The Gators couldn’t keep their walk-off momentum into Saturday’s game, dropping the contest to St. Mary’s, 9-7. Many questions surrounding the Gators pitching staff remain as the bullpen continues to struggle with closing out games.
Freshman Liam Peterson got the Saturday start for the Gators.
The Gators struck first with an RBI single from Ty Evans to score Caglianone. Gators take the lead in the bottom of the first, 1-0.
They kept the momentum going in the second with a three run homerun from Kurland, taking a 4-0 lead.
The Gaels got on the board with back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth, cutting the Gators lead in half, 4-2.
St. Mary’s kept pushing into the fifth, going through Gators pitchers. Purnell came in for Peterson. Peterson’s day ended after four innings and two strikeouts. Smith came in for Purnell, and then Smith was replaced by Philpott. The Gaels got four runs to take a 6-4 lead.
Shelton responded with a solo homerun, his ninth of the season, to get the Gators back within one, now down 6-5.
The Gators took the lead in the seventh thanks to a two run homerun from Luke Heyman, his fourth of the season. Gators up 7-6.
St. Mary’s got a solo homerun off of Philpott to tie the game 7-7. McNeillie came in to pitch in the seventh and the Gaels continued to take advantage of the Gator’s freshman arms with a two run homerun, now up 9-7.
It was a quiet eighth and ninth for the Gators as they couldn’t come up with a response, dropping the contest with a final score of 9-7 Gaels.
Game three will be played Sunday at 1 p.m. for the series.
ChompTalk.com 
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