Florida Falls to LSU in SEC Tournament
Saturday, May 26, 2018 | Baseball
WHAT HAPPENED: LSU eliminated Florida from the 2018 SEC Tournament with an 11-0 win after resuming play on Saturday morning following a 10-hour fog delay.
Play was halted at 11:55 p.m. local time on Friday night as fog rolled in, making the field unsafe. Play resumed at 10 a.m. on Saturday and LSU recorded three outs in the seventh to complete a run-rule win.
With the loss, Florida will return to Gainesville to prepare for NCAA Regional action which will begin next weekend.
Freshman Jack Leftwich limited the Tigers to just two hits through five innings, but LSU got a pair of doubles and UF made a costly error that put them in a 3-0 hole.
Leftwich was replaced in the sixth inning by Hunter McMullen and things began to fall apart. After a one-out single from Daniel Cabrera, a balk and wild pitch moved him to third. Zach Watson reached on an error and allowed Cabrera to score.
Another wild pitch and a passed ball allowed Watson to score before McMullen was replaced. The Tigers inning continued with a pair of singles and a hit batter that brought in two more runs.
Then the fog rolled in. Cabrera popped a ball up to shallow left field but none of the Gators players could see it due to heavy fog on the field. Two more LSU players came in to score.
The umpires then decided to call all the players off the field in an official "fog delay."
When play resumed Saturday, LSU added another run on an infield single and the Tigers' Nolan Fontenot worked a scoreless seventh to finish the game.
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on the message going into Saturday morning: "The message last night and this morning was to try and battle to get back in the game so we could play a few more innings. The bottom line is, it's a clean slate for everybody next weekend. Everybody goes through a tough stretch during the season. It just happened to us after won the SEC regular season. We're going to go home and have a really good week of practice. We'll work with some guys individually, try to get them back on track and get ready for a regional next weekend."
On the message moving forward: "There's not much to say at this point. The players are disappointed. Ultimately everything falls on my shoulders. It's my responsibility to get these guys in a good place this week. Anything that happens bad on the field is my fault. We'll get together as a staff on the way home and when we get back to Gainesville and put some thoughts together to get these guys going and put them in the best position possible to be successful next weekend.
"The best thing about today was Brady Singer threw a pen and looked great, he looks healthy. The same goes for Tyler Dyson. He threw outstanding in the bullpen. That's certainly a bright spot for us and we look forward to getting those guys back out there next weekend. We'll see what happens with JJ. I know he's feeling better. If we can get healthy this week and get those guys back, obviously we'll get back to where we were before the Mississippi State series.
"The big picture is we won the regular title season, we'll be a top eight national seed again. We've just got to get a couple guys going and get a couple guys back that have been banged up a little bit. Bottom line is we'll play at home again next weekend and we're looking forward to getting back on the field on Friday."
UP NEXT: Florida will return to Gainesville to prepare for the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Regional hosts will be announced Sunday night with the full bracket released on Monday at noon on ESPNU.
Play was halted at 11:55 p.m. local time on Friday night as fog rolled in, making the field unsafe. Play resumed at 10 a.m. on Saturday and LSU recorded three outs in the seventh to complete a run-rule win.
With the loss, Florida will return to Gainesville to prepare for NCAA Regional action which will begin next weekend.
Freshman Jack Leftwich limited the Tigers to just two hits through five innings, but LSU got a pair of doubles and UF made a costly error that put them in a 3-0 hole.
Leftwich was replaced in the sixth inning by Hunter McMullen and things began to fall apart. After a one-out single from Daniel Cabrera, a balk and wild pitch moved him to third. Zach Watson reached on an error and allowed Cabrera to score.
Another wild pitch and a passed ball allowed Watson to score before McMullen was replaced. The Tigers inning continued with a pair of singles and a hit batter that brought in two more runs.
Then the fog rolled in. Cabrera popped a ball up to shallow left field but none of the Gators players could see it due to heavy fog on the field. Two more LSU players came in to score.
The umpires then decided to call all the players off the field in an official "fog delay."
When play resumed Saturday, LSU added another run on an infield single and the Tigers' Nolan Fontenot worked a scoreless seventh to finish the game.
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on the message going into Saturday morning: "The message last night and this morning was to try and battle to get back in the game so we could play a few more innings. The bottom line is, it's a clean slate for everybody next weekend. Everybody goes through a tough stretch during the season. It just happened to us after won the SEC regular season. We're going to go home and have a really good week of practice. We'll work with some guys individually, try to get them back on track and get ready for a regional next weekend."
On the message moving forward: "There's not much to say at this point. The players are disappointed. Ultimately everything falls on my shoulders. It's my responsibility to get these guys in a good place this week. Anything that happens bad on the field is my fault. We'll get together as a staff on the way home and when we get back to Gainesville and put some thoughts together to get these guys going and put them in the best position possible to be successful next weekend.
"The best thing about today was Brady Singer threw a pen and looked great, he looks healthy. The same goes for Tyler Dyson. He threw outstanding in the bullpen. That's certainly a bright spot for us and we look forward to getting those guys back out there next weekend. We'll see what happens with JJ. I know he's feeling better. If we can get healthy this week and get those guys back, obviously we'll get back to where we were before the Mississippi State series.
"The big picture is we won the regular title season, we'll be a top eight national seed again. We've just got to get a couple guys going and get a couple guys back that have been banged up a little bit. Bottom line is we'll play at home again next weekend and we're looking forward to getting back on the field on Friday."
UP NEXT: Florida will return to Gainesville to prepare for the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Regional hosts will be announced Sunday night with the full bracket released on Monday at noon on ESPNU.
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