Preston Tucker has been one of Florida’s best clutch hitters this season. Friday night he missed furthering his reputation by a foot.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth inning, Tucker missed what would have been a game-tying grand slam home run as Kentucky left fielder Chad Wright climbed the fence and brought the ball back to help secure what would eventually become an 8-7 Kentucky victory at McKethan Stadium.
“I thought it was gone,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I think it was out and he brought it back in.”
The ninth inning rally started with Florida trailing 8-3 and Daniel Pigott reaching on an infield single. Kentucky pitcher Chris Rusin (7-4) then hit Mike Mooney with a pitch and Avery Barnes followed with a walk to load the bases. After a pitching change, Braden Kapteyn replacing Rusin, Jonathan Pigott dropped a single into right field between several converging Wildcats, moving the runners up and scoring Daniel Pigott.
That’s when Tucker’s blast was caught over the wall, but it did score Mooney and move Barnes to third. Josh Adams followed with a ball that looked like a home run off the bat, but the ball bounced off the top of the right-field wall for a double, scoring Barnes and Pigott, making it 8-7 and forcing another pitching change, Logan Darnell for Kapteyn. Adams moved to third base on a wild pitch, but Matt den Dekker struck out and Darnell got pinch-hitter Hampton Tignor to ground out to second base for his third save of the season.
“That’s a tough one to swallow,” Florida senior third baseman Brandon McArthur said. “That’s the type of team we’ve been all year. We got down and battled back. We had the opportunity to tie the game in the ninth, but we just couldn’t do it tonight.”
The deficit would not have been as difficult to overcome if it weren’t for Kentucky’s 8-run third inning that erased a 2-0 Gators lead. Florida starter Anthony DeSclafani (5-3) gave up seven runs. Kentucky’s Cory Farris (off DeSciafani) and Marcus Nidiffer (off reliever Tony Davis) each had 2-run homers in the inning. DeSciafani worked 2.2 innings, surrendering six hits and seven earned runs with two walks and one strikeout. Davis went 3.1 innings, allowing two hits and one run with four strikeouts. Justin Poovey finished up with three scoreless innings during which he allowed four hits, a walk and struck out two.
“I thought we had the momentum,” O’Sullivan said. “We scored one in the first and one in the second, and then the wheels fell off. What’s really disappointing is we gave up six runs with two outs. We gave up a 0-2 double and then a 0-2 home run.”
Florida’s run in the first inning came after Rusin hit leadoff batter Avery Barnes. He advanced to second base on a balk and went to third on a ground out by Jonathan Pigott. Tucker brought him home with a ground out.
Tucker had two RBI on the night, which helped him break Brad Wilkerson’s freshman RBI record set in 1996. Tucker now has 69 RBI, only 11 short of the overall school record set by Ryan Shealy in 2002.
McArthur had a leadoff homer, his second of the season, in the second inning to give Florida a 2-0 lead. He finished 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead Florida’s 10-hit attack. Adams had a pair of hits and 2 RBI, while Jonathan Pigott also had two hits and 1 RBI.
Rusin gave up six runs on the night, but three of the runs scored in the ninth were his responsibility. For the first eight inning, he allowed only three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“Rusin kept us off balance,” O’Sullivan said. “He had us swinging at changeups out of the zone. He’s been doing stuff like this to other teams the entire year.”
Florida plays their last regular season home game in the rubber game of the series Saturday at 4 p.m. Florida will start freshman left-hander Nick Maronde (3-1, 3.96) against Kentucky freshman right-hander Alex Meyer (1-4, 5.27). Senior day activities will take place before the game, as Florida says goodbye to seniors Barnes, Teddy Foster, Patrick Keating, Stephen Locke, Clayton Pisani, McArthur and Chas Spottswood.
“To win our last home series (would be) big,” McArthur said. “We want to hold our ground. We can’t come out here and let it go. We need to come out here and be ready. I know I will be. This will be my last home game.”
