After rain forced the last two games to be moved to Saturday, Florida Gators baseball played 18 innings of baseball against Mississippi State.

The two squads split the doubleheader with the Bulldogs (18-2), winning game one 10-5 and the Gators (15-7) taking game two 4-2.

Game one of the day didn’t start off well for the Gators.

Lead-off batter Jake Mangum sent a solo-home run over the right field wall off of Jack Leftwich to open the scoring for Mississippi State.

Leftwich would settle down though after the lead-off home run, retiring the next eight batters in order to keep the Gators in the ball game.

However, Mississippi State starter J.T. Ginn would shut down the Gator offense who entered the game averaging over 12 runs a game.

“He can manipulate his fastball like I haven’t seen from a young kid in a long time,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

Ginn wouldn’t allow run until the seventh inning, striking out 11 Gator batters in the process. Florida was able to at least get one base runner in every inning, but any threat was halted by Ginn.

“He has a live arm,” Nelson Maldonado said of Ginn, “he knows how to command his pitches, he places them really well, he’s very mature for being a freshman.”

He would end up going six and a third innings, allowing four earned runs and ten hits, He would also strike out 11 and not walk a batter.

Mississippi State padded its lead in the top of the fourth when Tanner Allen hit a solo-home run into the left field bleachers to make it 2-0.

It would become 3-0 an inning later when Mangum drove in Gunner Halter with a double to right-center field. Mangum would finish the game 3-5 with two RBI’s.

An inning later, the Bulldogs would add to their lead. Elijah MacNamee would hit a solo-home run to make it 4-0, the Bulldogs third home run of the game. After Justin Foscue bunted for a base hit, Leftwich was forced to exit the game. The Gator starter left the game with a trainer and has been dealing with a blister on his throwing hand.

He would finished the game going five and a third innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits while striking out six.

David Luethje would relive him and proceed to allow a run immediately. He would allow back-to-back singles to Dustin Skelton and Josh Hatcher that allowed Foscue to score and make it 5-0.

The Gators would score their first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Wil Dalton started things by reaching on an infield single. Austin Langworthy would deliver on the next at-bat, putting a base hit into right field that allowed Dalton to race home from 1st and make it 5-1.

Mississippi State would quickly re-extend its lead in the top of the seventh. Mangum and Westburg started the inning with back-to-back doubles, scoring Mangum and making it 6-1. Foscue would then drive in Westburg with an infield single.

However, the Gators would tighten things up in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs to make it 7-4. After back-to-back singles form Cory Acton and Jacob Young, Brady McConnell would hit a ground-rule double over the right field wall to score them both.

Kendrick Calilao would then drive in McConnell with a single to center field.

However, the Bulldogs would add three runs of their own in the top of the ninth inning to make it 10-4.

Kris Armstrong would a home run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 10-5.

Acton lead the Gators at the plate, going 2-3 and being hit by a pitch. Dalton and Young also had two hits each. Florida would finish with 11 hits but strikeout 12 times.

The second outing for Florida boded much better.

Starting pitcher Tyler Dyson was locked in early and turned out his best outing of the season. Dyson began the game by retiring six of the first seven batters he faced to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.

The lone run Dyson would allow in the game would come it the top of the third. Josh Hatcher doubled to lead-off the inning and was driven in when Jordan Westburg hit a double of his own to make it 1-0 Mississippi State.

After that, Dyson would stifle the Bulldog bats. The Gator starter allowed only two hits over the next three and a third innings.

“That’s the best he’s pitched all year, we needed him to,” O’Sullivan said.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Florida bats would come to life. Nelson Maldonado led off the frame with a double to left-center field and advanced to third when Wil Dalton knocked a single to left.

The Gators would tie the game up when Bulldog starter Keegan James was called for a balk and sent Maldonado home and made it 1-1.

Two batter later, Kris Armstrong would give Florida the lead when he ripped a double down the right field line and allowed Dalton to score. That gave the Gators a 2-1 lead and their first lead off the series.

Brady Smith would add another run in the inning after his single to left field score Armstrong and extend the lead to 3-1.

An inning later, Maldonado would clobber his third home run of the season, sending a pitch from reliever Brandon Smith into the left-field bleachers to make it 4-1.

“I knew they’ve been coming with fastballs to me the whole series and I had to stay aggressive and was hunting fastballs,” Maldonado said.

Mississippi State would put some pressure on the Gators in the top of the seventh though. Luke Hancock led off the inning by drawing a walk and Marshall Gilbert singled off Dyson to put two runners on. That would end the night for Dyson.

The Florida starter would throw 84 pitches in the game, allowing two earned runs on six hits while recording a strike-out and walking only one batter.

“When you’re coming into a game at home and you lose the first two games of a series in SEC weekend, you gotta go out there and you can’t get swept at home,” Dyson said. “I felt great today, everything was sharper and harder. I felt really good with my slider.”

Jordan Butler would enter to relieve Dyson and immediately struck out Bulldog pinch hitter Brad Cumbest. However, Gunner Halter would come to the plate next and make it a 4-2 game after he singled to center field to score Hancock.

The play that would happen next would save the game potentially for the Gators.

Jake Mangum came to the plate next, looking to give Mississippi State the lead with one swing. ON an 0-2 pinch from Butler, Mangum appeared to have done that. Mangum crushed a ball to deep left field that looked like it was going to clear the wall.

Young had other ideas. The freshman leaped at the wall and plucked Mangum’s hit out of the air to rob the senior slugger of a home run and preserve the 4-2 lead.

“Some of those catches out there were unbelievable, “ Dyson said of Young’s play, “he’s a hard worker and glad he was able to help us out.”

Christian Scott would relieve Butler and end the inning by striking out Westburg.

Scott would pitch the remainder of the game for the Gators, tossing a scoreless 8th and 9th inning to pick up the save and get the 4-2 win.

Maldonado had a great second game at the plate, going 3-4, including his home run. Kris Armstrong also had two base hits.

Florida will continue play on Tuesday when the Gators host Jacksonville. The Gators beat the Dolphins 5-4 in Jacksonville in extra innings earlier in the season.

O’Sullivan said Nolan Crisp will get the start.