Any momentum No. 1 Florida got from Friday night’s shutout victory against No. 12 LSU went by the wayside in Saturday’s series finale.
The Gators (25-7, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) blew a five-run lead against the Tigers (25-7, 8-4 SEC) en route to an 8-7 loss — their fifth in the last seven games.
“You go up five runs early, you can let up,” shortstop Nolan Fontana said. “This is college baseball.”
Florida jumped out to the early lead after roughing up LSU righty Ryan Eades. The Gators tagged Eades for seven runs in the first three innings, including four in the third inning.
UF put two across in the first thanks to Preston Tucker’s 60th career double, which moved him to within one of tying Mark Ellis’ school record of 61, and an error by LSU center fielder Jared Foster. Daniel Pigott pushed another run across the plate in the second with an RBI groundout, and Nolan Fontana’s career-high sixth home run of the season — a three-run shot to right field — capped Florida’s four-run third inning that gave it a 7-2 lead.
However, LSU responded in the fourth. Florida puts an emphasis on limiting “rebound runs” — runs surrendered the inning after scoring a run on offense — but Saturday, the Gators couldn’t stop the bleeding.
The Tigers put up a three spot in the fourth off Florida reliever Steven Rodriguez, who was in the game after Karsten Whitson exited two batters into the second inning. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Whitson, who was making his first home start since February, was fine. However, Florida’s bullpen wasn’t.
After Rodriguez gave up three in the fourth, righty Greg Larson surrendered a pair in the seventh and Florida allowed the tying run to score on an Austin Maddox wild pitch.
“We had a five-run lead,” O’Sullivan said. “When you give a team momentum like that, the game kinda swung a little bit. It is what it is.”
While LSU began to rally at the plate, the Tigers’ bullpen got things going on the mound. Three LSU relievers combined to pitch six scoreless innings, limiting UF to just one hit and retiring 18 of the 20 batters they faced. Lefty Brent Bonvillain led the way, tossing four scoreless frames and striking out five.
"I didn't think our approach versus their lefty was good,” O’Sullivan said. “Credit their left-hander, he threw the ball good, but he was basically throwing to one side of the plate versus our lefties … We just didn't have good at-bats."
The Tigers pushed the go-ahead run across the plate in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from catcher Ty Ross, and the Gators weren’t able to respond, ending a frustrating day, series and nine-day stretch that saw the team drop five of seven, including two weekend series losses and an embarrassing loss against North Florida.
“We can’t quite piece it all together,” Tucker said. “We’ve just got to keep at it and hopefully if we’re pitching well, we’ve got to start hitting well and piece some things together and come away with a few wins.”
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
Steven Rodriguez
