WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore Tommy Mace tossed the first complete game of his career to give Florida a 3-1 win over Alabama on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.
 
Mace was phenomenal on Friday, limiting the Tide to just three hits (all singles). He faced the minimum in six of nine frames and struck out seven with just one walk.  
 
The Gators manufactured a run in the first inning for an early lead. After Jacob Young drew a leadoff walk, Brady McConnell advanced him to second with a grounder. Young stole third and scored on a groundout from Nelson Maldonado.
 
Alabama evened things up in the third inning. T.J. Reeves singled with one out and advanced to third after a hit batter and fielder's choice. A two-out, infield single from Kolby Robinson brought in Reeves to tie the game. It was the only inning that Alabama managed more than one hit.
 
Florida jumped back in front with a pair of runs in fifth inning. Young again started things off, this time with a double to left center. Back-to-back singles from McConnell and Maldonado brought home Young and Kendrick Calilao's RBI groundout scored McConnell for a 3-1 lead.
 
Young and McConnell each finished with two hits on the night and Maldonado had two RBI.
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Tommy Mace – The sophomore from Tampa had a career-best outing on Friday night, pitching the first complete game of his career with one run allowed on just three hits. He had seven strikeouts and one walk on 119 pitches. He has now pitched into the seventh inning six times in seven starts on the season. He improved to 5-2 on the season and lowered his earned run average to 3.42.
 
STANDOUT STAT: 0 – Florida played excellent defense behind Mace and did not make an error on Friday. It was just the eighth time in 28 games this season the Gators' played errorless ball.
 
FROM THE COACH: Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan – On his visit with Mace in the ninth inning: "I wasn't going to take him out, I just didn't want him to feel like he needed to make perfect pitches to finish this thing off. He had been so good for eight innings. The other thing I told him was that it's a really tough night to get the ball out of here; the wind was blowing in. So just told him to keep doing what he was doing. He was obviously really good tonight."
 
"I talked to Tommy before tonight, that a lot of their hitters like to swing early in the count and we have a chance to get some early outs … the idea was that he pitches deep into the game. I told him he'd have a chance to throw a complete game if he is on his game, and he did."
 
On getting the Friday night win: "We ran into arguably the two most difficult teams in our league [the past two weeks], and you know we're young, we've got a lot of things to learn. That was the message yesterday, we're going to keep going through these mistakes and keep coaching like we always have. At the end of the day we're going to have to eliminate some of these mistakes. We made quite a few on Tuesday night in the bottom of the ninth. But it was good to see, we had the same scenario here, a two-run lead with a runner on first. Kendrick was in the right position, he played back and got on the line. Cory Acton got to the line, Brady [Smith] knew not to throw the ball if the guy took off and Brady McConnell knew not to vacate his position. Our mistakes that we made on Tuesday night in the ninth we did not make tonight so that's a positive sign."
 
RHP Tommy Mace – On pitching a complete game: "I got out of the seventh and [Coach] was like, 'alright, just get six more outs.' I was like, 'ok, sounds good.' I was a little surprised, but it was good with me."
 
On what was working tonight: "I think my changeup today was really good. I threw a lot more sliders this week, which was nice to mix in all four pitches. The cutter was not the best it's been but it worked. The changeup really helped me out this week."
 
UP NEXT: Florida and Alabama continue the series Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Sunday's finale is at 1 p.m. Both games will air on the Gators Sports Network and SEC Network+.