GAME OVER
Franklin begins the ninth by giving up a single through the left side, giving the Tigers one on and no outs in the heart of their order. Franklin follows that with a walk after getting ahead of the batter 0-2. It's two on and no outs.
Franklin throws his sixth straight ball to go behind LSU's cleanup man 2-0, and O'Sullivan comes out to give him a pep talk. The batter, Matt Gaudet, hits a weak grounder to second base, and Figueroa tags the lead runner, and its runners at first and second with one out. A double play here ends it.
LSU sends in a pinch runner, and the crowd is a little quiet. Franklin's night is over.
Tony Davis comes in to face one batter, and he gets a ground ball to first base. Instead of getting an easy out, McArthur commits an error, loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate.
Davis' night is over as well, and Josh Edmondson comes in to replace him. Edmondson gets a grounder to third base, and Townsend steps on the bag to get one out, then throws to first but the throw goes wide. One run scores, and runners are on first and third.
Edmondson strikes out Ochinko, and ends the game. A good comeback attempt by the Tigers, but they just couldn't finish it off.
END EIGHTH
McArthur gets the eighth going with a fly out to right field, then den Dekker follows up with a single through the left side of the infield.
Buddy Munroe hits a very hard ball back to the pitcher, but because den Dekker was trying to steal, the second baseman was going toward the base and made the catch in the air. Then, all he had to do was tag out den Dekker for the easy double play. That was a hit if den Dekker didn't try to steal.
MID EIGHTH
Clint Franklin comes in to pitch the Tigers' half of the eighth inning for UF. Franklin sends Leon Landry down swinging to start it off, drawing wild applause from the crowd.
Nicholas Pontiff is the next batter, and he flies out to Pigott in right field. This game has gone from bleak to practically in the bag for UF.
Ninth-hole hitter DJ LeMahieu singles, but that's followed by a 4-3 ground out to end the inning. Three outs left for LSU, and they're in a bad way right now.
END SEVENTH
Martin's night is done for LSU, and the Gators must be thrilled. New pitcher Jared Bradford comes in instead.
Dustin Bamberg promptly takes a pitch over the right fielder's head for a double. Yeah, they like this guy more than Martin.
Townsend follows that up with a single through the left side, but UF doesn't send Bamberg home. He would have made it safe by a good margin considering the throw was way off line, but they play it safe and keep him from getting an out.
Brandon McArthur comes to the plate and then succeeds in becoming the third batter in a row to get a hit off Bradford. This one goes to the left side, and Bamberg scores easily. On the throw to third base, McArthur goes to second and Townsend is safe at third.
Now, we have a certifiable rally. Den Dekker gets an infield single off Bradford, scoring Townsend and putting McArthur on third. It's a tie game and there are no outs. A mound conference takes place and the crowd is going nuts. Comebacks are always exciting.
Buddy Munroe makes it five consecutive hits in a big way - the catcher laced a three-run homer to left field, giving UF a 7-4 lead. It's been a five-run inning, and Bradford is done.
In comes Jordan Nicholson, and he quickly records the first out of the inning, getting Avery Barnes to ground out to short. Pigott follows that with another UF single, the Gators' sixth hit of the inning.
Figueroa gets a lazy bloop single over the third baseman, and, since no one is covering third, den Dekker heads over there without a throw. It's runners on the corners with one out, and the Gators' seventh hit of the inning is a season-high.
That signals the end of Nicholson's night, as Nolan Cain comes in to pitch. Any pitcher named Nolan has got to be good. I would be scared if I was UF. But, then again, I would also be scared if I was Cain, as the Gators have been on fire this inning and Josh Adams is coming to the plate.
The Tigers try a pitch out as Figueroa steals second. The catcher makes the throw, but it goes into right field. Den Dekker scores and Figueroa goes to third on the error. That's ties a season-high of six runs in an inning for UF.
Bamberg takes a third strike for the second out of the inning, then looks to the umpire, confused as to whether that was the third strike or not. It was. Townsend ends the inning with a ground out to his counterpart at third (for the second time tonight), but the Gators do some damage and then some.
MID SEVENTH
Brandon McArthur starts the inning by making a great stab at first base, then running to the bag to get the runner out. With the very next pitch, Bullock gets a ground out to shortstop. That was his 99th pitch.
UF baseball sports information director John Hines announces over the press box "The next pitch will be Bullock's 100th." So, O'Sullivan comes out to talk to him. What does Bullock do with his 100th pitch? He makes it special, giving up a solo home run to LSU first baseman Matt Clark, his 11th of the year.
The next pitch goes deep to center field, but it's just a fly out. Still, the Gators didn't need that home run in a game where they only have two runs total.
