The Florida baseball team finally won an SEC road game on Thursday night.
The Gators hung 16 runs on No. 14 LSU in the series opener behind 20 hits. A late comeback brought the Tigers to a 16-9 defeat, but UF made a statement in arguably its biggest win of the season.
Unfortunately for Florida, that performance was not sustainable. The Gators rolled over in their next two games, as they often have on the road, to drop a fourth-straight conference road series, dating back to 2018.
UF (26-16, 7-11 SEC) was outscored by 21 runs in the last two games. The series loss dropped Florida’s road record to 3-9.
Tommy Mace was UF’s best pitcher, earning his seventh win of the season after throwing seven innings and striking out nine batters while allowing four runs on 10 hits.
Florida held a 10-run lead when the bullpen took over.
Hunter Ruth and Kirby McMullen surpassed Mace’s earned run total in the two combined innings they threw, yielding five runs to LSU to make the score a bit more respectable.
In total, the bullpen allowed 15 earned runs on 22 hits in 13.1 innings. Florida’s other two starters did not fare well against the Tigers, either.
Christian Scott took the mound on Friday night and allowed five runs on six hits in 3.2 innings. He also walked three batters and struck only one out.
Jack Leftwich returned to the bump for the first time since March 31 to start on Saturday. His return didn’t last long. LSU shelled Leftwich for six runs in one inning pitched.
Tyler Dyson later came in for relief, his first appearance out of the bullpen all season. The junior, who began the season as the Friday starter, gave up 4 runs in 4.2 innings.
The Tigers outhit the Gators 43-35 and outscored them 33-19 in the series.
UF third baseman Cory Acton was solely responsible for the runs UF scored on Friday and Saturday. The freshman came into the weekend with no career home runs and left with three, hitting one in each game.
Left fielder Austin Langworthy also hit well, finishing the series 6 for 12 with a home run.
Designated hitter Nelson Maldonado returned to the lineup for the series finale, replacing Jordan Butler, who pitched in relief on Sunday. Maldonado went 1 for 3, while Butler hit 3 for 9 in the first two games.
In Florida’s one-run output on Saturday, LSU pitcher Cole Henry fanned 12 batters. Tigers’ center fielder Antoine Duplantis had the best weekend of any hitter, going 9 for 16 with seven RBIs.
The only positive to take from this series for Florida is that it proved it could win on the road in conference play -- albeit, just once. It took one of UF’s best offensive performances just to outlast LSU once, and the Tigers soundly defeated the Gators in the next two games to take the series.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Pitcher Tommy Mace struck out nine batters in seven innings against LSU in a 16-9 win on Thursday. It was the Gators' first SEC road win. Mace leads the team in wins (seven), innings pitched (63.2) and strikeouts (57).