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL
EAST SEC Pct. GB All Pct.
x-Florida 18-11 .620 — 37-18 .673
South Carolina 16-13 .552 2.0 36-19 .655
Georgia 15-14 .517 3.0 35-19 .648
Vanderbilt 12-16 .429 5.5 31-23 .574
Kentucky 12-17 .414 6.0 28-25 .528
Tennessee 10-19 .345 8.0 25-29 .463
WEST SEC Pct. GB All Pct.
Louisiana State 19-10 .655 — 40-15 .727
Mississippi 19-10 .655 — 39-15 .722
Alabama 17-10 .630 1.0 36-16 .692
Arkansas 14-14 .500 4.5 32-19 .627
Auburn 10-18 .357 8.5 30-24 .556
Mississippi State 9-19 .321 9.5 25-28 .471
x-clinched division title
REGULAR SEASON
Friday’s results
Kentucky 8, Florida 7
South Carolina 7, Georgia 4
Mississippi State 8, Louisiana State 7
Mississippi 9, Arkansas 3
Tennessee 7, Vanderbilt 6 (10)
Auburn 3, Alabama 1 (game suspended in fourth inning, will resume at noon ET prior to Saturday’s scheduled contest)
Saturday’s games
Kentucky (LHP Alex Meyer 1-4, 5.27 ERA) at Florida (LHP Nick Maronde 3-1, 3.96 ERA), 4 p.m.
Georgia (RHP Justin Grimm 2-3, 4.36 ERA) at South Carolina (RHP Blake Cooper 7-4, 4.74 ERA), 1 p.m.
Tennessee (TBA) at Vanderbilt (RHP Drew Hayes 4-3, 5.72 ERA), 1 p.m.
Louisiana State (RHP Austin Ross 5-6, 5.09 ERA) at Mississippi State (TBA), 3 p.m.
Mississippi (RHP Phillip Irwin 6-3, 3.76 ERA) at Arkansas (RHP Justin Wells 2-0, 3.43 ERA), 3 p.m.
Alabama (LHP Adam Morgan 3-1, 3.57 ERA) at Auburn (RHP Dexter Price 4-2, 5.40 ERA), 4 p.m. (game follows completion of suspended game from Friday night)
SEC TOURNAMENT
At Regions Park, Hoover, Ala.
Wednesday, May 20
Game 1: No. 7 seed vs. No. 2 seed, 11 a.m. (CSS)
Game 2: No. 6 seed vs. No. 3 seed, 2:30 p.m. (CSS)
Game 3: No. 8 seed vs. No. 1 seed, 6 p.m. (CSS)
Game 4: No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed, 9:30 p.m. (CSS)
Thursday, May 21
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m. (CSS)
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2:30 p.m. (CSS)
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (CSS)
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 9:30 p.m. (CSS)
Friday, May 22
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, 4 p.m. (FSN)
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 7:30 p.m. (FSN)
Saturday, May 23
Game 11: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 11 a.m. (FSN)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 2:30 p.m. (FSN)
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 6 p.m. (Game 13 will be necessary if Winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11)
Game 14: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, 9:30 p.m. (Game 14 will be necessary if winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If Game 13 is not necessary, Game 15 will start at 6 p.m.)
Sunday, May 24
Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 4 p.m. (FSN)
Note: If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no Game 13 and Game 14 and the championship game would be Game 13.
SEC TOURNAMENT SEEDINGS
As of Monday, May 11
1. Louisiana State-x
2. Florida-x
3. Alabama-x
4. Mississippi-x
5. Georgia-x
6. Arkansas-x
7. South Carolina-x
8. Vanderbilt
9. Kentucky
10. Auburn-y
11. Mississippi State-y
12. Tennessee-y
x-clinched tournament berth
y-eliminated from tournament
NCAA TOURNAMENT
REGIONALS (May 29-June 1)
Various campus sites
SUPER REGIONALS (June 5-8)
Various campus sites
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES (June 13-24)
At Omaha, Neb.