Five-Run Sixth Dooms Gators, As No. 1 Texas Evens Series

Florida was up 2-0 and starting pitcher Liam Peterson was cruising along by making quick work of the Texas lineup Saturday. Through four scoreless innings, Peterson had only allowed two hits and struck out three. Following a lead-off walk in the fifth inning, a dark cloud hanging out in the distance rolled in with other plans.

With inclement weather in the area, umpires informed both sides to head to their dugouts for what turned out to be a two-hour delay. The Texas bats woke up against the Florida bullpen and used a five-run sixth inning to beat Florida 5-2 on Saturday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Christian Rodriguez, who closed out the game on Friday, took over for Peterson post weather delay in the fifth. Rodriguez worked a clean inning, but gave up a lead-off home run to Rylan Galvan in the sixth that got Texas (40-9, 20-6 SEC) on the board by making it 2-1.

“Liam [Peterson] gave us a really good start, and obviously Christian [Rodriguez] came in and he got us out of that one inning there in the fifth,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

After Rodriguez gave up a home run, O’Sullivan pulled him for Jackson Barberi. His time on the mound did not last long as he gave up a game-tying home run to Jalin Flores.

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Like Rodriguez, Barberi was pulled after giving up a home run, which brought in Matthew Jenkins. Jenkins struck out the first batter, but gave up a single and walk, which was enough for O’Sullivan to pull Jenkins for Alex Philpott. He got a batter out before walking Kyle Farmer lV to load the bases and bring Jonah Williams to the plate.

Williams sent one into the left-center field gap for a three-run double to give Texas its first lead of the weekend at 5-2. Williams took some criticism for his energy on a walk he had on Friday night, but delivered the biggest hit of the weekend for Texas.

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“Those are two key moments in that inning. We walked Farmer, like you said, he’s hitting eighth, and then we’re trying to throw a fastball in, and we missed out over the plate,” O’Sullivan said. “If you miss, if you’re trying to go in, you got to go inside with conviction and you’ve got to locate the ball on the inner half. You can’t leave it out over the plate; obviously, we did and it cost us.”

It looked like a carbon copy of Friday night’s 8-2 win with how Florida (34-18, 12-14) started the game at the plate.

With runners at the corners and only one out in the second, Ashton Wilson got the Gators on the board with an RBI single to make it 1-0. Landon Stripling followed with an RBI double down the left-field line that made it 2-0.

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However, the Gators struggled the rest of the way to generate any offensive production. Florida’s final hit in the game came from Luke Heyman, who led the third inning off with a single. After that, 20 of the final 24 batters were retired, 12 of them by strikeout.

The Gators struck out 16 times, which made it 27 strikeouts through two games. Texas star freshman relief pitcher Dylan Volantis struck out five in 2.1 innings and picked up save No.12, the most saves by a freshman in the SEC history.

“[Florida] just chased down and off a lot and you know, everybody seems to be doing that against him,” O’Sullivan said. “The only positive thing is we forced [Volantis] to throw 37 pitches today, so that is the one positive.”

With the series on the line, the Gators will turn to its freshman right-hander Aidan King (4-2, 3.29 ERA) with hopes that he can give them a quality start. Unlike Texas, who may have burned Volantis for the rest of the week, Florida has Jake Clemente ready at a moment’s notice in the bullpen.

“[Florida] haven’t had to use Jake [Clemente] and obviously Aidan [King] is on enough rest to go deep in the ball game,” O’Sullivan said.

“Tomorrow’s a big game and we just need to get off our feet, get some rest, and get after it tomorrow.”

The Gators and Longhorns meet in the series finale on Sunday scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM. The Gators are seeking their fifth-straight SEC series and enter the finale as winners of 14 of their last 18 games, including 11 of 14 in SEC play.