SB: Gators Bully Georgia To Even Road Series
Photo by Brian Fox | ChompTalk.com

After batting 1-22 (.045) and losing the series opener in Athens, Ga., Saturday night, No. 5 Florida stomped No. 20 Georgia 17-1 in run-rule fashion Sunday.

Senior right-hander Natalie Lugo hurled her second complete game this season and improved to 8-1. Lugo retired the first eight Georgia batters until catcher Payden Bordeau — who took Elizabeth Hightower yard Saturday — hit a two-out double in the bottom of the third. Bulldogs second baseman Sydney Kuma singled home Bordeau for Georgia’s lone run.

Following the blunder, Lugo yielded just one baserunner in the fourth before she delivered a one-two-three fifth inning to clinch the run-rule victory.

In the top of the first inning, Florida third baseman Charla Echols and catcher Julia Cottrill hit back-to-back home runs of Georgia right-hander Alley Cutting. Echols’ team-high sixth dinger this season and Cottrill’s second career homer gave the Gators a 3-0 lead.

Florida added two runs in the top of the second before an explosive eight-run third inning. Three straight walks led to center fielder Cheyenne Lindsey’s second straight RBI double — a two-run double down the right-field line. After hitting through the lineup, right fielder Avery Goelz capped off the hit parade with a bases-clearing double.

Following a scoreless fourth, the Gators scored five more insurance runs in the top of the fifth. Lindsey drove in two more runs and Echols drew a RBI walk as both players recorded game-highs in RBIs (5).

Final (R/H/E)

No. 5 Florida : 17 / 12 / 0

No. 20 Georgia : 1 / 3 / 0

Pitching Decision

Win: Lugo (8-1)

Loss: Cutting (4-2)

Individual Stats (season totals)

Lugo: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (1.59 ERA; 0.99 WHIP)

Adams: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 HBP (.457 BA)

Lindaman: 1-1, 1 R, 2 BB (.333 BA)

Echols: 1-3, 1 R, 5 RBI, HR (6), BB (.364 BA)

Cottrill: 1-2, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (2), 2 BB (.289 BA)

Hoover: 1-2, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.296 BA)

A. Goelz: 2-2, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB (.268 BA)

Longley: 0-1, 3 R, 2 BB (.143 BA)

Matthews: 1-1, 1 RBI (.242 BA)

Lindsey: 3-4, 3 R, 5 RBI (.398 BA)

Rubber Match

The teams will face off in a rubber match Monday at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.

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