For the first time since May 2018, when Florida was swept by Mississippi State, the Gators baseball team has lost three consecutive games.
Florida opened up their three-game series against Miami with a 5-2 loss at home on Friday night.
Although he gave up a single to the second batter of the game, UF pitcher Tyler Dyson did an effective job of not allowing Miami to gain much momentum in the opening inning.
Offensively, however, Florida could not get it going with a runner at first base in the first inning. Austin Langworthy was walked to lead off the game, but Brady McConnell and Nelson Maldonado struck out swinging in the next two at-bats.
Will Dalton followed that up with a groundout to the third baseman, Raymond Gil, to end the first inning.
Dyson did not have a great start at the top of the second inning, which began with a single by Adrian Del Castillo up the middle of the field. Alex Toral, who leads the nation in home runs, hit a line drive ball that left right field.
Miami went up 2-0 on Florida, but Dyson bounced back with two strikeouts to stop the bleeding. The junior did not allow a run for the rest of the night, and he finished the game with four innings pitched and two earned runs.
The Gators’ bats did not wake up over the next couple of innings as Florida could not figure out UM pitcher Evan McKendry.
In the fourth inning, however, sophomore infielder Brady McConnell gave UF a boost with a double down the right field line.
Kendrick Calilao stepped up to plate with two outs and hit a triple to drive home McConnell. Freshman Cory Acton struck out swinging with the opportunity to tie up the ballgame.
Dyson, who reached 92 pitches in the fifth inning with no outs, was replaced by left hander Jordan Butler. With two men on base, Butler escaped the inning by striking out Villar and focingZamora into a double play.
Florida’s bottom third of their lineup all struck out swinging to end the bottom of the inning, but the top of the order did some damage in the sixth.
A single by Langworthy and another double by McConnell allowed Maldonado to hit an RBI groundout to tie the game up at 2-2. Dalton got McConnell to third base with a groundout to McKendry, but Calilao could not put Florida out in front and grounded out as well.
The tie ballgame quickly evaporated, however, as Canes catcher Michael Amditis hit a solo shot to left center to put Miami up by one run. Zamora had an RBI bunt on Hunter Ruth to drive home left fielder Jordan Lala and gave the Hurricanes a 4-2 advantage.
In the top of the eighth inning, Florida’s opposition put the icing on the cake with a single by Tony Jenkins, which scored Amditisand put Miami up by three runs.
Kevin O’Sullivan’s group tried sparking a rally late in the game, but it was to no avail.
Jud Fabian, who has UF’s only home run of the year, got on base in the bottom of the eighth inning with a walk by relief pitcher Daniel Federman. Florida’s top three hitters in the order were unable to advance Fabian and ended the inning with a groundout.
Calilao got on base with a single in the bottom of the ninth, but no one was able to advance him with the game on the line.
The Gators finished Friday night’s game with five hits in 32 at-bats and struck out 11 times. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, recorded 13 hits in 39 plate appearances and only had seven strikeouts amongst the batters.
The Gators dropped to 3-3 on the season after opening up the year as the No. 3-ranked team in the nation.
Florida will play their next game against Miami in Gainesville on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The Gators and Hurricanes will wrap up the final game of theirseries on Sunday, which is set to begin at 1 p.m.
