WHAT HAPPENED: Mississippi State scored six runs late to beat Florida 6-3 on Thursday night in the series opener in Starkville.
 
The Gators took a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning on Austin Langworthy's solo home run, but the Bulldogs stormed back with two runs in the seventh and four runs in the eighth inning for the win.
 
Elijah MacNamee's two-run home run in the seventh inning cut the deficit to one run.
 
Mississippi State had a rally in the eighth inning to come from behind for the win. Jake Mangum's two-run triple put the Bulldogs ahead 4-3 and a two-run homer from Tanner Allen provided some insurance.
 
Florida took an early lead in the third inning with a pair of runs on three hits. Deacon Liput's single scored Blake Reese from second and a sac fly from JJ Schwarz made it 2-0.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Tommy Mace – The freshman made his first career SEC start on Thursday night and was brilliant. He pitched a career-high 6 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on three hits, striking out a career-best five hitters.

FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on Tommy Mace: "In the grand scheme of things, he threw outstanding, even more than I thought. I probably could have left him in there in the seventh but I was really trying to be careful about him coming away feeling good about himself because we'll really need him down the stretch. He gave up three hits over 6 1/3 and I thought he was outstanding and that's exactly what we needed. That's kind of what we got last year from Tyler Dyson. It was a shot in the arm down the stretch."
 
STANDOUT STAT: 3 – Thursday was just the third loss by the UF bullpen all season. UF relievers now have an 11-3 record with 15 saves on the season.

UP NEXT: Florida and Mississippi State will continue the series on Friday night at 7. Saturday's series finale will be at 4:30 p.m. Both games will air on ESPNU and on the Gators IMG Sports Network.