Despite a four-run late push in the eighth inning, the No. 24 Gators (17-17, 6-8 SEC) fell just short to South Carolina (25-10, 8-6) by a score of 9-8 on Saturday. They drop their second consecutive SEC series and their sixth game in a row.
Pierce Coppola made his first start since February 20, 2022 due to injury. Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said on his return, “He’s put in a lot of hard work to get back, to be able to pitch in a live game.”
South Carolina got on the board first again with a two run homerun to take a 2-0 lead.
Evans walked to start off the inning for the Gators and Jac Caglianone followed up with his 19th homerun of the season to make it a tie game, 2-2.
Liam Peterson took over for Coppola in the second. Coppola threw one and one-third innings and 31 pitches, striking out three batters. The Gamecocks added three more runs to take a 5-2 lead.
Ty Evans kept the Gators in the game with a solo homerun to left field that almost went foul, making it 5-3 Gamecocks.
In the fourth, the Gamecocks loaded the bases, but Peterson was able to get out of the situation with no runs.
Blake Purnell took the mound in the fifth after Peterson walked two consecutive batters. Peterson pitched two and two-third innings with four strikeouts on the day.
With no outs and the bases loaded, Purnell allowed one run on a walk, but then struck out the next three batters. UF down 6-3.
The Gamecock’s bats stayed hot with a two run homerun in the seventh; the Gators now down 8-3. Fisher Jameson came in for Purnell, but the Gamecocks added another run to make it 9-3. Purnell threw 30 pitches and struck out three batters.
The Gators still had life left in them, loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh. Shelton brought in a run on a sacrifice fly to make it 9-4.
The Gators once again found themselves with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, and pinch-hitter Brody Donay was able to drive in two runs on a single. Gators now down only 9-6.
They added another on a wild pitch, scoring Michael Robertson, making it 9-7. Evans got his fourth hit of the day to bring it within one, 9-8.
Luke McNeillie kept the Gamecocks off the board in the ninth with two strikeouts.
Despite getting two people on base, the Gators could not rally for a win in the bottom of the ninth. They drop the series against South Carolina and are now 6-8 in the SEC, 17-17 overall.
O’Sullivan shared his thoughts on the teams recent struggles postgame, saying, “I’ve been doing this long enough to know even though you might be winning some games and some series, that you’re not playing fundamentally clean, winning baseball…”
The series finale will be at noon Sunday.
ChompTalk.com 
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