With two outs and a 2-0 count in the third inning, Bailey Castro jumped on an inside fastball.
The senior crushed an RBI double to left field that drilled the bottom of the wall and gave Florida a 3-2 lead over Mississippi State.
The No. 3 Gators (31-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) didn’t trail after that and defeated the Bulldogs (24-9, 4-6 SEC) 3-2 on Friday night in Starkville, Mississippi.
Florida got on the board early in the top of the first inning when junior Kirsti Merritt crushed a solo home run off the scoreboard in left field to take a 1-0 lead. The Lake Panasoffkee, Florida, native’s eight homers are now second best on the team behind Lauren Haeger and Taylore Fuller, who both have nine homers.
In the bottom half of the frame, Bulldogs second baseman Julia Echols led off with a double over Castro’s head in right field.
Echols later came around to score when Alexis Silkwood ripped a 1-2 pitch from Lauren Haeger for a two-run double to left-center field that gave Mississippi State a 2-1 lead.
But the Gators answered back two innings later.
Justine McLean and Kelsey Stewart led off the top of the third inning with singles before freshman Kayli Kvistad drove in McLean to tie the game with a ground ball to the shortstop that the Bulldogs couldn’t turn a double play on.
Kvistad finished the game 0-3 with one RBI. Her 21 RBIs are fourth best on the team.
After Kvistad’s at-bat, Castro stepped to the plate and drove in Stewart with the double to left field. The Pembroke Pines, Florida, native finished the game 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks.
“Everybody in our lineup, it seems like to me that when they have a bad day, somebody else will pick them up,” coach Tim Walton said in a release.
In the circle, Lauren Haeger cruised after the two runs she allowed in the first inning. The senior from Peoria, Arizona, tossed all seven innings and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts as she improved to 14-0.
“I counted probably three mistakes, maybe four at the most,” Walton said. “When you can do that against a good hitting team like Mississippi State, it says a lot about her command today.”
Game 2 of the series between the Gators and Bulldogs will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
Bailey Castro bats during Florida’s 6-0 win against Jacksonville on Feb. 19, 2014, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