END SIXTH
After a good back-and-forth at-bat, Pigott can't do anything and strikes out against Martin. I'm telling you, this guy has throw two bad pitches all night, and both went for UF home runs. Martin gets Figueroa to fly out to deep left field, and the shortstop just missed his second homer of the night.
Josh Adams then flies out to center field. The Gators are hitting it hard, just to the wrong place. They can't seem to get past Martin.
MID SIXTH
Another inning, another leadoff batter gets on. That's three of the last four innings, this time on a single. The Tigers move the runner to second base with a sac bunt, and they might be in business for a run. One hit, and their three-run lead could return.
Bullock then gets a line out and a ground out to end the inning. After a leadoff single, he does a great job with the next three batters. That was a very very quick inning.
END FIFTH
McArthur smacks a ball into left field, but, unfortunately for him, the LSU left fielder doesn't have to move to make the play. He couldn't have hit the ball much harder, but the defense was lined up perfectly for it. At least his contact was great.
Den Dekker, (whose terrible introduction music is "Leather So Soft" by Lil' Wayne) bats next, all the way at the eight spot in the order. When the Gators face lefties, they like to put Pigott in the top of the lineup to break the Barnes-den Dekker-Figueroa string of three straight lefties. Den Dekker does a great job off the lefty Martin anyway, driving a home run off the scoreboard in right field. Both UF runs have now come off solo homers.
Buddy Munroe grounds out to third, and then Barnes follows that with a pop out to shortstop. But UF makes a move on the lead and cuts it in half.
MID FIFTH
Bullock goes back to his finger-pointing ways, getting a pop out to third base to start the LSU fifth. However, he can't get anything with the next batter and instead walks him.
Matt Clark hits a ground ball just to Brandon McArthur's right at first base. McArthur dove to stop it, but couldn't get his glove down in time and it rolled through to the outfield. LSU has runners on first and third with two outs.
Bullock gets another fly out, this time to center field, and the ball is too shallow for LSU to try and score from third on the sac fly. The fans applaud as the ball comes home with no runner challenging den Dekker's arm.
An unassisted groundout to short ends the inning. The Gators are lucky to have escaped without the Tigers scoring in the inning.
END FOURTH
Pigott gets a slow roller to shortstop to start the inning, but the defender makes the play. Figueroa comes up next fresh off a home run in his last at-bat, but also fresher off an error that wound up costing UF two runs. Both runs were unearned, and I'm sure he'd like to make it up to the team with a hit here.
Instead, he gets under a pitch and flies out to center field. Adams is the next UF batter, and breaks a no-hit streak of nine batters - since Figueroa's homer. That's only the second hit of the night off Martin. He has really made only one mistake, and that was the home run. Other than that, Martin has been great.
Of course, right after I compliment Martin's pitching, Bamberg comes up and gets an infield single to put two runners on. There are two outs, which means it's UF's time to shine.
Townsend, who went 3 for 5 in each of his last two games, flies out to deep center field. The ball looked like it was going over the center fielder's head, but it fell early and the Gators' half-inning is over.
MID FOURTH
Bullock gets into another really long at-bat, this time at least seven pitches. After the seventh pitch, he gets the LSU batter to hit a ground ball to short. Figueroa, however, doesn't get his glove down and lets the ball roll into the error. Instead of one out, it's a runner on with no outs.
The next two batters for the Tigers go quietly, both flying out (one to left field and one to shortstop [Figueroa had no trouble with that one]). In the process, Bullock balks the runner at first over to second base.
Bullock faces LSU's No. 9 hitter next, and the Tiger gets an infield single on an incredibly high-bouncing ball to third base. Townsend gets under the ball and makes the play, but there's no way he can get the batter out at first base. The ball just bounced too high, and it results in LSU getting runners on first and third.
Helenihi steps up next, and gets a full count. The Tigers steal third second base, and then Helenihi fouls a pitch off to keep himself alive. The next pitch is just outside, and Bullock has loaded the bases. O'Sullivan comes out to talk to his pitcher, and Bullock stands there and nods.
The second pitch to Blake Dean goes over Barnes' head in left field for a double that scores two runs. Helenihi tried to score from first, but got thrown out at the plate. Bullock gets out of the inning, but not in the way he wanted to. The Tigers take a lead into the bottom of the fourth.
END THIRD
Matt den Dekker has been cold lately, and he continues that streak with a fly out to center field to start the Gators' third inning.
Catch Buddy "Best Music" Munroe is the next UF batter, and he hits two really hard foul balls to right field, then a softer pop up to foul territory. He's making good contact, just a little too late to get the ball in play. After two more fouls to right field, Munroe takes a strike on the inside corner of the plate. But he must have seen every pitch Martin has, and he'll be better in his second at-bat against him.
