Okeechobee grad Jonathon Crawford pitches Gators past Louisiana State 7-0

GAINESVILLE — Gators pitcher Jonathon Crawford was wild, but still managed to shut down No. 12 LSU as No. 1 Florida beat the Tigers 7-0 on Friday night before f 5,793, the third-largest crowd in McKethan Stadium history. "It's exactly what we needed," Florida catcher Mike Zunino said. "A couple got away from him, but he was throwing his slider and fastball really well." Crawford, a sophomore from Okeechobee High School, delivered his best performance of the season for the Gators (25-6, SEC) while filling in for injured starter Hudson Randall, who is out with a sore arm. He threw six scoreless innings but struggled a bit with his control. Crawford walked two, hit two batters and threw two wild pitches. He struck out four and allowed just three hits by the Tigers (). "I used to be wild, so I guess that came back, but I just tried to keep my team in it," Crawford said. Prior to Friday night, Crawford (3-1) had pitched eight times, including six starts. He threw five shutout innings in starts against Central Florida and Vanderbilt. Florida's hitters hammered LSU starting pitcher Kevin Gausman, a projected first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, for five earned runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Gausman was 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA heading into the game. Florida took an early 2-0 lead on Zunino's two-out, two-run double to right field in the bottom of the third inning. Zunino, the 2011 SEC Player of the Year, went 3-for-5 with three RBI and is hitting .351 this season. The Gators added four more runs while sending nine batters to the plate in the seventh. They scored on an error by LSU left fielder Raph Rhymes, got a two-run single from Nolan Fontana and an RBI double by Boca Raton's Taylor Gushue. Florida has won eight of its past 10 meetings with LSU dating back to 2009. The team is now 12-5 against ranked opponents this season. The Gators end their series with LSU (24-7) today at 4 p.m., then visit No. 2 Florida State on Tuesday.