as I hit it. I turned to the dugout and just it all out right as I hit it..." Lodise said. "I blacked out rounding first base. I was yelling, I'm going to lose my voice tomorrow, probably...It was one of the best feelings I've ever had."

Lodise's heroics lifted No. 4 FSU (21-3) to an 8-4 win over the Gators (18-9) at VyStar Ballpark. leveling the series at a win apiece.

The rubber match is set for two weeks from now, Tuesday, April 8, in Gainesville.

"Casual 8-4 Tuesday night game," FSU head coach Link Jarrett quipped.

Playing near his hometown of St. Augustine, Lodise finished the win 4 for 5 with four RBI and two runs, raising his batting average to .471.

It was his ninth three-hit game and third four-hit game of the season. With one game-winning swing, he became the first FSU player to hit for the cycle since Mike Salvatore in 2019 and the first to hit a walk-off homer since Jaime Ferrer in 2022.

He said after the game it was his first career cycle and estimated that he had approximately 30 family members and friends in attendance to watch Tuesday's game.

"I have an insane amount of confidence. I think that's something I took into this year," Lodise said. "I know I can do it. I know I'm a good player and can hit with the best of them. I think it's really starting to settle in with me that I can go face anyone any day and feel confident in myself."

Lodise's incredible walk-off took attention away from what was nearly a complete-game one-hitter for the Seminole pitching staff.

A week after eight FSU pitchers combined to allow nine runs on 10 hits and eight walks in a midweek loss to Mercer, four FSU pitchers combined to allow just four runs on three hits over nine innings.

Were it not for back-to-back singles in the top of the ninth when Florida was down to its last out, FSU would have won 3-2 and allowed just one hit.

"It's great. I thought that everybody who went out there for us really managed what they were doing really well..." Jarrett said of his pitching staff."

John Abraham got the start and allowed one run over 2.2 innings, setting down his first five batters before the Gators got him for a run on a single, stolen base and a pair of wild pitches.

Joe Charles picked it up from there, escaping a jam in the third and retiring the first eight batters he faced before loading the bases in the sixth on a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch.

While Florida plated one run to cut the FSU lead to 3-2 on a walk from Chris Knier, Knier stranded the bases loaded with a flyout to the warning track and that started a span of him setting down seven straight batters.

Knier issued a leadoff walk to start the ninth inning and then got two straight flyouts to center before allowing the double which tied the game.

Hudson Rowan allowed the go-ahead single but then got a strikeout and earned his first career win after the walk-off homer.

Before the ninth inning, it wasn't a stellar day at the plate for FSU. The Seminoles managed just three runs on five hits over the first eight innings, striking out 14 times.

Earlier in the game, FSU left fielder Brody DeLamielleure broke a 1-1 deadlock in the fourth inning with a two-run homer to right field. It was the redshirt freshman's third homer of the season, two of which have now come in two games in his hometown of Jacksonville.

FSU closes out this seven-game road trip this weekend at Notre Dame. Game 1 of the series is set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday. It hasn't been announced yet how FSU will align its rotation as it moves back to a traditional weekend schedule.