Gator Baseball Drops Series to Auburn

In what turned out to be a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel, the Gator baseball team lost to the Auburn Tigers on Saturday 2-1, giving the Tigers the series and a possible sweep if they can win the final game at Auburn on Sunday.

Tiger starting pitcher Casey Mize got the win, pitching seven innings while allowing just one run.

Florida starter Brady Singer also pitched seven strong innings, giving up just five hits to just two hitters in the Tiger order but he suffered the loss.

https://twitter.com/AuburnBaseball/status/843240277116669952

In the third inning, Auburn lead off hitter Jonah Todd received a four pitch walk and he advanced to second on a wild pitch.  With no outs, a balk call moved Todd to third as Singer worked to get the next two batters out. Another balk call scored Todd and put the Tigers up 1-0.

While Florida struggled to put runners on, Auburn tacked on another run on back-to-back doubles by Jay Estes and Luke Jarvis in the fourth.

It looked like the Gators might get something going the following frame with three consecutive singles, but they weren’t able to score.

The Gators finally scored in the seventh inning.  Nelson Maldonado started off the inning with a double, followed by a walk and a catcher’s interference call that loaded the bases. With one out, Deacon Liput sent one hard to the shortstop that the Tigers turned into a double play but not before Maldonado scored before the third out was recorded in a rundown.

That was all the offense Florida could muster as only Maldonado, Christian Hicks and Ryan Larson recorded hits for the Gators on this day.

Reliever Cole Lipscomb finished out the game for the Tigers to earn his third save.

The Gators will look to shake off a possible sweep on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Plainsman Park. You can hear the game live on Country 103-7 The Gator as Jackson Kowar is scheduled to be the Gator starting pitcher.