The Florida baseball team lost the first game of an SEC series for the fourth consecutive week, this time dropping a 4-1 decision to Auburn on Thursday night in Gainesville. The loss officially eliminates the Gators from winning the SEC regular season title as they fall to 38-15 overall and to 17-11 in SEC play. Auburn improves to 13-15 in SEC play.
Florida broke open a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Dalton Guthrie got an RBI hit. However, Auburn came right back in the sixth and scored two runs when UF outfielders Buddy Reed and Ryan Larson collided allowing Melvin Gray to hit a double to drive in the runs.
Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan had this to say about the play.
“The obvious turning point was when we had two outs in the sixth and the outfielders collided. It’s unfortunate, but you just can’t have those types of mistakes at this time of the year.”
UF starter Logan Shore had a solid start even though he picked up the loss; he pitched seven innings and allowed only those two runs. The sophomore right-hander was also to retire 13 straight batters at one point in the game.
Auburn tacked on a couple late insurance runs to put Florida away, at one point getting five straight hits. The win went to starter Cole Lipscomb (7-2) who pitched into the seventh inning. Reliever Justin Camp finished up and picked up his eighth save of the year.
The Tigers and Gators will meet again tonight in Game Two of the series. A.J. Puk will get the start for Florida. Catch all the action at 6:55 pm on ESPN 850 WRUF.
Sound from the game…