Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
<p>JJ Schwarz follows through on a swing during Florida's 2-1 loss to Mississippi State on April 10, 2016 at McKethan Stadium.</p>

JJ Schwarz follows through on a swing during Florida's 2-1 loss to Mississippi State on April 10, 2016 at McKethan Stadium.

Ryan Larson and JJ Schwarz had their chances at the plate.

With Florida down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth and the tying run on third, Larson stepped in to face South Carolina relief pitcher Tyler Johnson.

Johnson struck him out swinging.

And an inning before that, Schwarz battled at the dish with two outs and runners on second and third.

Johnson struck him out swinging as well.

The big hit never came for the No. 1 Gators (37-7, 14-6 Southeastern Conference), who fell to the No. 6 Gamecocks 2-1 Saturday night in Columbia to even the series.

“We just didn’t put together enough good at-bats,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We gotta be a little bit more consistent offensively.”

A day after Florida homered twice in the ninth inning to steal game one, South Carolina used a late-inning homer to win game two.

With the game knotted up at 1-1 in the seventh inning, Gene Cone pulled his hands in on a Kirby Snead fastball and yanked it down the right field line for a solo home run.

While the lefty-on-lefty matchup was ideal for UF, Snead threw a mistake inside to Cone, who made him pay.

“It came down to one pitch. We just didn’t locate,” O’Sullivan said.

Both starting pitchers, Florida’s A.J. Puk and USC’s Braden Webb, didn’t make many mistakes themselves.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

In the second inning, junior Buddy Reed lined a solo home run to right field to put the Gators ahead 1-0.  The blast was Reed’s fourth of the year and first since April 9.

South Carolina (34-9, 15-5 SEC) returned the favor in the bottom half.

Dom Thompson-Williams greeted Puk with a leadoff double before scoring on LT Tolbert’s RBI single up the middle.

From that point on, both teams struggled offensively.

Puk, who struck out 10 batters for a second straight start, held the Gamecocks to one run through six innings. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native threw a few warm-up pitches in the seventh before returning to the dugout after O’Sullivan and a team trainer visited him on the mound.

“I thought he threw well,” O’Sullivan said. “He gave us a chance.”

UF squandered those chances.

Against Webb, the Gators struck out seven times over 7.1 innings while mustering one run on five hits.

Florida didn’t fare any better against Johnson, who took over for Webb and struck out three of the six batters he faced to end the game.

O’Sullivan said he knew scoring would be scarce against South Carolina’s arms, but it wasn’t an excuse.

“When you give up two (runs) on the road over eight innings, you gotta figure out how to score three or four,” he said.

The Gators and Gamecocks will square off for the rubber match Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Sophomore Alex Faedo (8-1, 3.32 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for Florida.

A radio broadcast contributed to this report.

 

JJ Schwarz follows through on a swing during Florida's 2-1 loss to Mississippi State on April 10, 2016 at McKethan Stadium.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.