MIAMI - For five innings, Eric Erickson was invincible.
Miami's starting pitcher sent the first 15 UF batters back to the dugout in order, bending the Gators' lineup to his will with six strikeouts, four fly outs and five ground outs, and he seemed well on his way to a perfect game.
Then, suddenly, he lost his magic. In the sixth and seventh innings, he gave up four hits and four runs, including a two-run homer to UF right fielder Jonathan Pigott, and left the game to applause from the crowd at Mark Light Stadium.
"My rhythm wasn't the same as it was the first five," Erickson said. "We had a big offensive sixth, so I think that made me sit too long and threw my rhythm off a little bit."
Still, his efforts in the first half of the game were more than enough, as the Hurricanes (4-0) handed the Gators (5-1) their first loss of the season, 8-4.
Erickson said it wasn't a special night for him at all, and UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan knew that scoring early was going to be a key.
"We knew going into the game that if we were going to fight from behind against Erickson it was going to be a long night," O'Sullivan said.
Erickson garnered respect from the UF batters as well.
"Eric has three great pitches that he commands very well," said UF catcher Hampton Tignor, who broke up the no-hitter with a double in the top of the sixth inning. "He can throw his fastball, curveball, changeup for a strike whenever he wants. He gets ahead of hitters and he has great composure on the mound. He doesn't let stuff rattle him."
Tignor's double ended a streak of batting futility for the Gators. The catcher faced Erickson twice, and also went to high school with Erickson in Sarasota.
"I caught him for a long time and I knew what kind of stuff he had," Tignor said. "Eric threw a great game, and I just looked for a fastball away, and I got it."
Erickson's opposition, UF's Kyle Mullaney (0-1, 9.82 ERA), had a better outing than his first of the season, going 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and striking out four. Only one of the six runs charged to Mullaney - all from the second inning - only one was earned.
"(He's) not as sharp as we'd hoped," O'Sullivan said. "He made some big pitches when he needed to, but in the end, that breaking ball is not as sharp as it was and we need to get back next week and get that thing as sharp as it was."
The Gators only had three errors coming into Friday night's game, but they managed add two more their total with an error from shortstop Cole Figueroa and second baseman Clayton Pisani.
Without those, UF might have been in the game even with Erickson's early dominance.
Reliever Clint Franklin came in to clean up in the fifth inning, and retired eight Hurricanes in a row after giving up a double.
"Most of those outs that I had were people making plays for me," Franklin said. "Pigott made a diving catch in right. … I can't take all the credit for that."
The Gators failed to get a leadoff man on base the entire game, which O'Sullivan saw as the key to the loss.
"We could not get anything going offensively at all," O'Sullivan said.
Even when the Gators broke up the no-hitter, O'Sullivan wasn't happy.
"That really wasn't my concern," O'Sullivan said. "My concern was trying to get back in the ball game. … There's no more satisfaction without getting a no-hitter."