Barnes ends the inning with a bunt groundout to third base. The move did not at all catch LSU by surprise.
MID THIRD
Bullock continues where he left off last inning, giving up a leadoff single to LSU's No. 1 hitter, this one up the middle between his legs. That's four singles in five at-bats, and he does not look nearly as good as he did in the first inning.
The Tigers then pull a successful hit-and-run, sending the leadoff man, Schempf, to second while their No. 2 batter, Helenihi, grounds out to third base. The Tigers get a runner in scoring position with only one out.
Bullock then has his most composed at-bat of the game. LSU's Blake Dean went down 0-2, took a ball, and then fouled off three straight pitchers. Instead of getting frustrated about all the foul balls, Bullock stayed calm and struck him out on the next pitch. Dean was a particularly pesky mosquito, but Bullock successfully swatted him away.
The next batter, Gaudet, hits a single up the middle. Bullock can't quite get his glove on it as it rolls past him, smacks second base, and bounces slowly into the outfield. Schempf comes in to score, and the Gators' lead is gone.
Bullock does another great job maintaining his composure, striking out Matt Clark for the third out of the inning.
END SECOND
Dustin Bamberg, who Karl Hyppolite just called "the Gators' fourth-best pitcher," flies out to center field after hitting a foul ball. The ball looked good off the bat, but stayed in the park. The center fielder had just enough time to get under it.
Townsend quickly grounds out to his Tiger counterpart at third base, immediately inciting screams for Brandon McArthur. That was probably a total of 45 seconds for Townsend from leaving the on-deck area to going back into the dugout.
McArthur can't do much with his at-bat, improbably striking out after the count was initially 3-0. That has to be a disappointing at-bat for the senior.
MID SECOND
Bullock goes right back to the finger-pointing, getting a second pop-out to third base.
The next batter gets a pop up as well, but it falls in between Adams and a diving Pigott in right field. Unfortunately for the hitter, he decides to go to second base. Adams kept after the rolling ball, turned, and fired to Figueroa at second to get the out by a sizable margin.
Again, LSU pulls a ball into right field, but this one drops well in front of Pigott. Bullock has now allowed two consecutive hits, but he only has one man on base thanks to sloppy LSU base running.
Make that three singles in a row, putting runners on first and second. If not for the poor base running, the game would be tied.
This time, the ball lands safely in Pigott's glove instead of in front of him. That's three outs, and when that happens, the two teams switch sides. The Gators come up to the plate next, bringing Bamberg, Townsend and McArthur.
END FIRST
For the second home game in a row, Avery Barnes starts things off by going down swinging. Martin made him look silly, and Barnes' swing was pretty pathetic looking. Jonathan Pigott follows by swinging on the first pitch, making good contact but flying out to center field. The fans thought he had a hit, but LSU's center fielder made a great diving catch to prevent the hit.
Cole Figueroa follows that with his third home run of the year, a ball that no one thought would leave the park but just kept going. The fans made no noise when he made contact, but then they gradually realized that the ball might just get out of the park, and eventually it did, just over the left field fence. It was hardly a sure thing, but it just had enough. It was Figueroa's third of the year, and UF has scored in the first inning 13 of the last 24 games.
Josh Adams strikes out with a full count to end the inning looking on a very close pitch. Also worthy of note with Figueroa's home run: it was a two-out run.
MID FIRST
Billy Bullock is a pointing-up machine. Possibly his favorite thing to do is induce fly-ball outs just so he can thrust his finger in the air and help his defense locate the ball behind him.
With that said, the first two outs of the game come on pop ups to opposite sides of the infield. First, Jon Townsend catches one at third, and then Brandon McArthur gets one at first base. Both times, Bullock's hand rocketed into the air to help them find the ball.
Bullock hits the next batter, but makes up for it by striking out LSU's cleanup man, Matt Gradet.
PRE-GAME
The Gators (5-1 SEC) take on the LSU Tigers (2-4) tonight in the first game of a three-game series. Billy Bullock (2-2, 3.23 ERA) starts for the Gators against LSU's Blake Martin (1-1, 4.10). Dustin Bamberg, who has been hot both behind the plate and on the mound, is the teams' designated hitter for this one. Buddy Munroe is back behind the plate to catch for the Gators and right fielder Jonathan Pigott is back from his two-game flu-related absence.
It's a surprisingly hot afternoon today. UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan and LSU coach Paul Mainieri are taking forever to discuss the ground rules for this one, and we're already five minutes past the usual start time of 6:30. I'll get back to you when this one gets going.
