Deacon Liput stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Peter Alonso had just given the Gators a glimmer of hope after blasting a solo home run to left-center field, cutting Mississippi State’s lead to 2-1.
It was on Liput to keep Florida’s rally going.
MSU’s Reid Humphreys didn’t let it happen.
Humphreys blew a pitch past a swinging Liput on an 0-2 count, and the No. 5 Bulldogs hung on to take the weekend series from the No. 1 Gators.
Sunday marked Florida’s first home series loss since dropping two of three at home versus Kentucky from April 24-26, 2015.
"We just got beat twice in a row against a team that didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes," UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. "It’s really that simple."
Florida reliever Shaun Anderson entered in the seventh inning with runners on second and third and no outs. Anderson immediately walked Jake Mangum — his first walk allowed all season — and gave up a RBI single to Elih Marrero, doubling the Bulldogs’ lead to 2-0.
Anderson settled down, getting out of the bases-loaded jam and retiring the final nine batters he faced.
"I really wanted to win this game. I wanted to win this series," said Anderson, who had six strikeouts in three innings of work. "I just wanted to keep it as close as possible and then hopefully we would come up with a big hit."
The big hit never came. Florida (29-5, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) left 13 men on base, one shy of its season high, and was just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
After recording a dozen hits in six-straight contests, Florida’s offense mustered just six on Sunday.
"We left a lot of guys on base that we should’ve came up and gotten in," Alonso said. "It is what it is."
The Bulldogs (23-9-1, 8-4 SEC) held their lead with timely pitching from its bullpen.
Junior right-hander Zac Houston gave up just one hit over 3.1 innings to earn his second win of the season.
Dane Dunning (2-2), starting in place of A.J. Puk — who was held out as he continues to recover from back spasms — picked up the loss after throwing five innings and allowing one run.
"Is it disappointing? Yes," O’Sullivan said. "But at the end of the day, this weekend is not going to define us."
Contact Luis Torres at ltorres@alligator.org and you can follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.
Deacon Liput bats during Florida's 2-1 loss to Mississippi State on April 10, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.
