WHAT HAPPENED: Florida fell in the regular-season home finale 4-1 to No. 15 Georgia on Sunday.
UF won the first two games of the weekend to clinch its 19th straight series win.
The Gators grabbed the first lead of the game in the second. With
Wil Dalton at third base,
Blake Reese picked up his fifth RBI of the series on a groundout to the shortstop.
In the next frame, Georgia took the lead with one swing. Keegan McGovern pulled a 1-0 pitch to left plating three Bulldogs.
They tacked on another run in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.
The Florida bullpen would shut down the Georgia bats from there. UF relievers combined to give up just one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings.
Andrew Baker and
Michael Byrne both pitched two complete innings out of the pen, retiring 12 of the 15 batters they faced.
Jonathan India,
Austin Langworthy and Dalton all reached base twice with a hit and a walk for each of them.
Prior to the game, seniors JJ Schwartz and
Nick Horvath were honored on the field.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Andrew Baker – Baker was Coach
Kevin O'Sullivan's first call to the bullpen. The sophomore left-hander pitched two scoreless innings while striking out a pair of Bulldog batters. This is the sixth time this season Baker has pitched at least two innings of relief. The sophomore has a 2.36 ERA in 17 appearances (26 2/3 innings).
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on today's game: "We were rolling over on a lot of breaking balls to the left side of the infield. We probably had eight or nine ground ball outs. It looked like early on (Kevin Smith) might have some command issues walking a couple of the first batters. Credit to him, he settled in and it didn't seem like he threw very many balls in the middle of the plate. His slider moved five or six inches to the right. I thought our bullpen came in and did a nice job.
Jordan Butler came in there and made a big pitch to get us out of a jam late there. All in all it was a good weekend."
STANDOUT STAT: 260 – JJ Schwartz set the new school record with his 260th start in a Gator uniform. Schwartz passed former Gator Preston Tucker. Schwartz is now five games away from tying Tucker for first in program history in games played.
UP NEXT: Florida wraps up the regular season at Mississippi State. The Gators begin their three-game set with the Bulldogs on Thursday with first pitch set for 7:30 p.m.
