No. 13 Florida Topped by No. 4 Georgia
Colby Shelton (1-for-4), Bobby Boser (2-for-5) and Luke Heyman (2-for-4) swatted homers in the loss.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 13 Florida was outlasted in a back-and-forth affair against No. 4 Georgia, falling 8-7 in the series opener at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
After a clean first from starter Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366>, the Gators (18-6, 0-4 SEC) opened the scoring with three runs against the Bulldogs (22-2, 3-1 SEC) in the home half. Justin Nadeau<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/justin-nadeau/17342> drew a leadoff walk while Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> singled to left field. Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> took one strike and then cleared the bases, mashing a three-run homer into Dizney Grove in right-center field for a 3-0 lead.
Georgia answered right back in the top of the second, beginning with a three-run double down the left-field line off the bat of Devin Obee. Kolby Branch then singled off the pitcher to second base, with Obee coming home for the go-ahead run on a throwing error.
Suddenly behind 4-3, King held the score with a clean frame in the top half of the third. That allowed the Gators to draw even, as Boser drilled a game-tying solo shot to left-center field to lead off the bottom of the third.
The seesaw matchup continued into the fourth, as the Bulldogs took the lead right back at 5-4 on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Slate Alford to score Christian Adams.
Florida drew even in the home half for a 5-5 ballgame through four frames. Leading off the inning, Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> uncorked his third homer of the campaign to left-center.
Following a leadoff walk in the fifth, King was lifted in favor of right-hander Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/17330>. The sophomore registered three-straight outs capped by a strikeout of Henry Hunter to eliminate the threat. McNeillie produced another zero in the sixth, navigating around a two-out walk while fanning a pair of Bulldogs.
Georgia regained the lead in the seventh, using a sacrifice fly to center by Tre Phelps to make it 6-5. McNeillie limited the damage, inducing a 5-4-3 double play to minimize the scoring.
Entering after a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth, closer Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/17333> took over for the Gators on the mound. He made quick work of the Bulldogs, striking out three in a row to keep the Orange & Blue within one run.
That was all the Gators needed, as Florida stormed back in the bottom of the eighth to retake the lead. Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> hit a leadoff single while Heyman lined a triple to center field to tie the game. From there, Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337> produced the go-ahead RBI with a sacrifice fly to left-center, plating Heyman for a 7-6 Florida lead.
Georgia responded in the top of the ninth as Florida attempted to shut the door. Alford reached on an infield single and Ryland Zaborowski hammered a go-ahead, two-run homer to left to give the Bulldogs an eventual 8-7 victory.
Bulldogs reliever Jordan Stephens (3-0) earned the win after giving up two earned runs on two hits in one inning.
Kolten Smith picked up the save for Georgia, registering the final three outs behind two walks and two strikeouts.
Philpott was handed the loss, allowing two earned runs on two hits in two frames. He struck out four.
King received a no-decision in his Friday night debut, pitching four-plus innings with five earned runs allowed on six hits and two walks. He struck out one batter.
Georgia starter Charlie Goldstein did not factor into the decision either, going 2 2/3 frames and surrendering four earned runs on four hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
NOTABLES
* Florida dropped to 15-2 at home this season.
* Making his third-career start and first-ever on Friday night, King allowed five runs over four-plus innings on six hits, two walks and one strikeout.
* Shelton swatted his third home run of the season.
* Boser is now tied for the team lead with eight home runs, finishing 2-for-5 with two runs.
* Heyman connected for his third homer while going 2-for-4 with one triple and two runs.
* McNeillie threw three-plus innings of one-run relief, allowing just one hit and three walks while fanning three Bulldogs.
* Shelton has reached base safely in all 24 games this season.
* Florida pitchers have recorded a 265-to-77 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 24 games.
* Florida is now 195-117-2 all-time against Georgia, including 102-46-1 at home.
* The Gators are 32-19 overall and 18-7 at home in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Friday night’s official attendance was 7,848.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game…
“We got off to a good start, scored three in the first, and turned around and gave up four in the top of the second. It’s been a theme, the rebound runs. We walked too many guys. I think we walked six and hit a guy. Every time we scored, we went out there for the most part and gave up runs and lost the momentum, bottom line. Outlined it to all of our pitchers before the game, our starters need to start going six innings, bottom line. Pitch counts are too high, we had to go to Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/17330> a little earlier than we needed to. He had three walks, two of them were to lead off an inning and then that gave them the sac fly that gave them the lead. Alex threw the ball well, we just left one slider out over the plate. He’s hitting .216 against right-handed spin and all of his home runs I believe this year off right-handed pitching have been off fastballs. So, we just made one mistake there that cost us the lead there, but we’re banged up and we need guys to step up, bottom line. We don’t have Liam [Peterson] this weekend, so we had to start a freshman on Friday night. Obviously, [Frank] Menendez is out and we got some other guys that are not going to be able to throw this weekend, Matt Jenkins as well. The injuries are mounting, but we need other guys to step up. But the whole ballgame I think was when we turned around and gave up four in the second.”
On Billy Barlow<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/billy-barlow/17355> starting tomorrow and what he needs to do…
“He needs to attack the strike zone. We have to stop walking people. You know when we score, we got to go out and put a zero on the board. Simple as that.”
UP NEXT
The Gators and Bulldogs face off in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 12 p.m. on SEC Network.
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