Garrett Blaylock's three-run blast into a stiff wind in the top of the first was all the offense the Georgia Bulldogs needed Sunday afternoon to avoid being swept by the No. 10 Florida Gators.
Florida (35-16,17-10 SEC) stranded 12 runners on base, 10 of which were in scoring position, and hit just 3-17 with runners on base.
"Bottom line, we got beat today. I don't think we played poorly, we just fell behind early and we couldn't come up with a big, two-out hit," Kevin O'Sullivan said after the game. "Cannon threw the ball really well and sometimes you just got to tip your cap to your opponent, and we just got beat. Simple as that."
The Bulldogs (29-20, 12-15 SEC) used six pitchers and scattered eight Florida hits while holding the Orange and Blue to just one run, a Sterlin Thompson single that plated Kendrick Calilao, in the second inning.
Franco Alemán got the start on Sunday, the first series finale start for the junior college transfer. Alemán struck out the first batter he faced but three batters and eight pitches later Georgia held a 3-0 lead on Blaylock's home run. Georgia added another run in the second when Chaney Rogers blasted a solo home run to left field.
Florida threatened in the third, getting runners on the corners before Kendrick VCalilao's ground out ended the frame. The Gators recorded two hits in the fifth and loaded the bases, but again, stranded everyone, unable to get the clutch hit with runners on base.
"He's had a history of maybe being a little bit of a slow starter," O'Sullivan said. "I don't know if he's got to maybe go through and execute some pitches for the first three hitters of a game. The Blaylock at-bat, I think nine of his last 11 at-bats he had swung at the first pitch, and we just left the ball out over the middle of the plate and they took the 3-0 lead.
Alemán (1-3) took the loss Sunday. The Gators have lost the last three games that Alemán has started and now head to Fayetteville to take on the No. 1 ranked Razorbacks, who just took two of three from Tennessee in Knoxville.
"We'll focus on Arkansas tonight, and it's a short week, obviously, we travel on Wednesday and play Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We still got a lot to play for. We're right in the middle of this thing," O'Sullivan said. "It'll be a great challenge to play Arkansas at their place, but at the end of the day, if we want to get to the final destination and have an opportunity to play for a national championship, we're going to have to play Arkansas and teams like Arkansas. It's a great opportunity for us and we're going to move on from this game tonight and start working on Arkansas tonight."
