Anthony DeSclafani headed to the dugout in the sixth inning after giving up his first hit of the night and could only watch as the bullpen gave the game away.
Behind a 6-run sixth inning, Florida Atlantic upset UF 7-6 on Wednesday at McKethan Stadium.
Junior Tony Davis was the first reliever out of the bullpen for the Gators (6-4) in the sixth and entered with the bases loaded and one out. After striking out the first batter he faced, Davis allowed 2 runs to score on a passed ball and a wild pitch - both with two strikes on the batter.
UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan turned to another veteran pitcher in Billy Bullock after a walk by Davis. But Bullock wasn't able to stop the bleeding either, allowing two singles to drive in three 3 runs, and he balked home the sixth run of the inning before getting the final out.
"We were one strike away from getting out of the inning," O'Sullivan said. "Then, we had a passed ball, we had a wild pitch, we had a balk. (Those are) things you don't necessarily see from older pitchers, but it was very frustrating.
"It's not what you hope to see from older pitchers, but that's what happened tonight."
The Gators were able to respond to the Owls' big inning with a 2-run inning of their own to tie the game at 6.
Following two walks by Bullock to start the seventh inning, O'Sullivan turned to his staff's ace, Patrick Keating, to end the threat, and he did just that, stranding the two Florida Atlantic runners.
Keating could not keep the Owls off the board entirely, though, as he allowed a run off a sacrifice fly in the eighth that gave the Owls a 7-6 lead.
While Keating relinquished the lead, he did not get any help from the Gators' hitters.
In both the eighth and ninth innings, UF had two runners on base but were unable to get them in.
The team's best chance to win came in the ninth, when it had runners on first and second with no outs, but the next three batters went down in order - including a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Brandon McArthur with no outs.
"It's always the ninth inning that is magnified, but we had a runner at third with less than two outs with (Mike) Mooney up (in the third inning), and we didn't drive him in," O'Sullivan said.
The Gators took a 4-0 lead in the fifth off a 3-run home run from Matt den Dekker, his first of the season. They will need him to build off that and get out of his slump to give them another proven bat in their lineup that is able to get crucial hits.
UF has struggled to hit with runners in scoring position this season, and it was an issue again Wednesday. The team left five runners in scoring position.
"We got to have that big hit in late innings," den Dekker said. "Someone has got to step up and come through, and it didn't happen tonight."
Although the bullpen could not hold the lead, DeSclafani recovered from a poor showing in his first start Feb. 25 when he gave up 5 runs in three innings of work.
He worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out seven Wednesday.
"I really wanted to get back out there today and redeem myself," DeSclafani said. "I worked ahead more and kept (the hitters) off-balance."
