Through four innings on Sunday, it looked as if Florida was going to have a showing identical to its 2-0 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday.
Then the lineup woke up.
The Gators (15-18, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) used an eight-run fifth to beat No. 17 Mississippi State (26-9, 5-7 SEC) 8-3 in Starkville, Miss.
On Saturday, UF only had four batters above the minimum and did not get an extra-base hit. Until the fifth inning of Game 3, only one Gator had reached base against Bulldogs’ starter Jacob Lindgren.
The sophomore left-hander gave up three straight singles to Vickash Ramjit, Josh Tobias and Harrison Bader to begin the top of the fifth. Lindgren was replaced with right-hander Myles Gentry. O’Sullivan countered by pinch-hitting for Mike Fahrman with lefty Connor Mitchell. Mitchell proceeded to clear the bases with a triple down the right-field line.
Cody Dent followed Mitchell with a walk and freshman shortstop Richie Martin then singled to left to score Mitchell for the go-ahead run. Sophomore third baseman Tobias plated two more runs later in the inning with a double to left field to make it 8-2.
Sophomore Johnny Magliozzi, who until yesterday had primarily been used as a closer, got the start for Florida. After allowing two runs in the first inning, Magliozzi retired nine straight and lasted 5.2 innings total while allowing one more run.
Ryan Harris relieved Magliozzi and struck out Bulldogs’ catcher Mitch Slauter to get out of the sixth. The sophomore right-hander pitched two more scoreless innings. It was Harris’ second outing in as many days in which he threw 2.1 innings without giving up a run.
MSU threatened in the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles from Wes Rea and CT Bradford to lead off the inning. Daniel Gibson then came in for Harris and retired the final three batters in order.
Florida will look to avoid a season sweep against No. 8 Florida State when it travels to Tallahassee on Tuesday night.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Sophomore outfielder Connor Mitchell (13) slides into second base during Florida’s 4-0 win against Ole Miss on March 31 at McKethan Stadium.
