GAINESVILLE -- Facing a Florida Gators team that is the No. 1 national seed and boasts the country's best pitching staff, Florida State sophomore Drew Carlton stole the spotlight on Saturday night.
While pitching the first complete game of his career, Carlton delivered a two-hit shutout and helped the Seminoles record a stunning 3-0 victory before a McKethan Stadium crowd of 5,768. The victory snapped FSU's five-game losing streak against Florida (50-14) and gave the Seminoles (41-20) a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional.
“From the first inning on, everything really felt great,” said Carlton, who retired 19 batters in a row at one point. “But every inning was just coming back and looking back at the last inning and feeding off of that one.”
Carlton threw 115 pitches (84 strikes), gave up two hits, recorded five strikeouts and allowed no walks. He faced just 28 batters -- one over the minimum -- in the masterful outing.
The victory improved Carlton to 8-3 on the season. He handed Florida its first Super Regional shutout loss in program history.
Florida State's offense was on the attack early against UF starter Alex Faedo (13-2), but the Seminoles had little to show for it through the first few innings. The Seminoles were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position during that stretch, but they took a 1-0 lead on Tyler Holton's bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth.
After giving up a leadoff single in the top of the fifth to Florida State's nine-hole hitter, Matt Henderson, Faedo was pulled by UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan. A light rain then descended upon Perry Field as star middle reliever Dane Dunning, who was selected in the first round of this week's MLB Draft, took over for the Gators.
Without hesitation, Florida State leadoff hitter Taylor Walls ripped the first pitch thrown by Dunning to score Henderson on a double that smacked the left-field wall. With a 2-0 lead, Walls then swiped home courtesy of a fielding error by Florida’s second baseman, Deacon Liput, on a John Sansone bunt attempt.
The Seminoles' 3-0 lead was more than enough behind Carlton’s career performance on the mound. Entering the ninth inning, Carlton reassured his head coach that he could see the game through.
“I think he was at 91 [pitches],” FSU coach Mike Martin said. “And then when we got to the ninth, it was more or less Drew looking at us saying, ‘I’d like to keep the ball in my hands.’ And we were not gonna argue with him.”
Carlton carried himself with poise in the ninth as he put the Gators down in order to seal the shutout victory. A groundout by Florida power hitter Dale Guthrie with two outs in the bottom of the ninth sent Carlton’s teammates surging to congratulate the sophomore pitcher on his stellar performance.
But after the celebration, Martin was quick to put things into perspective during the postgame press conference.
“I really wish that I could say that that was a really important win,” Martin said. “It’s not over. We are playing a team that has been ranked in the top spot 75 percent of the year. They have everything it takes to win two ball games. We know what is in front of us, and we are excited to have the opportunity to compete.”
Game two of the Gainesville Super Regional is set for 6 p.m. on Sunday. If necessary, game three will be played on Monday at a time that is to be announced.
FSU freshman Tyler Holton (3-3, 2.92 ERA) is scheduled to start on Sunday against UF's Logan Shore (11-0, 2.44). Shore was selected in the second round of this week's draft.
-------------------------------
Talk about this story with fellow FSU Baseball fans in the FSU Baseball Forum
