Ben Barrett gave Florida State coaches more than they could have imagined: Four quality innings and just one earned run allowed.

But the Seminoles’ already thin bullpen imploded, with Doug Kirkland, Conner Whittaker, Jamie Arnold and, yes, Jackson Baumeister giving up eight runs, 10 hits and six walks. Florida scored five runs in the eighth inning to take the lead and put it out of reach, giving the Gators a 9-5 win on Tuesday night.

The Seminoles led 5-1 after four innings, but Florida gradually chipped away at the lead and handed FSU (12-9) its sixth loss in the last seven games.

"The game was there for the taking but their at-bats on the back end of the game and some of the base on balls we clearly helped, but they were able to accrue enough opportunity and did some damage and had the quality at-bats on the back end of the game," FSU coach Link Jarrett said. "And their two relievers that finished it were very tough. They just continued to add those single runs until they had the big inning."

Jarrett went to Jamie Arnold (1-2) in the eighth and the freshman left-hander was ineffective, being charged with three earned runs. Jarrett then brought in Baumeister, FSU’s starter on Friday nights in recent weeks, and the sophomore right-hander faced five batters — giving up four RBI singles. The majority of them were not Gators making good contact, but for UF the at-bats did the job.

"Baumeister asked I don’t know how many times if he could be available to throw an inning," Jarrett said. "Chuck works with these guys every single day. And when you have a guy like that who wants to compete, he’s coming off a start where he threw 60 pitches, so it’s in the cards, today’s the day that it lined up to be in the cards. The velocity is the best we had seen out of him."

Barrett tossed three shutout innings, and the freshman right-hander allowed a run in the fourth. He gave up four hits but didn’t allow a walk and had two strikeouts. Barrett has had two straight quality outings, tossing 3.1 shutout innings of relief in the loss at UCF last Wednesday.

How FSU juggles the rotation for this weekend’s series at Virginia is not determined. Carson Montgomery has also been struggling and Wyatt Crowell missed his start against Boston College.

Jaime Ferrer had a three-run double in the fourth and Nander de Sedas added an RBI double in second for the Seminoles. FSU had 10 hits but also 10 strikeouts.

Jac Caglianone went 4 for 5 with three RBI for Florida (19-4).

While the loss to the Gators clearly weighed on Jarrett postgame, he was pleased to see a few returning players to the lineup. And Ben Barrett's efficient start is a bright spot.

"He’s not equipped to go much beyond, I think he threw 56 pitches, that was about the threshold that we felt made sense," Jarrett said. "And you could see it start to look like they were a little more on it … We’re going to need him. That was exactly what we hoped we would see out of him."

FSU played with a lineup it hadn't had in 2013, with DeAmez Ross back in center field, Cam Smith back at third base after missing the BC series and McGwire Holbrook in the designated hitter role after missing a few weeks.

Smith went 3 for 5 with a run scored. Ross went 0 for 4 with a run scored, and Holbrook went 0 for 4.

FSU plays at Virginia on Friday at 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra).

Jarrett said after the game that Wyatt Crowell would throw on Wednesday. "He's going to dial it up good tomorrow," Jarrett said. "He's been trending just fine. ... The positive side is he's been better and better every day. We clearly need him. It's hard to go through a whole week without him throwing a pitch for you. I think he's headed back in the right direction."

Jarrett said he does not have a rotation for the series against the Cavaliers.

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