After an 11-1 drubbing on Friday night, the No. 8 Florida Gators (35-13, 15-9 SEC) battled back against Georgia to take the series, closing it out with a 7-4 win on Sunday.
Florida wasted no time in the rubber match, getting an early 2-0 lead on a Buddy Reed two-out single that scored Pete Alonso and Dalton Guthrie.
Freshman Alex Faedo — who had strung together three great starts — was off his game Sunday afternoon. Faedo stepped on the mound with a lead but issued two walks before Kevin O’Sullivan came out to settle down his young right-hander. Faedo induced a popup for the second out of the inning but left a fastball up over the inside half of the plate that Daniel Nichols deposited over the scoreboard in right field for a three-run home run.
Faedo’s afternoon lasted just two innings before he was replaced by Kirby Snead.
Florida came back in the third inning with back-to-back walks of Richie Martin and Josh Tobias. Alonso moved the pair up 90 feet with a groundout and Martin scored on a passed ball two pitches later. Harrison Bader grounded out to score Tobias and give the Gators a 4-3 lead.
The lead didn’t last long as Faedo allowed his second home run of the game (seventh of the season) to Stephen Wrenn.
The score remained tied up until the sixth inning. Reed walked and advanced to second on JJ Schwarz’s first hit of the game. Mike Rivera laid down a sacrifice bunt but reached first on a throwing error by the pitcher. That set the stage for Ryan Larson with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Larson reached down for a low fastball and stroked the offering into left-center field for a base clearing, three RBI double that broke open the game.
Taylor Lewis — who replaced Snead in the fourth inning — earned the win for his 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Lewis allowed just two hits, two walks and struck out four.
Danny Young came into the game in the seventh inning and earned his second save of the season.
Florida remains two games back of Vanderbilt for first place in the SEC East but will travel to Nashville — after a midweek game against USF — that will likely decide the SEC East.