Florida is now 29-26 on the year and 14-15 in SEC play.

Florida started lefty Bobby Poyner on the mound and he pitched well but the Bulldogs would score all of their runs in one inning to saddle him with the loss.

Meanwhile the Gator bats were held nearly silent as they could push across only one run, that coming on a base hit by Harrison Bader that gave Florida a short lived 1-0 lead.   The Gators would only manage four hits in the game.

The final game of the regular season will be played Saturday before the Gators travel to play in the SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, Alabama.

Florida trailed 1-0 early in the first inning after Gator third baseman Katie Medina fired high to first, letting Margaret Wilkins reach second on the error. Wilkins then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and would score on a sacrifice fly. Hampton would not score again.

Alyssa Bashe was lights out from then on in the circle for Florida, allowing only two hits and striking out four in seven innings of work. The Lady Pirates would out reach base four times in the entire game against Bashe.

Bashe says she wanted to help the team win at all costs.

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Florida’s offense picked things up in the bottom of the third when they scored four runs on Lady Pirate Jailynn Jackson (26-12). Lauren Haeger plated the first run for the Orange and Blue on a bases-loaded single. Taylor Schwarz would follow that up with a sac-fly to give the Gators the lead. Senior Kelsey Horton got in on the fun as well, singling in the third run of the inning. Brianna Little then hit her second triple of the season to put Florida up 4-1.

The Gators would tack on more runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase Hampton’s deficit. Kelsey Horton blasted her 10th homer of the season to make it 5-1 and two batters later Taylore Fuller wacked a pitch high and far off the left field foul pole to make it 6-1.

Kelsey Horton says she made some adjustments throughout the game that led to the homer.

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With the win Alyssa Bashe moves to 9-0 on the season and Florida improves to 53-7 on the year. SEC Coach of the Year Tim Walton talks about Bashe’s dominating performance.

• Walton Download

The regional continues all weekend as Florida now plays USF, the team that knocked the Gators out of a regional last year.  USF beat Georgia Southern to advance.

Action starts Friday when Georgia Southern faces USF and the Gators take on Hampton for the first time in school history.

Florida is one of 11 SEC teams getting to play in an NCAA Regional and the Gators are the number two overall national seed.

Florida is now 14-14 in SEC play and 29-25 overall while Georgia slips to 5-20 in league play.

Florida opened the scoring in the second when Vickash Ramjit was hit by a pitch, he went to third on a double by Harrison Bader and scored on a sacrifice fly by DH Brady Roberson.

The Gators made it 2-0 in the fourth as Bader hit a sacrifice fly to support the excellent starting pitching of Jonathan Crawford.  But, Georgia tied it with runs in the fourth and seventh innings.

In the ninth, Ramjit and Josh Tobias singled and Bader drove home Ramjit with an RBI hit.   Tobias scored later on a balk and Johnny Magliozzi came on to get his 12th save to give the Gators the win.

UF plays Georgia again Friday night.  You can catch all the action on our sister station, Country 103.7 The Gator starting at 6:55 pm.

Florida needs to win at least one game to stay above the .500 mark going into the SEC Tournament next week.   UF needs to be above .500 overall to qualify for a possible NCAA Regional.  Florida is 13-14 in SEC play.

Georgia only has five league wins but still has a mathematical chance of making the SEC Tournament so there is incentive for the Bulldogs.  They come off a big come from behind win over rival Georgia Tech mid-week.

Jonothan Crawford gets the start on the mound for Florida Thursday and lefty Bobby Poyner starts Friday.   The Gators have not named a starter for Saturday.

** The Gator men’s basketball team gets a verbal commitment from the 2014 class in point guard Chris Chiozza from Memphis, Tennessee.   He is listed at 5’9″ and Rivals.com rates him a four star prospect.

** Pro basketball’s playoffs continue tonight as the Miami Heat can eliminate the Chicago Bulls with a win tonight.  Memphis can take out Oklahoma City with a win as well.   Last night, Indiana beat New York to go up 3-1 and San Antonio beat Golden State to go up 3-2 in that series.

