The Florida Gators belted out four hits to score five runs in the seventh inning on Saturday afternoon in Georgia for their second come from behind win in as many days, clinching the series over the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens.
Sophomore Brady Singer was great yet again on Saturday but he needed the offense to pick him up and they did just that in a 6-3 win.
Georgia drew first blood Saturday. Keegan McGovern drew a leadoff walk to start the second inning and advanced to second when LJ Talley grounded out to Deacon Liput. Mitchell Webb drove McGovern home with a single to right field before Singer would get an inning-ending double play.
Florida evened things up in their next at bat. Liput drew a one-out walk and stole second after Dalton Guthrie struck out. Freshman Austin Langworthy’s double, his second hit of the game, plated Liput and tied the game momentarily.
The lead wouldn’t last long as the Dawgs got to Singer the second time around the lineup.
Singer recorded two quick out in the bottom of the third but Georgia started a two-out rally. Cam Shepherd singled and scored when Michael Curry doubled. Curry scored on a McGovern single to center, giving Georgia a 3-1 lead. Singer would settle down, retiring 11 of the next 12 he faced heading into the seventh inning.
Christian Hicks was hit by a pitch to lead the frame and Keenan Bell singled to give Florida two on and no outs. Both runner advanced 90-feet on a wild pitch and Mark Kolozsvary walked to load the bases. Ryan Avidano replaced Chase Adkins on the mound but that wouldn’t change Georgia’s luck. Liput singled through the right side to score Hicks and Dalton Guthrie launched a sacrifice fly to he warning track in left field to plate Bell and tie the game at three. Langworthy put the Gators on top for the first time with a RBI single to left. Liput scored on a Maldonado sacrifice fly to right field and JJ Schwarz drove in Langworthy with a single of his own.
When the dust settle the Gators had scored five runs on four hits, quite the opposite of their four-run ninth inning that was fueled by walks on Friday night.
“We had a little meeting there before the seventh, we haven’t really been giving Brady enough run support all year. He’s been pitching his heart out,” Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game. “I encouraged the guys to have the best at bats they could possibly have to try and get to their bullpen a little more and give Brady the run support he deserves. We had some really good at bats at the bottom of the order, Hicks, Keenan got hits then Mark walked with the bases loaded. We executed well with the bases loaded, we’ve had that issue a little bit this year but the guys came through tonight.
Singer returned to the mound in the eighth inning and put up another zero despite allowing a double. The sophomore finished the day with eight innings pitched, three earned runs, 10 hits, and five strikeouts.
“Brady was outstanding,” said O’Sullivan. “Probably gave up too many 0-2 hits, but other than that he threw the ball great.”
Kevin O’Sullivan turned to closer Michael Byrne in the top of the ninth. Byrne retired the first two but gave up a double and a single before finally getting Curry to foul out to Kolozsvary. Byrne, a sophomore, picked up his 10th save of the season, which leads the SEC and is three shy of tying the school record with 13 regular seasons games left to play.
Florida will look to sweep Georgia at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon.