WHAT HAPPENED: No. 9 Kentucky salvaged the series finale against No. 1 Florida with a 3-2 win on Saturday afternoon in Lexington.
 
The Gators clinched the series with wins on Thursday and Friday. UF is 14-4 in the SEC and first place overall with four series left.
 
Deacon Liput led off the game with a double to right field and it would prove to be the Gators' only hit off Kentucky starter Justin Lewis, who went eight innings and quieted the UF bats with an excellent changeup.
 
The Wildcats took advantage of four walks from UF starter Tyler Dyson and scored a run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead.
 
The Gators turned to freshman Jack Leftwich, who turned in a career-best performance to combat the start that Kentucky got from Lewis, who went eight innings with one run allowed on one hit.
 
Leftwich pitched six shutout innings, a career high, with just two hits allowed.
 
The Gators scored in the fifth inning after Nick Horvath drew a two-out walk and advanced to second on a balk. He then scored on an errant throw on Liput's ground ball to second.
 
JJ Schwarz's solo home run in the ninth inning cut the deficit to one but UK closer Chris Machamer finished off the game.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Jack Leftwich – Leftwich entered the game with no outs in the third inning and went on to pitch six shutout innings with two hits allowed. The six innings pitched were a career high.

FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on today's game: "Going back to the first [inning], I think that's the second time this year we've had the bases loaded, nobody out and we didn't score. You never really know when you're opportunities are going to come. Credit their starter [Justin Lewis] -- Wil Dalton had a heck of a weekend, JJ had another good weekend at the plate – he had his changeup going.
 
"I think the disappointing thing, not just the first inning, sometimes you just have to credit the pitcher, but as the game went on I don't think we made the adjustments that we usually do make. But credit their pitcher, it was a really good changeup. We knew that going in, we've seen Lewis enough to know that when he's got that changeup going it's a tough pitch to handle.
 
"The bright side is Jack came in and pitched six scoreless innings. He was really good. That's a really good Kentucky team. Any time you go on the road and win two out of three against a Top 10 team you've got to feel good about it. But we fought, we still got the tying run to the plate there in the ninth. Overall, today was a little disappointing but the big picture on the weekend, we played pretty good this weekend."
 
STANDOUT STAT: 2 – The Gators had just two hits on day, their fewest in a game this season.

UP NEXT: Florida heads back to Gainesville for a four-game home stand next week. Tuesday night the Gators will host Mercer (6 p.m., SEC Network+) and beginning Thursday UF will host another Top 25 matchup with the Auburn Tigers.