Not many Florida fans were around to see Austin Langworthy take the mound in the top of the ninth inning.
Those who did saw the game’s would-be hero allow three earned runs in the final inning, which his team entered with a two-run lead.
The offensive slugfest between the Gators and Florida Atlantic dragged on for nearly four hours, but a four-run ninth inning by the Owls powered them to win a game that Florida led most of the way.
The Gators’ six-game winning streak in midweek games came to an end with a 13-11 loss to FAU on Tuesday night in Gainesville.
“The little things are getting us,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “All we can do is continue to work and get better. I know it sounds cliché, but at the end of the day we have to figure it out.”
Langworthy shouldered much of the offensive load for the Gators. He finished a double shy of the cycle and had a career-high six RBIs, in part due to a grand slam he smashed in the second inning.
“(He’s) swinging the bat great, swinging the bat like we hoped he had swung it this year,” O’Sullivan said of Langworthy.
But he couldn’t close on the mound.
He was moved back to left field after allowing a game-tying RBI triple to FAU’s third baseman Joe Montes. Nick Pogue — the seventh pitcher of the game for UF — relieved Langworthy and allowed the go-ahead run when FAU catcher Pedro Pages hit a two-run single to left field.
Langworthy led off in the ninth with a walk, but Florida failed to muster a hit and ultimately left him on base.
Langworthy’s second-inning grand slam put the Gators up 5-1, but Florida nearly blew the lead in the fourth inning off miscues.
First, the Owls (28-12) scored on a David Luethje balk, then a wild pitch and then a passed ball. When the inning ended, UF held just a 5-4 lead.
The Gators (26-17) countered with a two-run home run by right fielder Wil Dalton in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead to 7-4.
FAU rallied in the fifth inning without any of the help it encountered in the fourth. The Owls loaded the bases for designated hitter Bobby Morgensen, who hit a grand slam to right field to take an 8-7 lead.
Langworthy tied the game at 8 in the bottom of the inning with an RBI triple.
Florida bagged two runs in the seventh on Langworthy’s RBI and a Dalton groundout and held a 10-8 lead heading into the eighth inning, where both teams added a run.
Outfielder Kendrick Calilao scored what looked like an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single.
The Owls had four more runs in them, however. Langworthy's three earned runs were the first he conceded all season long, albeit in limited innings.
FAU also exhausted its bullpen using seven pitchers of its own, and it was Zach Schneider, who threw the final 1.2 innings without allowing a run, who earned the win.
Christian Flint started in place of shortstop Brady McConnell. O’Sullivan said McConnell’s quad was “bothering” him but the move to hold him out was purely precautionary. Langworthy took McConnell’s place in the leadoff spot.
Florida outhit Florida Atlantic 21-13. But that ninth-inning collapse and 11 walks soured the offensive outburst.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org
Designated hitter Nelson Maldonado hit 3 for 5 in the Gators' loss to FAU. He is batting .338 on the year. That mark is third best on the team among players with at least 50 at bats.
