Bobby Poyner, usually reliable, found himself in the middle of Kentucky’s offensive outburst in Florida’s series finale in Lexington, Ky.
The junior left-hander, UF’s third pitcher on Sunday, allowed five earned runs in the sixth inning en route to a 9-8 loss at Cliff Hagan Stadium. No. 13 Florida (20-12, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) dropped the finale against No. 22 Kentucky (22-10, 6-6 SEC) for its second-straight SEC road series loss.
Poyner gave up a three-run home run to Max Kuhn before hitting A.J. Reed for his last batter. Right-hander Shaun Anderson then replaced Poyner, surrendering a triple and a single as part of the seven-run inning that had become the theme of the weekend for both teams.
In Game 2 on Saturday, Florida held off a Kentucky rally after jumping out to a nine-run lead before winning 11-10. Florida plated five runs in the eighth on Sunday in a rally that would ultimately fall short.
“It’s a tough stretch of the season, but we’re going to build off these five runs in the eighth. It’s disappointing with our pitching this weekend. We didn’t quite stay away from the big inning,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan told the IMG Gator Sports Network. “I think that’s the theme of the weekend. We couldn’t stay away from the big inning.”
Left-hander Kirby Snead tossed 2.2 innings of two-run ball on Sunday. His lone mistake came on a first-pitch fastball over the middle that Reed hit into left center for his third home run of the weekend. The solo shot tied the game at two after UF scored two runs in the top half on a Richie Martin double.
A throwing error by Kentucky shortstop Matt Reida ruined a double-play chance and extended the inning. He booted a ground ball in the sixth that would’ve been the second out of the inning.
Instead, Martin’s single to right field two batters latter gave Florida a one-run lead with Poyner, who hadn’t pitched all weekend and boasted a 2.35 ERA with 13 appearances, on the mound.
Florida scored its five runs in the eighth on a Taylor Gushue double, a Braden Mattson sacrifice fly and a Peter Alonso three-run home run to right field. The opposite-field blast from Alonso topped off a weekend in which the struggling freshman recovered at the plate, hitting 9 for 13 with four RBIs.
Right-hander Karsten Whitson followed Anderson with a scoreless eighth inning for a bright spot on an otherwise poor pitching performance that kept Florida from gaining sole possession of first place in the SEC Eastern division. Whitson last pitched on April 1 when he threw two innings in a start against Florida Atlantic.
“Most importantly, I was really pleased with how Karsten threw. I’m looking at it now, we should’ve brought him in earlier,” O’Sullivan said. “The most important thing is I thought he was really good and he looked really comfortable. The bottom line is we need to get him back out there.”
Florida faces No. 2 Florida State on Tuesday night at 6 in Tallahassee, Fla., for the fourth-game of an eight-game road trip.
A radio broadcast contributed to this story
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Bobby Poyner pitches during Florida’s 2-1 win against Arkansas on March 15, 2014 at McKethan Stadium.
