ORLANDO - FSU may have been billed as the big midweek in-state rival for UF, but you would never know it from the crowd that turned out at Jay Bergman Field to watch Central Florida take on the Gators.
A record crowd of 2,758 witnessed UF (11-7, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) come away with a 7-3 win.
Freshman right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (1-0, 5.02 ERA) got the start and pitched five innings, allowing just 1 run in his first college win. The power pitcher stayed in the strike zone all night, throwing first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 23 batters he faced while striking out four.
"I always try to strike people out and challenge people," he said.
DeSclafani worked out of a jam in the bottom of the second inning after Central Florida (7-12) put runners on first and third with no outs on back-to-back singles by Beau Taylor and Kiko Vazquez. DeSclafani responded by striking out the next batter and getting the second out on a pop-up to catcher Buddy Munroe. Josh Adams, who recently moved to shortstop from third base, made a strong defensive play on a line drive to record the final out.
The Gators were the first team to light up the scoreboard, striking with 3 runs in the top of the third inning. Matt den Dekker drove in the game's first run after a single chased home third baseman Clayton Pisani. Adams was next up and promptly took what would be the last pitch from Central Florida starter Bryan Brown (0-3, 11.57 ERA) off the left-field wall for a 2-run double.
Though UF scored 7 runs, coach Kevin O'Sullivan said his team is still missing opportunities at the plate.
"A strikeout is one thing, but a strikeout with runners in scoring position is something that hurts us," he said.
The Knights plated their first run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to the Gators' chronic infield defense problem. With two outs and nobody on, second baseman Jerico Weitzel and Adams booted consecutive ground balls before Austin Smith singled home an unearned run. Weitzel did his best to redeem himself, making a diving snag on a hard-hit ground ball and nailing the runner at first for the third out of the inning.
"Pitching and defense are our two big things, and we have to do a better job of it," said Pisani, who committed an error of his own.
Orlando native Clint Franklin came in to replace DeSclafani after Taylor led off the bottom of the sixth with a line-drive single to right field.
The bullpen held the lead and the offense tacked on 2 more runs in the seventh when Pisani drove in Daniel Pigott and Riley Cooper with a double down the third-base line, putting UF ahead 5-1.
The Gators scored 2 insurance runs in the eighth, and junior Tony Davis gave UF 1 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball before turning the ball over to Billy Bullock in the ninth. Bullock surrendered a two-out solo home run to Central Florida designated hitter Brandon Romans, his sixth of the season, before shutting the door on the victory.
