WHAT HAPPENED: The Gators' ninth-inning rally fell just short, as No. 5 Mississippi State held on to be No. 7 Florida 6-5 on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.
 
Florida scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run at third base, but MSU closer Cole Gordon struck out Brady McConnell to seal the win.
 
Advertised as a pitchers' duel entering the night, the game lived up to its billing in the early going. UF's Tommy Mace and the Bulldogs' Ethan Small worked quickly and efficiently through three scoreless innings.
 
Wil Dalton broke the tie with a solo home run over the left field bleachers in the bottom of the fourth. The Bulldogs tied the game in the fifth with a line drive home run from Justin Foscue to tie it at 1-1.
 
Mississippi State took the lead in the sixth. A pair of hits and a wild pitch allowed Jake Mangum to score the go-ahead run off Mace.
 
The Bulldogs threatened again in the seventh and a RBI single by Mangum extended the lead to 3-1. Hunter Ruth escaped the threat without any further damage thanks to a diving catch from Kendrick Calilao.
 
Mississippi State added another run in the eighth on a RBI single Josh Hatcher before the Gators responded.
 
Florida got a run back in the bottom of the eighth on a RBI single from Nelson Maldonado. A batter later, Calilao drove a ball to right field but Elijah MacNamee made a running catch on the warning track to end the inning.
 
MacNamee added some needed insurance a two-run double in the ninth for a 6-2 lead.
 
The Gators attempted their best rally in the ninth, sparked by a leadoff walk by Wil Dalton and hit batter. Austin Langworthy singled to bring home Dalton and pinch hitter Blake Reese came through with a RBI single to make it a two-run game.
 
Kirby McMullen's sac fly cut the deficit to one and allowed Reese to reach third base, but McConnell's strikeout ended the threat. It also ended McConnell's 15-game hitting streak.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Tommy Mace – The sophomore pitched 6.1 innings on 85 pitches, pitching very efficiently for most of the night. He allowed just one baserunner through the first four innings, via a walk, before the solo home run by Foscue. He left the game in the seventh after a walk and hit batter were sacrificed into scoring position.
 
STANDOUT STAT: 9 – After
 
FROM THE COACH: Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan – On tonight's game: "I thought both starters were really good. I thought that's the best Tommy has looked all year to be honest with you. Other than the leadoff walk one inning and the hit by pitch, I thought he was really, really sharp. Probably one of the more important plays of the game was a comebacker to him with Mangum at second; he took off and if we catch the ball we probably have an out there at third base. I thought Tommy gave a great effort and was very sharp. Obviously, they came out very aggressive, I think the first inning was like five pitches. They had a game plan against him.
 
"It's a typical Friday night, but when you look at it there's just some mistakes we made that cost us a run here and a run there. When they went to the bullpen their guys did a really nice job throwing strikes and didn't give us much. We put on a run there at the end. The one wild pitch with Mangum at third we tried to glove the ball, didn't put our body in front. I think Wil [Dalton] had a 3-2 count to start an inning and chased out of the zone. Tip your cap to Ethan Small, he was really good. His numbers were outstanding coming in, but I thought we were a little bit tentative in the early innings. We took a lot of fastball strikes and then he was able to move the ball in and out a little bit more. I hope moving forward when we face some of these really good teams and pitchers, he only had two walks coming in, so we probably need to be a little more on 'hit mode' to put a little more pressure on him."
 
UP NEXT: Florida and Mississippi State continue their series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will air live on SEC Network and the Gators Sports Network (98.1 FM/AM 850 in Gainesville).