** Former Gator Brad Beal was named to the NBA’s All Rookie team; before having his season cut short by injury, the Washington Wizards guard was a key contributor to the team.

** The nation’s so called number one men’s basketball recruit, Andrew Wiggins, announced his school choice and it will be Kansas; he chose the Jayhawks over Kentucky and FSU.

** The Santa Fe Saints softball team plays its first game in the National Junior College Athletic Association softball tournament today against Wallace State Community College out in Utah.

** The Gator men’s basketball team will get back the services of guard DeVon Walker who had announced a few days ago he was leaving the program.   In a statement released yesterday, Walker said the more he thought about it, “I just realized this is where I want to be.”

** Former Gator quarterback Chris Leak is returning to Gainesville, hired by Gator football coach Will Muschamp as a quality control coach, a position typically created to help someone start a coaching career.

** The Miami Heat have taken a commanding 3-1 lead in their NBA playoff series with the Chicago Bulls after an 88-65 win last night.   Memphis beat Oklahoma City as well to go up 3-1 in that series.  Tonight, Indiana hosts New York up 2-1 and Golden State visits San Antonio with the series tied 2-2.

** In the NHL playoffs, the New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins each won deciding Game 7 contests; the Rangers blast Washington 5-0 while Boston comes back from a 4-1 third period deficit to win 5-4 in overtime over Toronto.

In MLB action Atlanta pounds Arizona 10-1; Tampa Bay had the night off and plays Boston at home tonight.   Miami is hosting Cincinnati tonight.

All but two of the teams will qualify for the upcoming SEC Tournament and if the season ended today, Georgia and Tennessee would not qualify.

Four teams are basically looking for two spots in the tournament.   Georgia has only five league wins and will host Florida while Tennessee will host Texas A&M.   Missouri, with eight league wins, will host Kentucky which has 10 league wins.

Florida is currently three games above .500 and it needs to take one of three games against Georgia to assure itself of finishing above .500 for the season in order to qualify for NCAA Tournament play.  If Florida were to be swept it would have to win a game in the SEC Tournament to qualify for further postseason play.

Many are national seeds including Florida, the highest national seed at number two.   Also snagging national seeds are Missouri, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Kentucky and Texas A&M.

Arkansas will play in the Norman Regional; Georgia goes to the Tempe Regional; Mississippi State goes to the Mobile Regional and South Carolina travels to the Austin Regional.

Florida will host Hampton, USF, and Georgia Southern this weekend in its regional.

** The Gator softball team is a number two national seed after the NCAA announced selections to the NCAA Tournament late last night.   UF will host Hampton, USF and Georgia Southern starting this weekend.

** The Gator lacrosse team advances to the Elite Eight after beating Denver 16-5 at home on Sunday.   Next for UF is Syracuse on the road this weekend.

** The Gator women’s tennis team advances to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 beating of Georgia Tech Sunday.   UF now plays Duke in Illinois.

** The Gator baseball team drops a series to Auburn after losing 4-1 on Sunday.  UF is 13-14 in the SEC and2 28-25 overall and ends its regular season at Georgia starting on Thursday.

** The Gator track teams come home with some individual hardware from the SEC Championships this weekend.  UF’s men finished second and the women fourth in the competition.

** Tiger Woods is a winner again, winning the TPC by two shots after a final round 70.  He wins the tournament for the first time since 2001.

** In the NBA playoffs, Golden State pulls even with San Antonio with a 97-87 overtime home win Sunday.   The series is even at 2-2.  Tonight, Miami is at Chicago up 2-1 and Memphis hosts Oklahoma City up 2-1.

** In the MLB, San Francisco beats Atlanta 5-1 to take three of four in the series; the Braves travel to Arizona tonight.  Miami lost to Los Angeles 5-3 and have the night off while Tampa Bay beat San Diego 4-2 for its fifth straight win.   The Rays have the day off.