Florida baseball vs FIU Panthers live blog recap, highlights

Whritenour strikes out the first batter he sees on four pitches, followed by another K before getting the final out on a fly ball to centerfield.

Koczwara stays in the game for FIU and gets Cyr to fly out to straightaway center on two pitches, before Stanford flies out to left on three offerings. A grounder to short by Stripling makes short work of the Gators in what should be their last at-bats.

Lefty Joshua Whritenour enters the game with six outs remaining in the game and starts with a 93 mph slider in the dirt before a 99 mph fastball gets sent to deep right-center field for a flyout. He almost gets the next batter to pop out in foul territory on a 100 mph offering, but still uses his heat to strike the batter out looking.

The third and final batter of the inning grounds the first pitch he sees to second base.

Righty Mason Koczwa takes the hill for the Panthers with the bases juiced and one out. Lawson reaches down for a ball below the zone for a seeing-eye single through the right side to plate a pair. Gators finally break back through.

A wild pitch allows another runner to cross, sending a man to second as well, and just like that the Gators get that three-run homer right back.

Surowiec draws a walk before Jacob Kendall pinch-hits for Kurland and pops out to the third baseman in foul territory. Strayer strikes out swinging on a ball in the dirt, ending the rally after three runners cross the plate.

FIU makes a defensive substitution at second base, as well as bringing in righty Bryce Turner into the game to pitch in the bottom of the seventh. Stanford takes eight pitches to draw a leadoff walk but Stripling pops up the first pitch he sees to second to give the Gators an out.

Myers draws a seven-pitch walk to give the Gators two on and one out, bringing up Jones. Ball in the dirt sends the runner to third, and with guys on the corners, Florida’s leadoff man slugs a line drive off a full-count pitch over the left field wall to plate three Gators — or so we thought. After several minutes of watching replays, the call is overturned: foul ball.

Oh well, Jones draws the walk and loads the bases, and out comes FIU’s coach for a meeting at the mound, resulting in a pitching change.

Lugo-Canchola gets the first batter out on a liner to first before serving up another line drive that gets just over the shortstop into left field for a base hit. Next batter drops an oppo fly inside the left field like for a double, putting a pair in scoring position with one out.

Sully comes out to the mound but leaves L-C in after some brief words. He has thrown 36 pitches so far and might be losing his touch, walking the next batter on four straight pitches. The lefty nibbles at the corners with his breaking ball before getting out No. 2 looking with a 90 mph fastball just below the zone.

A breaking ball in the dirt gets the swing for strike three on the next hitter, reaffirming Sully’s decision to stick with Lugo-Canchola.

Righty Clayton Sherwood is now in the game for FIU and serves up a leadoff single to Jones to open things up. Lawson erases that runner with a 4-6-3 double play, but Surowiec keeps things alive with a full-count, six-pitch walk; he takes second on a stolen base.

Kurland takes a full-count pitch fastball to the back, putting runners on first and second for Strayer, who walks on four straight pitches to load the bases and bring out FIU’s pitching coach for a few words. Whatever he said worked as Sherwood sent Cyr down swinging to end the threat.

The Panthers start off with a bloop single just behind the third baseman on Lugo-Canchola’s first offering, and on the very next pitch induces a soft grounder to first that was too soft to turn the double play, but still enough for the first out at second.

Florida’s southpaw battles the next batter to a full count before giving up a deep fly ball to left that the fielder fortunately has enough room to make the play in front of the warning track, and a popup in front of the plate to the catcher ends the inning.

Woodward comes out for more work in the bottom of the fifth and opens up with a soft line single to right off the bat of Strayer. Cyr drives the very next pitch to center to put runners at first and second with no outs, before a flyout to center by Stanford moves the runner over to third.

A Stripling sac fly to right gives the Gators their four-run lead back; two outs, a runner at first.

Myers goes down on three pitches, swinging at the third to end the fifth.

The nearly unhittable lefty Ernesto Lugo-Canchola enters the game with his nasty arsenal of pitches, and proceeds to allow a liner right up the middle after five pitches to keep FIU’s hopes alive. No worries, he gets the No. 9 batter to strike out swinging, nipping the rally in the bud.

Sandford is still in the game for Florida and immediately pumps his mid-90s fastball on the plate — but the ump did not think so, stealing a strike three from him before a missed pitch just on the inside corner gives FIU a leadoff walk. Two pitches later, the runner is erased on a liner to first that resulted in an unassisted double play.

