HOOVER, Ala.—The Gators scored 12 runs over the final two innings on Friday to beat Mississippi State 12-3 at the SEC Tournament in Hoover.
 
With the win, Florida (42-15) advances in the winner's bracket, reaching the SEC Tournament semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
 
The Gators will start at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET against the winner of Friday night's game between Arkansas and Mississippi State (36-24).
 
The Gators were held scoreless through the first seven innings before sending 15 batters to the plate in the eighth inning to erase a 3-0 deficit with 11 runs on six hits.
 
Florida's 11 runs tied for the most in a single inning in SEC Tournament history. The last time UF scored 11 runs in an inning came against Miami in the 2015 College World Series in Omaha.
 
Jackson Kowar had another quality start on the mound, going seven innings with two earned runs allowed to improve to 11-0 on the year.
 
Christian Hicks sparked the Gators' offense with a three-hit day and Deacon Liput had a pair of hits, both in the eighth inning, and four RBI on the afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cody Brown reached via an error and scored on Hunter Vansau's triple to make it 1-0.
 
Vansau tried to add another run by tagging up on a foul pop to the right side, but Liput's throw home beat him and JJ Schwarz applied the tag to end the inning.
 
Mississippi State added a run in the fifth after a wild pitch allowed Josh Lovelady to score from third and Vansau hit a RBI double to right center in the sixth for a 3-0 lead.
 
After Bulldogs' starter Cole Gordon limited the Gators to three hits through seven innings, the Florida offense exploded in the eighth.
 
Hicks led off with a single to right and Mississippi State went to the bullpen. Mike Rivera followed with a walk and Blake Reese singled to right to load the bases for Deacon Liput.
 
Liput got the Gators on the board with a RBI single and the floodgates opened. Rivera scored on a wild pitch to make it a one-run game.
 
Jonathan India drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home the tying run and Austin Langworthy gave the Gators a lead with a two-run single.
 
Another walk to Rivera brought home another run and Garrett Milchin, who pinch-hit earlier in the inning, singled to right for two more runs to give UF an 8-3 lead.
 
Liput cleared the bases with his second hit of the inning, a double off the wall in left center to cap the huge rally.
 
Florida added a run in the ninth inning and Frank Rubio got the final two outs to finish the game.
 

POSTGAME QUOTES

FLORIDA COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN

Opening Statement …
"It was a crazy game. I haven't checked on Ryan Larson yet, but I hope everything is ok. As far as the game is concerned, I thought Jackson threw the ball well and kept us in the ball game. He gave up two runs over seven.
 
He did a really nice job over the top half of their order and gave us a chance. Michael (Byrne) came in with the bases loaded and did a nice job slowing them down. Their starter did a good job against our hitters and was hitting his spots. He didn't walk anybody and kept us on our heels. All of a sudden Christian (Hicks) gets a line drive hit in the eighth, and then they went to the bullpen and things kind of opened up. It was a good lesson to learn for our team: no matter what happens, as long as we have a chance to swing the bats, we get 27 outs to work with and anything can happen and today was one of those days."
 
On the decision to start Jackson Kowar today and looking ahead to the regional …
"It gives us an option. We haven't set our rotation yet, but we have an option to start Jackson if we need to in the regional. I thought it would be good for Jackson to pitch against a good Mississippi State team and the best hitter in the conference, if not the country. Not many people hold (Brent) Rooker hitless, so great job by Jackson today as far as that is concerned."
 

JACKSON KOWAR, P

On the key to stopping Rooker …
"With him you have to have command of good pitches if you're going against him multiple times. I knew going into the game I was going to have to be able to locate my fastball to both sides of the plate against him, which I was able to do. I have a third pitch changeup, and that is something that I don't think he sees too much, so having command of that was big."
 

DEACON LIPUT, INF

On the mentality of the team during the eighth inning …
"As a team it shows a lot about our character. We came into the eighth inning and we had six outs to work with, so we stuck to our approach and didn't try to do too much."