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<p>Karsten Whitson pitches during UF’s 5-0 win against USF on Feb. 20, 2011.&nbsp;</p>

Karsten Whitson pitches during UF’s 5-0 win against USF on Feb. 20, 2011. 

Six hundred twenty nine days separated Karsten Whitson’s last two victories.

The Gators’ redshirt junior last recorded a victory in Florida’s 10-inning, 9-8 win against NC State in the 2012 NCAA Super Regionals. Whitson recorded two outs in relief.

His latest victory was more substantial.

In the third start of his return to college baseball following a shoulder surgery in the spring of 2013, Whitson showed that he still had the arm that guided him to a top-10 pick in the 2010 MLB Draft and a 2.40 ERA in his first season with the Gators, tossing five shutout innings in No. 25 Florida’s (6-5) 4-0 victory against Florida Gulf Coast (6-6) Saturday night at McKethan Stadium.

“I felt good,” Whitson said. “It felt good to put up some zeros consecutively.”

Whitson’s two previous outings showed him slowly building up his arm. He pitched five innings total and struggled with his command. He surrendered five runs in those five frames, striking out three total batters while walking the same amount.

But coach Kevin O’Sullivan gave him some room to move on Saturday, and Whitson rewarded him with the one of the Gators’ best outings of the young season.

In his five scoreless innings, the Chipley native surrendered only one hit.

“It was good to get Karsten through five,” O’Sullivan said. “I think his confidence level has continued to grow. I think he feels better each time out.”

At first, it looked like Whitson might not be long for the game. He gave up a single and hit a batter in the first inning before falling behind 3-1 to Eagles cleanup hitter Kevin Young. But Whitson set the tone for the rest of the night, inducing an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play.

“Two-seam fastball, trying to get a ball down, trying to get him to hit the ball on the ground” Whitson said. “He did, so it worked for me right there.”

Whitson’s velocity on his fastball was as good as it has been all season. The 6-foot-4 right-hander consistently threw his four-seam fastball 91-93 mph. In his first start, he sat around 88-90 mph.

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His two-seam fastball looked good, sitting between 87-89 mph with late movement.

However, that movement came back to bite him a couple times. Whitson walked two batters and hit two others during the game. Of the 65 pitches he threw, 37 were strikes.

But despite some struggles with command, Whitson’s night was a success.

“We needed that from him after his first two starts,” pitcher Aaron Rhodes said. “I thought he threw really well.”

Whitson and Rhodes were a formidable duo on Saturday. After Whitson’s five innings, Rhodes provided four innings of scoreless relief while striking out four FGCU batters.

The Gators needed some longevity from their arms. In the first two games of the double round-robin tournament against Florida Gulf Coast and Illinois, Florida used 10 different pitchers in two straight losing efforts.

Whitson and Rhodes provided some much-needed stability as the Gators prepare for the final game of the tournament against the Illini (5-4) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Florida will start 6-foot-7 freshman A.J. Puk, who will look to continue the trend Whitson started.

“We need to get better starts out of our starters,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve been going to the bullpen in the fourth inning, it seems like, with a lot of our starters, and it’s hard to get into a flow.”

Follow Adam Lichtenstein on Twitter @alichtenstein24

Karsten Whitson pitches during UF’s 5-0 win against USF on Feb. 20, 2011. 

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