No. 3 Florida rode a 10-game win streak into its final home series against No. 15 Missouri on Friday.
The Tigers stopped it from becoming 11.
Behind a complete game by freshman right-hander Tori Finucane, Missouri (37-12, 13-6 Southeastern Conference) took a 5-3 win over Florida (41-9, 11-8 SEC) in Game 1 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
“I thought, definitely, she threw the ball well,” coach Tim Walton said. “They played well.”
Finucane (18-5, 1.73 ERA) fanned six Gators while walking only one en route to her 16th complete game of the season.
“It looked like she was throwing harder than pitchers we’ve seen recently and that twilight, it’s a tough spot to be in, especially late in the game” Walton said.
Added sophomore Taylore Fuller: “I mean, you’ve got to give credit to the pitcher occasionally. She was pitching her spots, had really good pitches and kept us on our toes.”
While Mizzou’s freshman made the most of her start, senior Hannah Rogers struggled in her 26th start of the season.
The UF right-handed pitcher gave up 10 hits and five runs, four of which were earned.
After Missouri scored two runs in the third inning and tacked on three more in the fifth, Florida attempted to rally late in the game.
Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh, third baseman Stephanie Tofft blasted a home run to left field to end Finucane’s shutout. After Lauren Haeger popped out to second base and Bailey Castro flied out to left field, Briana Little ripped a single up the left side to get to first base.
With the game on the line, Fuller came up to bat and hit a first-pitch home run to left-center field to cut Florida’s deficit to two.
But even with Tofft hitting her 10th home run of the season and Fuller her ninth, the Gators could not finish the rally, as sophomore Aubree Munro fouled out to the catcher to end the game.
UF will look to use its late-game surge as momentum heading into Game 2, which starts at 1 p.m.
“(The late rally) doesn’t keep us so far on a bottom step,” Fuller said. “We’re going to make our adjustments — those hits are critical in that kind of situation, and we’ll hopefully kind of feed off that.”
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
