In what was tabbed as a marquee pitching duel between two potential first-round talents, the series opener between No. 2 Florida and Georgia turned into an extra-innings affair that ultimately came down to production from the bullpen and a timely hit.
Georgia’s Nick King and Heath Holder answered the call.
With runners on first and second in the top of the 12th and no outs, King ripped a Brady Singer pitch to center field, scoring Stephen Wrenn from second base and sending the Bulldogs’ bullpen into a frenzy.
Holder then held the Gators scoreless in the home half of the inning to clinch the 2-1 series-opening victory on Thursday in front of an announced crowd of 3,256 at McKethan Stadium.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Florida (34-6, 11-5 Southeastern Conference) was held scoreless for the final 11 innings of the game, allowing Georgia (21-18, 7-9 SEC) to claim the opening game of the series for the second-consecutive season.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to score another run,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s disappointing.”
Florida’s A.J. Puk and Georgia’s Robert Tyler faced off on the mound to headline the three-game series.
The juniors took turns hurling fastballs over the middle of the plate, consistently pushing the mid-90s all night with the occasional throwing touching 97 and 98 mph early on.
Both lived up to the billing.
After allowing the first two hitters he faced to reach base, Puk retired 18-straight batters — one shy of UF’s season-high mark of 19 set by Alex Faedo against Harvard on March 12 — before giving up a pair of doubles in the seventh that tied the game at 1-1.
He struck out nine batters while giving up just three hits and the walk over 6.2 innings.
“He pitched his butt off today,” Schwarz said. “It just kind of sucks that we couldn’t pull this one off for him.”
Tyler matched Puk’s production.
The UGA righty gave up eight hits and one run — a first-inning RBI single from JJ Schwarz that plated Deacon Liput from second — in 8.1 innings of work. He struck out nine and walked just one during his time on the mound.
“He was throwing really firm and he was locating early,” Schwarz said. “That kind of screwed us up.”
Holder closed out the game and earned his first win of the season by striking out seven and surrendered just one hit over 3.2 scoreless innings. Frank Rubio earned the loss, dropping to 3-1 on the season.
Schwarz and Peter Alonso combined for five of Florida’s nine hits on the evening while six UF batters struck out at least twice.
Game 2 of the series is set to start at 7 p.m. Saturday. Logan Shore will draw the start for UF, and the game can be viewed on the SEC Network.
“We’ve just got to use (this loss) as momentum,” Schwarz said. “The game’s already over. We can’t change it, so we’ve just got to focus on tomorrow and Saturday.”
Contact Jordan McPherson at jmcpherson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
UF's A.J. Puk pitches during Florida's 8-4 win on Feb. 20, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.
