Tallahassee, Fla. – No. 7 Florida took the lead in the second inning and never looked back to hand No. 5 Florida State its first loss of the season with a convincing, 7-2 victory at Dick Howser Stadium on Tuesday night.
 
With the win, the Gators (16-2) enter SEC Opening Weekend as the winners of five-straight games. Florida is now 36-22 against the Seminoles (15-1) under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan and is winners of 23 of the last 30 meetings in the series.
 
It all began with the tandem of starter Billy Barlow, Jackson Barberi and Luke McNeillie, who limited the Seminoles to one run across the first eight innings. Barberi earned his first-career win in the contest, pitching a career-high three innings and allowing just one run.
 
Colby Shelton (2-for-3) led the Florida offense, reaching base four times in five trips while homering and pacing the Orange & Blue with three RBI. Luke Heyman (2-for-4) also chipped in a pair of hits including an RBI single while Justin Nadeau (2-for-5) tallied one double, two runs scored and one RBI.
 
The Gators and the Seminoles exchanged zeros in the first, as Barlow worked around a leadoff walk to produce a zero. Florida then used timely hitting to take the only lead of the night at 1-0 in the top of the second. Brendan Lawson was plunked to lead off and after advancing to second on a failed pickoff attempt, Heyman capitalized with a two-out, RBI single up the middle to break the deadlock.
 
Given a one-run edge, Barlow retired the side in order in the second while picking up his first two strikeouts for the final two outs of the frame. The redshirt junior blanked the Seminoles again in the third, but was lifted from the game prior to the start of the fourth after taking a line drive off his shoulder in the previous frame.
 
Barberi took over pitching duties for the Gators in the fourth. The rookie tossed a one-two-three inning highlighted by strikeouts of Cal Fisher and Myles Bailey.
 
Florida broke out for three runs in the fifth, as Landon Stripling got things going for the Gators with a leadoff walk. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Heyman moved Stripling to third with a single to shortstop. Ty Evans cashed in with the runner in scoring position, driving in Stripling with a sacrifice fly in foul territory in right field. Nadeau then doubled off the first-base bag down the right-field line to plate Heyman while Shelton made it 4-0 Gators with an RBI single to center.
 
The Gators got quick two outs in the home half, but Drew Faurot put the Seminoles on the board with a solo home run to left to cut the UF lead to 4-1. Barberi rebounded to record the inning’s last out, then fired a clean frame in the sixth to take a three-run lead into the game’s final third.
 
In the top of the seventh, Florida struck again to extend its lead to 6-1. Nadeau reached on a leadoff infield single, later moving into scoring position on a wild pitch. He scored easily, as Shelton uncorked a two-run, opposite field homer to left-center to break the game open.
 
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, Barberi was relieved by McNeillie. The sophomore used a trio of strikeouts to strand the lone runner and send the 6-1 matchup into the eighth.
 
Florida put the first three runners of the eighth inning on base with a Stripling walk and hit-by-pitches of Heyman and pinch-hitter Hayden Yost. From there, Bobby Boser produced an RBI groundout to shortstop with one out, scoring Stripling to make it 7-1 in favor of the Gators.
 
McNeillie tossed another scoreless frame in the eighth, navigating around a two-out walk to hold the score. In the bottom of the ninth, the Seminoles plated a late run on a solo homer to right by Bailey. Closer Alex Philpott was ultimately able to record the final three outs, cementing a 7-2 victory for the Orange & Blue.
 
Barberi (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory, throwing three-plus innings with one earned run allowed on one hit and one walk. He struck out three.
 
FSU starter Evan Chrest dropped to 2-1. He allowed one unearned run over one-plus inning on one walk and one hit batter. The right-hander struck out one.
 
Barlow did not factor into the decision despite chucking three shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out two batters against zero walks.

NOTABLES

• Florida has allowed 10 total runs across its five-game winning streak, outscoring opponents, 52-10.
• The Gators are now 36-22 vs. FSU under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan (10-8 away), featuring wins in 23 of the last 30 meetings.

  • Florida is 128-134-1 all-time against FSU, including 46-72-1 in Tallahassee.

• Florida’s first four runs vs. FSU were driven in by four different Gators in Heyman, Evans, Nadeau and Shelton.

  • Five different Gators drove in runs.

• Barberi pitched a career-high three innings of relief and tied his career high with three strikeouts while earning his first collegiate win.
• Shelton launched his second home run of the campaign in the seventh inning.

  • Shelton finished 2-for-3 with a team-high three RBI and two walks.

• McNeillie provided two shutout innings of relief while fanning four batters.
• Philpott finished his sixth game of the season.
• Cyr and Shelton have reached safely in all 18 games this season.
• Florida pitchers have produced a 213-to-49 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 18 games.
• Tuesday night’s official attendance was 6,700.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game…
“Yeah, you know when you go on the road like this, I don’t know how many people they had, maybe 6,700, but you got to get a good start on the mound and Billy was able to get us that. We got on the board first, Luke had a big hit back through the middle to put us up 1-0 after two, and we turned around and put up a couple zeros after that. The pitching was really good tonight. Jackson Barberi, that was his best outing of the year. Luke McNeillie, who really was sharp, and then Alex hadn’t pitched in a while, he was not quite himself tonight, but he’ll be better this weekend. Then offensively, Colby got a couple hits, the big home run and Luke had a couple hits. The only negative of the game, really, we have second and third with nobody out and didn’t score. And then we had bases loaded, nobody out and only scored one. We had a chance to really open it up, but that’s just the learning experience for our players.”

On McNeillie getting the job done…

“Yeah, there was some urgency. It really comes down to that and comes down to execution. I thought his stuff against Harvard was good. Fastball and the breaking ball were good. He just made some mistakes with two strikes and then got a little frustrated with himself, but then tonight was a big night for him. He really threw the ball really good.”

 

On Shelton’s performance at the plate

“He’s worked awfully hard to use the whale field and certainly tonight was another night that, like you said, he’s got a countless number of hits the other way, and obviously the home run he hit was one of the furthest balls I’ve seen hit from a left-handed hitter the other way here, at this stadium.”

UP NEXT

Florida travels to Knoxville, Tenn. for SEC Opening Weekend against No. 2 Tennessee. The series opens Friday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Game two will air on SEC Network on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET while Sunday’s finale is slated for 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.