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Following its hottest start in five seasons (14-0), No. 5 Florida dropped its first game in 370 days Saturday night. The Gators carried a 20-game winning streak into Tallahassee where they lost to in-state rival No. 16 Florida State 7-2.

In the latter matchup of a home-and-home series, the Seminoles sought revenge following Florida’s shutout victory at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium Friday.

After hurling 23 consecutive shutout frames to begin the season, Florida southpaw Katie Chronister ran into trouble in the bottom of the second inning. The Gainesville native surrendered five earned runs without recording an out before senior right-hander Natalie Lugo entered the circle in relief. A leadoff double led to a single before a nine-pitch walk loaded the bases for FSU shortstop Josie Muffley.

Chronister threw a wild pitch, which broke her perfect ERA, before Muffley laid down a squeeze bunt to open up a two-run Florida State lead. Subsequent extra-base hits plated three more runs to grant the Seminoles a 5-0 advantage heading into the third inning. Chronister struggled to command the location of her pitches out of the gate as she threw only 22 strikes on 40 pitches.

Florida State pitcher Kathryn Sandercock cruised through the Gators’ lineup the first time through; Sandercock tossed three scoreless innings and struck out five batters until a hiccup in the top of the fourth broke the shutout. A pair of Florida singles led to freshman catcher Emily Wilkie’s RBI-double. Three batters later, UF shortstop Sarah Longley poked a sacrifice fly into foul territory in right field; third baseman Charla Echols beat the throw home to cut the deficit to 5-2.

But Lugo conceded two unearned insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, which secured the Seminoles’ revenge win and placed Florida in the loss column for the first time in over a year.

Final (R-H-E)

No. 5 UF: 2-6-1

No. 16 FSU: 7-8-2

Pitching Decision

Win: Sandercock (5-1)

Loss: Chronister (5-1)

Individual Stats

LHP Chronister: 1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (1.52/0.61 season ERA/WHIP)

RHP Lugo: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (1.28/0.95)

1B Lindaman: 1-2, 1 BB (.308/.471/.564 season slash line)

3B Echols: 2-3, 1 R (.419/.500/.767)

C Wilkie: 1-3, 1 RBI (4), 1 2B (.250/.455/.563)

CF Lindsey: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI (11) (.463/.489/.683)

Next Up

The Gators will return to Gainesville ahead of a Wednesday night non-conference tilt against Kennesaw State.