Florida Gators flip the script, beat Kentucky 14-3

Mark Kolozsvary didn’t know it off the bat but he gave the ball a long look as he took off to first. Kentucky right fielder Tristan Pompey gave chase and leapt at the wall, hanging in the air for seconds before the ball glanced off his mitt and over the wall for a two-run home run. It gave the Florida Gators (39-15/20-9 SEC) a 2-0 lead on the way to a commanding 14-3 win to even the series a game apiece.

“I definitely didn’t thought that was a popup,” Kolozsvary said of the second inning home run. “I didn’t really think I got it all the way but then I looked up and the right fielder kept carrying back. It has a chance. Somehow it went out.”

The win held Florida in a tie for first place in the SEC with LSU and ensured at worst a tie for the SEC East title.

Early on it looked like Brady Singer (7-3) wouldn’t need much in the way of run support. The sophomore was in complete control on Friday night retiring the first nine Wildcat batters he faced.

The Gators took a 2-0 lead into the third inning before going back to work. Dalton Guthrie (3-3) led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch after JJ Schwarz struck out. Nelson Maldonado singled to shortstop and a wild throw from Conor Heady allowed Guthrie to score from second and Maldonado to take his place. Austin Langworthy (2-4) single home Maldonado and moved to second on a Jonathan India (3-4) single to left field. Christian Hicks loaded the bases with a single before Kolozsvary picked up his third RBI of the night with a single of his own. A Deacon Liput sacrifice fly plated India to cap the scoring at four runs on six hits and an error, giving Florida a 6-0 lead.

Singer took a no-hitter into the fourth inning but lost control. He walked Pompey before earning two quick outs. Singer then walked Luke Becker and Riley Mahan to load the bases.

Singer bore down on Troy Squires, striking the catcher out on three-straight pitches to get out of the jam and keep his no-no alive.

“That was big. I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Singer. “I kind of dropped my arm a little bit, and that cost us three runs, but I got out of it.”

Florida added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Schwarz singled home Ryan Larson and four more in the fifth inning when Kentucky’s pitching imploded.

Two separate Kentucky pitchers walked four-straight batters to push a run across the board with no outs. Liput’s sacrifice fly added another run, Larson grounded out to third to score Hicks and Guthrie singled through the left side to plate Kolozsvary. Florida extended its lead to 11-0 with just one hit in the inning.

Singer kept dealing. The sophomore right-hander carried a no-hitter through five innings before surrendering a leadoff double in the top of the sixth to Pompey. Singer struck out two and ended the inning with a groundout to move on to the seventh.

“I think it’s definitely one of my biggest starts,” Singer said. “I was real excited, slept well last night and just had a good gameplan going in. I felt really good early. I felt like I could throw the ball to both sides of the plate and throw the slider when I needed to.”

Kentucky got to Singer in the seventh, striking for three runs on four hits before Singer got Evan White to fly out to left field to end the bleeding.

The Gators got all three of those runs back in the eighth inning to extend the lead to 14-3.

Florida improved to 20-9 in the SEC; it’s the fourth time in Kevin O’Sullivan’s tenure that the Gators have reached the 20-win mark in conference.

“This league is hard. Anybody can beat anybody on any given weekend,” said O’sullivan. “You look back we got swept by Auburn and lost two out of three and home to Tennessee. On any given weekend if you don’t play good you got a chance to get beat.”

Friday’s win was O’Sullivan’s 453rd at Florida, moving him to second all-time on the school’s win list.

The Gators and LSU are both tied atop the SEC. Florida will take on Kentucky at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday and then be able to watch LSU take on Mississippi State at 4:30 ET to see who will end up as SEC Champions.

“It’s amazing how it always comes down to the last game, game 30,” O’Sullivan said. “That just goes to show how much parity there is in this league. It’s fun to be apart of it and we’re playing for something.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC