Gaels right-handed reliever Connor Linchey entered in the bottom of the third inning.
Down four runs, St Mary’s head coach Eric Valenzuela preemptively decided to use his bullpen arm.
The decision paid off.
Linchey pitched seven innings against the Gators and surrendered just three runs on five hits. As the graduate student continued to navigate Florida’s lineup, the Gaels offense tacked on seven runs throughout the middle innings to take a late lead.
The lead was preserved when Linchey pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the final outs of the contest.
The No. 4 Florida Gators (9-5) lost to the St. Mary’s Gaels (9-5) 9-7 Saturday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark.
Coming off a 12-run performance from the night before, Florida’s bats were hot early on.
The Gators jumped out to a one-run lead due to a RBI single from junior right fielder Ty Evans in the first inning. Sophomore second baseman Cade Kurland added on with a three-run home run in the second to make it a 4-0 ballgame.
However, for the first time in the young season, Florida failed to preserve its lead.
Freshman right-hander Liam Peterson was dealing early on but lost his touch in the fourth inning.
Peterson surrendered back-to-back home runs to senior designated hitter Nathan Chong and freshman left fielder Brian Duroff. The blasts made it a 4-2 ballgame, and St. Mary’s quickly tied it up with a disastrous fifth inning from Florida’s bullpen.
Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan hasn’t shown much trust in any of his relievers. He’s maintained a short leash for his pitchers several times this season, taking players out after only one batter at times. However, he decided to stick it out with a pair of bullpen arms in the fifth inning.
Redshirt junior right-hander Blake Purnell entered the fifth after Peterson put his first two runners on. Purnell surrendered three singles, and the bases cleared after a throwing error by infielder Armando Albert, who was playing third for the first time this season.
O’Sullivan took the right-hander out, but the bleeding didn’t stop there.
Freshman right-hander Grayson Smith lasted just two batters and recorded an out on an RBI fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning.
Florida’s skipper elected to go to two more freshman right-handers, Alex Philpott and Luke McNeillie, who surrendered three runs in the seventh inning off a pair of home runs.
The Gators gained some ground and scattered a pair of runs in the middle innings off a solo home run from Colby Shelton and a two-run shot from Luke Heyman.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop Linchey.
The Gaels reliever lasted until the ninth inning and retired the final three batters for the win.
Florida will decide its weekend series in a rubber match against the Gaels at 1 p.m. Sunday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
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Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
