Unusually, the No. 6 Gators struggled on all fronts.
Nothing was clicking for the Gators (15-11, 5-3 SEC) in their loss to the No. 21 Bulldogs Saturday night. With the win, Mississippi State (19-9, 4-4 SEC) evened the series at one a piece.
The first problem was in the pitching. Starting pitcher Liam Peterson had a solid start through the first three innings but fell apart in the fourth.
The Bulldogs hit back-to-back home runs before three consecutive RBI singles to stretch a 5-1 lead.
“We can’t keep letting these things get away from us,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame.
Peterson finished with five earned runs, seven hits, two walks and four strikeouts through 3.2 innings pitched. It was his third loss this season.
With a young pitching staff, O’Sullivan said he knows mistakes are going to be made. But, his team has to learn from them.
“When one guy makes mistake, the other people need to be paying attention, watching the game and learn from them.”
The defense struggled at times, as well. After intentionally walking a Bulldog to load the bases and set up a double play, a routine popup fly fell past the defense for a double, scored three of Mississippi State’s runs and extended the inning.
While recording hits few and far between, batters couldn’t drive runners in to score but had few opportunities. The Gators had six hits to the Bulldogs’ 14.
Tanner Garrison put the Gators on the board first with an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning. However, that was Florida’s only lead of the night.
Mississippi State totaled 10 unanswered runs through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings until the Gators got one back on a Cade Kurland RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
“It’s frustrating to watch,” O’Sullivan said.
The Bulldogs put the final nail in the coffin on a solo home run in the top of the ninth to extend their lead back to 10 runs.
Florida’s offense struck out a total of 11 times in the loss and finished with only one extra base hit out of the six. It proved difficult to get runners into scoring position.
The Gators and Bulldogs square off in the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m. to decide the series winner. Jac Caglianone is set to take the mound.
ChompTalk.com 
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