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a night when offensive highlights were at a premium in Alex Box
Stadium, it was the top-ranked Gators who struck early and came
away with a 1-0 victory over No. 8 LSU.
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Florida (17-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) made the most of
another solid start from righty Hudson Randall (3-0), and
capitalized off of early control issues by LSU (16-3, 0-2 SEC)
freshman starter Kevin Gausman.
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“You don’t see many 1-0 shutouts down here at LSU, so we’re proud
of what we were able to do, and obviously the players deserve all
the credit,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
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Randall lasted 6.2 scoreless innings, scattering eight hits and
throwing 91 pitches. The righty kept LSU’s batters off balance
before he was pulled in the seventh.
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Gausman was nearly as effective for the Tigers, but a rough start
to the first cost the freshman, as the Gators quickly put a run on
the board.
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The freshman walked shortstop Nolan Fontana to leadoff the game,
then gave up an RBI double to left fielder Daniel Pigott, who kept
up his hot start with a 2-for-4 effort Saturday night.
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“[Pigott]’s been hot for us,” O’Sullivan said. “You never know
which run is going to be the one that helps you or hurts you in the
end.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">“I
didn’t believe a 1-0 lead was going to hold up throughout the game,
but it did today.”
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Pigott’s RBI would prove to be enough for Florida, as Randall, Greg
Larson and Nick Maronde combined for the shutout and the Gators
clinched a series victory to open SEC play.
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While scoring was scarce, LSU had a handful of opportunities, but
couldn’t capitalize against Florida’s trio of arms Saturday night.
The Tigers were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and
stranded 10 base runners for the game.
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LSU’s final opportunities to plate a run came in the seventh and
eighth innings. Randall allowed two batters to reach with two outs
in the bottom of the seventh before Larson entered from the
bullpen. The reliever promptly hit Trey Watkins to load the bases
before escaping the jam by inducing a groundout.
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Then in the eighth, Larson allowed Mike Mahtook to reach on a
single before Maronde was called upon to record his first save of
the season.
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Despite struggling with location while walking the first LSU batter
he faced, the lefty struck out the final four batters to end the
game.
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The teams will take the field again for the series finale this
afternoon at 1. Freshman Karsten Whiston will toe the rubber for UF
as the Gators try to sweep the Tigers.
