WHAT HAPPENED: Brady Singer pitched six strong innings to lead Florida to a 7-3 win at South Carolina to win its Southeastern Conference opener.
 
Singer improved to 5-0 on the season, allowing just one run on two hits with seven strikeouts.
 
Michael Byrne pitched the final two innings to record his fourth save of the season.
 
The Gamecocks struck first on LT Tolbert's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first inning.
 
Florida stormed back in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a leadoff walk to JJ Schwarz. Jonathan India singled and both runners advanced on a long fly ball from Deacon Liput.
 
Blake Reese stroked a single back up the middle to bring in both runners for a 2-1 lead.
 
The Gators extended the lead in the fifth on Deacon Liput's two-out, RBI single that scored Nelson Maldonado from second.
 
Maldonado added a two-run double in the sixth inning to make give Florida a 5-1 lead.
 
South Carolina tried to fight back with runs in the seventh and eighth, but a two-run home run from India in the top of the ninth closed the door.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Brady Singer – Singer improved to 5-0 on the year, earning the decision in all five games he's started this season. Last year, Singer did not win his fifth game until April 28.

FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on tonight's game: "I just told the guys there [after the game], any time you get a road win in this league – it's not easy to do. There were a lot of weird things that happened in the game, obstacles that we needed to get over. I thought Brady was solid in his start, got us through six innings. Michael did what Michael does at the end there.
 
"I thought our approach at the plate was really good, we were really frustrated early on. Adam Hill is very talented obviously. We laid off some up fastballs and that was the whole key for us tonight offensively. We got his pitch count up to 98 pitches through 4.2 innings. We didn't chase up in the zone. He's very talented and gets a lot of guys to do that. Those two runs there in the ninth ended up being really important because they had two runners on with only one out before we doubled up one of their fastest runners. I thought all-in-all it was a solid game for us. I'm really, really pleased with how we played offensively."

STANDOUT STAT: 20.1 – Michael Byrne has run his scoreless streak to 20.1 innings, having yet to allow a run this season through 14.1 innings pitched. He finished 2017 with a 7.0 scoreless inning streak.

UP NEXT: Florida and South Carolina will meet again Saturday at 4 p.m. at Founders Park in Columbia. Jackson Kowar (3-0, 2.05 ERA) will take the mound for the Gators and Cody Morris (3-1, 4.05 ERA) will start for the Gamecocks.
 
Saturday's game will stream live on SEC Network+ and the Gators IMG Sports Network. Sunday's finale will air live on ESPNU at 1 p.m.