TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State (19-13) allowed just two hits and struck out 14 hitters in a 5-0 shutout victory against No. 23 Florida (21-12) Tuesday night at Dick Howser Stadium. Conner Whittaker (1-1) earned his first career win with 3.2 innings out of the bullpen.
Jonah Scolaro took to the mound for his second career start for FSU, with his previous start also coming against the Gators in 2019. In 3.1 innings pitched, the senior struck out five Florida batters, a season high.
Florida State scored all five runs in the first inning, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from Alex Toral and Brock Mathis. Brett Roberts, James Tibbs and Logan Lacey followed with singles for a 5-0 lead.
Nick Pogue (1-2) lasted just 0.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits.
After loading the bases in the second inning, FSU tallied just one more hit – a Tibbs single in the fifth inning.
Florida’s best threat to get on the board came in the fourth inning, when Scolaro exited on a 2-2 count with one out and two runners on base. Whittaker struck out Kendrick Calilao, walked Josh Rivera to load the bases and got Mac Guscette to fly out to end the inning.
After the walk, Whittaker retired nine straight batters before a two-out single against the shift in the seventh inning. That was Florida’s last baserunner – Whittaker struck out Deric Fabian to end the seventh, Wyatt Crowell pitched a perfect eighth inning and Davis Hare closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Crowell and Hare both struck out two batters.
FSU struck out 14 batters Tuesday – a season-high five for Scolaro, a career-high five for Whittaker and two each from Crowell and Hare.
