Seminoles fall to Gators, 1-0; Karp shines in pitcher's duel
JACKSONVILLE – In front of 9,613 fans at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, No. 5 Florida State dropped a pitcher’s duel to No. 2 Florida, 1-0.
“I’m very proud of the way our team competed,” FSU coach Mike Martin said following the game. “We didn’t commit an error and only gave up four hits. It’s very frustrating because we played very well.”
Neither team mustered much on offense in a quick game. Andrew Karp was phenomenal for the Seminoles (20-6) in the outing. The redshirt junior tossed eight innings, giving up four hits and just one run, while striking out seven on 98 pitches.
“It goes to show how good he was tonight, especially when they have an entire (scouting report) on him; he was cooking,” Martin said.
It was the fifth career start for Karp against the Gators, having also tossed a gem a year ago in Gainesville and also losing 1-0. There’s no doubt both sides were well acquainted, with Karp knowing the tendencies of the UF hitters, while they knew his arsenal of pitches.
“I was just trying to mix up my pitches well and command both sides of the plate,” Karp said. “They’ve seen a lot of me and it was important for me to mix up a few things I haven’t done in the last few outings against them to keep them off balance.”
At the plate, FSU had a tough time figuring out the Gator (22-5) trio of Jack Leftwich, Jordan Butler and Michael Byrne, with just three total hits on the evening.
UF scored the only run of the night in the fourth inning off Karp. Wil Dalton laced a double to left field with one out and scored on an RBI single from Austin Langworthy that got through the infield and into right field. Reese Albert’s throw to the plate was just off the mark, allowing Langworthy to beat the tag of Cal Raleigh.
The Seminoles showed fight in their last chance of the game as Mike Salvatore singled up the middle to start the ninth inning and advanced to third on a single to right-center from Jackson Lueck with one out.
However, with runners on the corners, Byrne was able to strike out Rhett Aplin looking and induce a groundout to first from Raleigh, ending the game.
Karp pitched a career-high innings for the second straight week after pitching 7.1 innings in FSU’s 6-4 win last week against No. 21 UCF. It was FSU’s first complete game of the season.
Tuesday's loss was the Seminoles' seventh straight in the series.
Up Next -- Florida State hosts No. 20 Louisville for three games beginning this Thursday. All three games will stream live on the ACC Network Extra.
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