It wasn't always going to be as easy for Florida State against rival Florida as it was all of last season.

A year after the FSU baseball team swept the Gators with a trio of convincing victories, the No. 5 Seminoles (15-1) suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of their rivals Tuesday night.

The No. 7 Gators (16-2) came away with a 7-2 victory at Dick Howser Stadium, bringing FSU just short of being the last remaining unbeaten D-I team for the second straight year.

Tuesday's loss was a procession of mistakes in all phases by FSU. The offense struggled, generating just six hits. A few defensive miscues allowed the Gators to add to their early lead. The pitching staff struggled with control at times when it became tasked with what was effectively a bullpen game on the mound when starting pitcher Evan Chrest was removed from the game in the second inning with an apparent forearm injury.

"I hope he's ok. I have no info yet on what's going on. Clearly something was," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said.

All of that proved far too much to overcome against a talented Florida team.

"It was a difficult loss and clearly Florida played a nice game with quality arms," Jarrett said. "Every mistake we made, we paid for."

FSU fell behind 1-0 in the second inning on an RBI single from Luke Heyman that was set up by a hit-by-pitch by Chrest right before he was removed and a wild pickoff attempt by Maison Martinez.

Florida added three more runs in the fifth on a pair of singles, a walk, a pair of wild pitches and a double that bounced off the first-base bag.

FSU responded in the bottom of the fifth on Drew Faurot's fourth home run of the season to right field but Florida shortstop Colby Shelton responded with a two-run homer in the seventh.

Needing six runs in the bottom of the ninth, FSU got just one run on Myles Bailey's fourth home run of the season.

Aside from the home runs, FSU put a runner in scoring position just once and put multiple runners on base just once as well. The Seminoles were 1 for 9 with runners on base (.111), struck out 10 times and walked just twice.

Leadoff hitter Gage Harrelson had two hits but the two through six spots in the FSU lineup were a combined 1 for 18 (.056).

"Gage Harrelson, great at-bats, battled," Jarrett said. "There weren't enough quality at-bats to string together and their arms adjusted."

Because of Chrest's injury after a shutout inning, FSU's pitching depth was taxed during Tuesday's midweek rivalry game. The Seminoles threw eight different pitchers to cover nine innings. While Florida only had eight hits, FSU's pitchers issued six walks, hit four batters and had three wild pitches, issuing far too many free passes which came back to haunt the Seminoles.

FSU remains at home this weekend for a three-game series vs. Boston College (7-6) to begin ACC play.