WHAT HAPPENED: No. 1 Florida edged No. 22 Auburn 3-1 on Thursday night at McKethan Stadium in a pitching duel that lived up to the hype.
In front of over 60 MLB scouts, the Gators'
Brady Singer and Auburn's Casey Mize combined for 14 innings and 18 strikeouts as the matchup of top MLB Draft prospects lived up to the billing.
Singer was very sharp on Thursday, finishing with seven innings and just one run allowed on four hits with eight strikeouts. Mize also went seven innings with three runs on three hits.
The Gators did their damage against Mize early, as
Jonathan India launched a 1-0 pitch into the left-field bleachers to give Florida a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Auburn took advantage of a leadoff single and hit batter in the fourth, sacrificing them over and scraping across a run with a RBI groundout.
Florida got the run back in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out rally. India was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before
Austin Langworthy and
Brady Smith strung together a pair of two-out singles to bring India home for a 3-1 lead.
The two-run advantage was more than enough, as
Jordan Butler and
Michael Byrne finished off the game with a scoreless inning each. Byrne earned his 11th save of the season.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Brady Singer – With seven strong innings, Singer improved to 9-1 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 2.62. In his last three starts he has combined for 21.0 innings with four runs allowed on just eight hits.
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on tonight's pitching matchup: "Oftentimes you have two pitchers rated this highly, sometimes it doesn't work out like that, maybe they try to do too much. It ended up being exactly what we thought it would be, a well-pitched game, both guys kept their emotions in check and both guys did what they were supposed to do. It was really fun to be a part of it."
Florida starter Brady Singer on tonight's start against Casey Mize: "It was awesome. I think we both came out with an edge, we both knew it was a big game. I don't think either one of us let it get to us, we came out doing our job. He threw really well; he's an unbelievable pitcher."
Singer on Jonathan India's home run: "I was stoked. Especially in the first inning, because then in the next few innings I can kind of relax a little more."
STANDOUT STAT: 7.0 –
Brady Singer has gone 7.0 innings in eight of 11 starts this season.
UP NEXT: Florida and Auburn will continue the series Friday night at 6:30 p.m. The finale is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on SEC Network+ via the WatchESPN app.