Unfortunately, Sandford could not keep the Panthers down for too long, giving up a deep dinger down the left field line on the very next offering. His fastball is hitting 98 mph but his command is getting shakier; next batter reached on a walk after loading the count, bringing Sully out to replace him.

Jarek Woodward is now on the hill for FIU and proceeds to serve up a three-run home run on his first offering to Lawson, giving the Gators a solid four-run lead.

Surowiec strikes out on an 88 mph fastball low and away to put two outs on the board. Kurland drives a ball all the way to the wall, but there is just enough room for the right fielder to make the play, ending the rally after four runs score.

Cameron stays in the game for FIU and gets Stanford to pop up to the first baseman in shallow right on three pitches to get the first out. Stripling follows that with a liner down the right field line for a single and comes home on a double down the left field line by Myers.

Jones earns a base on balls and Myers steals third, putting runners on the corners with one out; FIU’s manager apparently had some beef with the call at third, but the runner was safe.

Sandford is back for another inning of work and continues to pump his mid-high 90s fastball around the zone, getting the leadoff hitter to pop out to the shortstop on the outfield grass. Next batter drives the right fielder back onto the warning track, but he is able to haul it in for out No. 2.

The righty’s slider is nothing to scoff at either, sitting in the low 90s, inducing swings-and-misses as well as the ground bal lto third that ends the inning 1-2-3.

A fly ball to deep left by Kurland opens up the bottom of the third and Strayer follows with a swinging strikeout. Cyr logs a three-pitch strikeout looking and the Gators go down in order.

Sandford comes in with runners at the corners and no outs, and the runner reaches third on a wild pitch. A 94 mph fastball sends down the first batter swinging, but a single up the middle ties the game with runners on the corners.

Florida’s hurler gets his heat up to 97 mph to get the next out swinging. Two outs and he comes back with more fire against the next hitter, eventually inducing a soft grounder back to him to end the rally.

Christian Rodriguez enters the game and surrenders a first-pitch home run that gets driven over the left field wall to reduce Florida’s lead to one. Then he hits the next guy on the foot on the first pitch he throws. Not a great start, C-Rod.

The righty proceeds to throw two straight balls outside, summoning Sanford to the mound to calm him down. It did not help much, as he served up a hard-hit single through the right side that allowed a runner to advance to third with no outs. Now Sully heads out to the mound; he eats a little time before taking the ball and bringing in righty Schuyler Sandford.

Another bloop single to center off the bat of Lawson — the third of the inning — brings the third runner across the plate, giving the Gators a two-run lead.

Alas, after nine pitches, Surowiec flies out to center to end the frame.

A lazy liner to left off the bat of Cole Stanford opens up the bottom of the second for the Gators with a hit and a runner on first; another softly hit ball by Landon Stripling to left results in another single as the left fielder just cannot corral the diving ball. Kolt Myers bunts them over a base with a successful bunt and FIU’s coach comes out to the mound.

Mlodzinski stays in and allows the first runner to cross the plate on a routine grounder to the shortstop by Jones; two outs, runner on third, and out comes the Panthers’ pitcher, giving way for right-hander Tracen Cameron.

Barlow opens up the inning with a groundout to second, but then allows a line drive single up the middle to put a runner on first; he gets the second out of the inning on a shallow fly ball on the right side with relative ease.

Next batter reaches on a single to center, putting runners are first and second with two outs. Barlow escapes unscathed with his third strikeout of the game swinging on the third pitch.

Another game, another leadoff hit for Kevin Jones, who grounds one right back up the middle for his seventh hit to open a game this season so far. Brendan Lawson launches a deep fly ball to center for the first out, but a wild pickoff throw allows Jones to scoot over third; he comes home on a balk to the next batter.

Ethan Surowiec then slugged a double into the left side gap to put the Gators back in scoring position before a hard-hit grounder to third gets Cade Kurland for out No. 2. An infield hit by Cash Strayer keeps the inning alive andputs runners on the corners, but Blake Cyr flies out to left to end the inning.

The Gators got some deja vu from the previous evening with Billy Barlow struggling, opening up by allowing a double before walking the next batter on four straight pitches. He manages to bounce back with a strikeout, but Kevin O’Sullivan still feels the need to visit the mound for an infield confernece.

Whatever Sully had to say did not do much as the next batter loads the bases with a walk. Bullpen is active as the Gators do not want to let this get out of hand early; run crosses on a fielder’s choice on a failed 6-4-3 double play on an overthrow to first. Runners at the corners, two outs.

Runner advances on defensive indifference before Barlow gets the strikeout to end the threat. But not until after throwing his 28th pitch of the inning.