Gators outfielder Wil Dalton scores on Friday night in UF's Southeastern Conference opener against Mississippi State. (Photo: UAA Communications)
Gators Face Challenge to Win Series vs. Mississippi State
Saturday, March 16, 2019 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Only a few days removed from their incredible comeback against Florida State, the Gators mounted a ninth-inning comeback against Mississippi State.
Down four runs, right fielder Wil Dalton drew a walk, and center fielder Jud Fabian was hit by a pitch from Bulldogs closer Cole Gordon. Left fielder Austin Langworthy and pinch hitter Blake Reese delivered RBI singles into right field, and pinch hitter Kirby McMullen lofted an RBI sacrifice fly to right field with one out.
Now trailing just 6-5, the No. 7 Gators had the tying run 90 feet away with two outs and one of their top hitters at the plate in shortstop Brady McConnell.
"We never quit," senior designated hitter Nelson Maldonado said. "There's been a couple games this year where we were behind coming into the seventh. All it takes really is one hit."
The McKethan Magic wasn't to be this time, however. Gordon struck out McConnell swinging to secure the victory for the No. 5 Bulldogs in a wild Southeaster Conference opener on Friday night.
Florida's small mistakes added up, and all of the bounces seemed to go the Bulldogs' way.
After a leadoff single by sophomore Brady Smith in the third inning, freshman Cory Acton popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt. It was caught by MSU (17-1) pitcher Ethan Small. Small struck out the next two Gators (14-6) to end the inning.
With the score tied at 1, Smith worked a walk to open the home half of the fifth inning. A one-out sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch moved him to third base with two outs and McConnell at the plate. In somewhat of a foreshadowing at-bat, McConnell struck out swinging.
UF ran into a bit of bad luck in the top of the sixth. Bulldogs speedy leadoff man Jake Mangum hit a slow chopper to second base. Second baseman Jacob Young misjudged the ball, and it rolled under his glove and into shallow right center field for a leadoff double. With one out, Tanner Allen chopped one back at Gators pitcher Tommy Mace. The ball deflected off of him for an infield single. Mangum took off on contact, so a catch would've likely yielded an out at third. Mangum scored on a two-out wild pitch that probably should've been blocked by Smith.
"If I field my position, then no one scores, so that kind of irritates me a little bit," said Mace, who was visibly upset after the game.
Facing Gators reliever Hunter Ruth in the seventh, Mangum lined a one-out RBI single off of Fabian's glove to expand the lead to 3-1. The run most likely would've still scored from third even if Fabian made the catch. Another run in the eighth made it 4-1.
Florida finally got something going offensively in the eighth. With one run already in and a runner on second with two outs, freshman Kendrick Calilao, the Gators' RBI leader, launched a line drive that seemed destined for the right field corner, if not over the wall. Instead, right fielder Elijah McNamee made a tremendous catch on the run just in front of the wall for the final out.
McNamee roped a two-run double into the left center gap off of freshman Ben Specht in the top of the ninth and provided what proved to be the winning runs.
Small (2-0) kept the Gators off balance throughout his six innings, striking out 11 batters. Smith's single and Dalton's solo home run in the fourth were the only hits he allowed.
Small isn't overpowering by any means, topping out in the low-90s with his fastball. But, he's a control wizard, having walked just two batters in 24 innings entering the night. After getting ahead in counts, he often finished the Gators' righties with fastballs up and away. Despite his relative lack of velocity, Small's movement on his pitches caused problems for UF's hitters, Maldonado said.
"It was a battle on the mound," he said. "Their guy threw really well. He made his pitches, and he made them count. Even though he fell behind in the count, he still came back, he threw strikes. We couldn't make an adjustment."
McConnell's 15-game hitting streak and Young's 11-game streak were snapped.
O'Sullivan said his batters were too passive early in the game and let Small dictate the at bats. He wants to see more aggression at the plate from the first pitch in future games.
"He only had two walks coming in, so we probably needed to be a little more in hit mode when the game starts and maybe put a little bit more pressure on them," he said. "Stay on the fastball, push it down in the strike zone and put a good swing on it."
Mississippi State entered the weekend with the SEC's best earned-run average (1.75). Small's ERA was just 1.50, and none of MSU's three relievers had an ERA above 1.
Mace (4-1) pitched like the ace O'Sullivan has entrusted him to be and gave his team a chance, throwing 6 1/3 innings and giving up just three hits. Two pitches – the wild pitch and a solo home run by Justin Foscue – wound up being his demise.
"That's probably the best [Mace] has looked all year, I'll be honest with you," O'Sullivan said. "I thought he was really, really sharp."
Things won't be any easier for Florida on Saturday. The Bulldogs will start freshman righty JT Ginn (4-0, 1.80 ERA), who was drafted 30th overall by the Dodgers in the 2018 MLB Draft and turned down big money to play for MSU. UF will counter with sophomore Jack Leftwich, who was rocked for five earned runs on eight hits in three innings by the Bulldogs a season ago.
"We're going to have to be a little bit more aggressive, and there's some things that we just need to do a little bit better, simple as that," O'Sullivan said.
Friday night games in the SEC often come down to a handful of plays. The Gators made some big plays late in the game both offensively and defensively – Calilao likely robbed Allen of three RBI with a diving catch to end the seventh – but Mississippi State seemed to make all of the plays that mattered.
And now, UF faces an uphill battle to pull out a series victory.
