Ty Evans had two of Florida’s four hits including a solo home run.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Florida was downed by No. 5 LSU, 6-1, in game one at Alex Box Stadium on Friday night.
The Tigers (19-4, 2-2 SEC) put two runs on the Gators (12-9, 2-2 SEC) in the first inning. With two outs, Josh Pearson and Ethan Frey produced RBI singles through the left side to open a 2-0 LSU edge.
UF starter Cade fisher rebounded in the second and third for back-to-back clean innings. Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> then cut the deficit to one run in the top of the fourth, hitting an opposite-field shot over the right field wall to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Fisher continued to mow down Tigers in the middle innings, churning out zeros in the fourth and fifth while raising his strikeout total to five. LSU eventually broke through in the bottom of the sixth, beginning with a bases-loaded walk of Michael Braswell III. Paxton Kling then drove home Frey on a sacrifice fly to left while Bingham brought in Frey on an infield single to third base.
Faced with a 5-1 deficit, righty Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> entered the game for the Gators in the seventh. The junior worked around a one-out single by Hayden Travinski to hold the score.
The Tigers added an insurance run in the eighth, with Braswell III reaching on a fielding error at second base to lead off the frame. Mac Bigham plated him with a double to right field to bring the score to its final tally of 6-1.
Fisher dropped to 2-2 on the season, allowing five earned runs across five-plus innings. The southpaw was charged with five hits allowed, two walks and five strikeouts.
LSU starter Luke Holman (5-1) earned the win after firing six innings of one run ball. He allowed one hit and three walks while fanning 13 batters.
Tigers reliever Griffin Herring picked up his second save. He pitched three shutout innings with three hits allowed and three strikeouts.
NOTABLES
* Friday night’s official attendance was a sell-out crowd of 12,539.
* Across his last five starts, Fisher has recorded 38 strikeouts against five walks.
* Evans hit his fifth home run in the fourth inning for Florida’s first hit.
* Evans turned in his ninth multi-hit performance in Florida’s last 11 games.
* Heyman and Shelton had their 20-game on-base streaks snapped.
* Kurland saw his team-high nine-game hitting streak come to an end.
* The Gators are 40-15 in weekend series since 2023 and 49-18 across the team’s previous 23 series.
* Florida is 39-18 in its last 57 games vs. SEC opponents including a 31-15 regular-season mark.
* Florida is now 53-69-1 all-time vs. LSU including 15-32-1 in Baton Rouge.
* The Gators are 24-22 against the Tigers under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (7-12 away).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the outcome of the game…
“We got off to a tough start on the mound to start the game, obviously. We threw 40 pitches in the first (inning). You look back at the innings that we give up runs and it usually involves a walk or two, a hit by pitch, that type of thing. We didn’t handle the first inning very well but we settled in and put up four zeros in a row. The sixth inning, went 3-2 on (Hayden) Travinski and he hit a double. Then a bunt situation and (Josh) Pearson is hit by a pitch. We fall behind (Ethan) Frey 2-0 and he’s trying to bunt. That kind of opens things up there.”
On the offensive struggles…
“Offensively, we didn’t stay with the plan. The idea was to take away his fastball and push it down. We kept chasing sliders and curveballs early and late in the count and chasing balls up in the zone and hit some balls in the air. We’re just going to have to do a better job with our approach tomorrow. All in all, we didn’t handle the environment really well either. It was kind of uncharacteristic. I think we struck out nine times in the first three innings. We just have to put it behind us and get ready to play tomorrow.”
On the environment…
“You could tell our swings were out of control and we didn’t stay with our approach. I mean we had a plan against (Luke) Holman. Stay off the breaking ball and let’s take his fastball away and push the fastball down. We did the exact opposite. We chased breaking balls early. We chased breaking balls late and swung through some up fastballs or hit the ball in the air. You know, I think that’s the frustrating part because we did have a plan but we obviously didn’t stay with it.”
UP NEXT
Florida and LSU face off in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
###
