The Gators fell one run short of their first Southeastern Conference series sweep since mid-March on Saturday.
Kentucky (37-11, 15-9 SEC) fended off Florida (35-13, 14-10 SEC) in UF's bid for a perfect weekend in Lexington, Ky.
Wildcats starter Corey Littrell baffled the Gators' batters, scattering nine hits in eight innings with only one run allowed. Littrell retired 12 of the final 15 hitters he faced, including three straight in the eighth, his final frame.
Brian Johnson opposed Littrell as Florida's starter Saturday and kept UF in the game, yielding just one run in five innings of work. Jonathon Crawford pitched the final three innings in relief, allowing one unearned run in the bottom of the eighth.
Austin Cousino led off Kentucky's final at-bat with a single and advanced to second on a fielding error by Gatorscenterfielder Daniel Pigott. Cousino advanced to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Zac Zellers.
Then, Cousino scored when UF third baseman Josh Tobias mishandled a ball off the bat of Kentucky catcher Luke Maile. Crawford got out of the inning by inducing a double play from UK third baseman Thomas McCarthy.
Florida cut the lead in half in the top of the ninth thanks to a leadoff home run from Pigott. The Gators then had a shot to tie after Jordan Schafer, who singled earlier in the inning, advanced to second on a balk with two outs
However, the rally fell short when Nolan Fontana lined out to Wildcats second baseman J.T. Riddle to end the game.