Down four runs, right fielder Wil Dalton drew a walk, and center fielder Jud Fabian was hit by a pitch from Bulldogs closer Cole Gordon. Left fielder Austin Langworthy and pinch hitter Blake Reese delivered RBI singles into right field, and pinch hitter Kirby McMullen lofted an RBI sacrifice fly to right field with one out.
Now trailing just 6-5, the No. 7 Gators had the tying run 90 feet away with two outs and one of their top hitters at the plate in shortstop Brady McConnell.
"We never quit," senior designated hitter Nelson Maldonado said. "There's been a couple games this year where we were behind coming into the seventh. All it takes really is one hit."
The McKethan Magic wasn't to be this time, however. Gordon struck out McConnell swinging to secure the victory for the No. 5 Bulldogs in a wild Southeaster Conference opener on Friday night.
Florida's small mistakes added up, and all of the bounces seemed to go the Bulldogs' way.
After a leadoff single by sophomore Brady Smith in the third inning, freshman Cory Acton popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt. It was caught by MSU (17-1) pitcher Ethan Small. Small struck out the next two Gators (14-6) to end the inning.
With the score tied at 1, Smith worked a walk to open the home half of the fifth inning. A one-out sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch moved him to third base with two outs and McConnell at the plate. In somewhat of a foreshadowing at-bat, McConnell struck out swinging.
UF ran into a bit of bad luck in the top of the sixth. Bulldogs speedy leadoff man Jake Mangum hit a slow chopper to second base. Second baseman Jacob Young misjudged the ball, and it rolled under his glove and into shallow right center field for a leadoff double. With one out, Tanner Allen chopped one back at Gators pitcher Tommy Mace. The ball deflected off of him for an infield single. Mangum took off on contact, so a catch would've likely yielded an out at third. Mangum scored on a two-out wild pitch that probably should've been blocked by Smith.
"If I field my position, then no one scores, so that kind of irritates me a little bit," said Mace, who was visibly upset after the game.
Facing Gators reliever Hunter Ruth in the seventh, Mangum lined a one-out RBI single off of Fabian's glove to expand the lead to 3-1. The run most likely would've still scored from third even if Fabian made the catch. Another run in the eighth made it 4-1.
Florida finally got something going offensively in the eighth. With one run already in and a runner on second with two outs, freshman Kendrick Calilao, the Gators' RBI leader, launched a line drive that seemed destined for the right field corner, if not over the wall. Instead, right fielder Elijah McNamee made a tremendous catch on the run just in front of the wall for the final out.
McNamee roped a two-run double into the left center gap off of freshman Ben Specht in the top of the ninth and provided what proved to be the winning runs.
Small (2-0) kept the Gators off balance throughout his six innings, striking out 11 batters. Smith's single and Dalton's solo home run in the fourth were the only hits he allowed.
Small isn't overpowering by any means, topping out in the low-90s with his fastball. But, he's a control wizard, having walked just two batters in 24 innings entering the night. After getting ahead in counts, he often finished the Gators' righties with fastballs up and away. Despite his relative lack of velocity, Small's movement on his pitches caused problems for UF's hitters, Maldonado said.
"It was a battle on the mound," he said. "Their guy threw really well. He made his pitches, and he made them count. Even though he fell behind in the count, he still came back, he threw strikes. We couldn't make an adjustment."
McConnell's 15-game hitting streak and Young's 11-game streak were snapped.
O'Sullivan said his batters were too passive early in the game and let Small dictate the at bats. He wants to see more aggression at the plate from the first pitch in future games.
"He only had two walks coming in, so we probably needed to be a little more in hit mode when the game starts and maybe put a little bit more pressure on them," he said. "Stay on the fastball, push it down in the strike zone and put a good swing on it."
Mississippi State entered the weekend with the SEC's best earned-run average (1.75). Small's ERA was just 1.50, and none of MSU's three relievers had an ERA above 1.
Mace (4-1) pitched like the ace O'Sullivan has entrusted him to be and gave his team a chance, throwing 6 1/3 innings and giving up just three hits. Two pitches – the wild pitch and a solo home run by Justin Foscue – wound up being his demise.
"That's probably the best [Mace] has looked all year, I'll be honest with you," O'Sullivan said. "I thought he was really, really sharp."
Things won't be any easier for Florida on Saturday. The Bulldogs will start freshman righty JT Ginn (4-0, 1.80 ERA), who was drafted 30th overall by the Dodgers in the 2018 MLB Draft and turned down big money to play for MSU. UF will counter with sophomore Jack Leftwich, who was rocked for five earned runs on eight hits in three innings by the Bulldogs a season ago.
"We're going to have to be a little bit more aggressive, and there's some things that we just need to do a little bit better, simple as that," O'Sullivan said.
Friday night games in the SEC often come down to a handful of plays. The Gators made some big plays late in the game both offensively and defensively – Calilao likely robbed Allen of three RBI with a diving catch to end the seventh – but Mississippi State seemed to make all of the plays that mattered.
And now, UF faces an uphill battle to pull out a series victory.
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C/INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballFlorida-LSU Game 2 Highlights
Friday, May 15
Florida vs. Kentucky Highlights 5-9-26
Sunday, May 10
Brendan Lawson Postgame Press Conference May 10, 2026 | Kentucky
Sunday, May 10
Caden McDonald Postgame Press Conference May 10, 2026 | Kentucky
Sunday, May 10
