When the game started, the Rowdy Reptiles were a group of 20. When Vickash Ramjit had a chance to win it in the ninth, there were 13. And when Georgia Southern finally won it three innings later, only 10 remained.
A season-low crowd of 2,759 saw the No. 17 Gators (3-2) lose an 8-7 contest to the Eagles (3-1) in 12 innings at McKethan Stadium.
The crowd that grew quieter and smaller with each extra frame saw 15 runs, 21 hits and six UF errors.
Sophomore right-hander Ryan Harris walked in the winning run in the top of the 12th.
“[On Wednesday night], we didn’t play well at all,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
Florida fell behind by five runs early but fought its way back to grab a late lead. After their rally, the Gators had three chances to win their fourth-straight game.
Closer Johnny Magliozzi was one strike away from his third save of the season. He had been unhittable in his previous two outings.
The sophomore had cleanup hitter T.D. Davis down in the count 0-2 with a runner on second.
Davis sawed off a signature Magliozzi curveball in between third base and shortstop for the game-tying RBI.
Ramjit could have been the hero in the bottom half of the inning.
The bases were loaded with two outs and a tied score in the bottom of the ninth.
The senior struck out on an inside curveball to bring the game into extra innings.
Florida played its first free baseball since defeating N.C. State 9-8 in 10 frames on June 10 to reach the College World Series last season.
Freshman Kevin Stypulkowski watched a fastball down the middle for the third strike with runners on first and second and two outs in the 11th.
Stypulkowski entered midway through the ninth after starting catcher Taylor Gushue twisted his ankle sliding into second on a stolen base in the seventh.
Florida had four errors and a five-run deficit heading to the bottom of the fifth.
Following an opening weekend series during which they committed eight errors, the Gators added six more on Wednesday.
Georgia Southern, three days removed from taking two of three against Georgia, took advantage of Florida’s miscues.
Third baseman Josh Tobias and shortstop Richie Martin booted groundballs, and Harrison Bader had a throwing error, leading to three Eagles runs.
“That’s not really Gators baseball,” second baseman Casey Turgeon said.
“No one likes six errors out there. We have some work to do and we’ll put this one behind us. We’ll be ready for this weekend.”
Florida hosts Florida Gulf Coast for a three-game series starting Friday.
Although the Gators had their worst performance to date, the young team enjoyed a few bright spots.
Justin Shafer hit his first career home run with a game-tying three-run blast in the fifth and threw a career-high four innings in his second college start.
Left-hander Corey Stump pitched a career-best two scoreless innings in extras.
Every starter recorded a hit except Zack Powers.
“It’s a tough loss,” Shafer said. “We are going to hate to lose, but we battled, and we came back. Just came up a little bit short.”
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Sophomore Justin Shafer swings during Florida’s 16-5 win against Duke on Sunday at McKethan Stadium.
