Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Deacon Liput swings during&nbsp;Florida's 10-4 loss to Mississippi State on April 9, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.</p>

Deacon Liput swings during Florida's 10-4 loss to Mississippi State on April 9, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.

Deacon Liput couldn’t play hero twice.

The freshman ripped a game-tying, RBI single when Florida was down to its last out in the ninth inning against Louisiana State early Thursday morning.

But in the 11th, UF squandered a bases-loaded, nobody out situation. Nelson Maldonado popped out and Liput lined a ball to LSU third baseman Chris Reid, who caught it and dove toward third base to finish the double play.

Florida’s luck didn’t change through 14 innings, as the fourth-seeded Gators (44-12) fell to the fifth-seeded Tigers 5-3 in a contest the lasted five hours and seven minutes, the longest game in Southeastern Conference tournament history.

UF will now play Alabama today in an elimination game about 30 minutes after the completion of Texas A&M-South Carolina, which started at 10:30 a.m.

Early on, everything Florida put in play fell for hits.

Two doubles off the bats of Jonathan India and JJ Schwarz opened the scoring before Buddy Reed tripled in a run to give UF a 2-0 lead. The Gators then loaded the bases before stranding all three runners, an early sign of what was to come.

A pitcher’s duel brewed for the next six innings.

LSU starting pitcher Alex Lange mowed Florida down, striking out 11 through seven innings of work. At one point, the sophomore whiffed eight of his last 12 batters.

Florida starting pitcher A.J. Puk turned in one of his best starts of the season, tossing a career-high 7.1 innings without allowing a run until the eighth.

That’s when LSU took advantage of UF catcher Mike Rivera’s error.

Antoine Duplantis doubled before Jake Fraley singled up the middle. Reed fired a strong throw home from center field, which caused Duplantis to stop at third. But when Fraley tried taking second on the play, Rivera threw wide of second to allow Duplantis to score.

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

Things got interesting on the very next play with Shaun Anderson in for Puk.

Kramer Robertson bounced a ball to UF shortstop Dalton Guthrie, who quickly flipped it home to try and nail Fraley at the plate. Rivera blocked the plate with his left foot and tagged Fraley on the head in time, but home plate umpire Jeff Head called him safe.

Replay angles clearly showed Fraley was out, but NCAA replay review rules are limited to determining home runs and fair or foul balls.  

LSU (41-17) then took a 3-2 lead on Bryce Jordan’s RBI single that scored Robertson.

In the ninth, Florida used replay review to overturn an important call.

Reed sliced a ball down the left field line that caromed off a diving Brennan Breaux’s glove just barely inside the foul line. The umpires originally called it foul but changed it upon replay and awarded Reed second.

Then with no outs, Rivera laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Reed to third. A few batters later, Liput tied the game at 3-3.

Florida wouldn’t find a clutch hit in extras, though.

The Gators had a runner in scoring position in the 11th, 12th and 13th innings. But Liput lined into the double play, a pinch-hitting Mike Fahrman popped out and Christian Hicks flew out to end each respective frame.

With the game creeping into the early hours of Thursday morning, LSU finally broke the tie with two runs in the 14th.

UF pitcher Dane Dunning allowed a runner before Kirby Snead entered for him. Snead fell behind 2-0 to Jordan Romero, who ripped an RBI single through the right side. Michael Byrne then replaced Snead but allowed a run on Cole Freeman’s single.

Contact Patrick Pinak at ppinak@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter at @Pinakk12

 

 

Deacon Liput swings during Florida's 10-4 loss to Mississippi State on April 9, 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.