Low-Scoring Affair Favors the Gators in Alabama Baseball’s 3-1 Loss at 15th-Ranked Florida

A tight game between Alabama and Florida saw the 15^th-ranked Gators come away with a 3-1 win on Friday evening at McKethan Stadium. The loss moves the Crimson Tide’s record to 20-7 overall, including a 2-5 mark in Southeastern Conference play.

"Their starter Tommy Mace was outstanding. He did a great job,” said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. “We didn’t play bad, but we gave them a little bit more than they gave us. They played a really, really clean game. I thought we were a little tentative tonight – that’s what I talked to the team about, and I’m really anxious for us to come back out tomorrow and be a little more aggressive.”

Florida starter Tommy Mace (5-2) allowed only one run across his complete game effort. The sophomore allowed three hits and issued a walk while striking out seven for the win on Friday night. Sam Finnerty (4-3) suffered the loss, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts across his 4.0-plus innings of work. Finnerty saw his night end in the fifth when he ran into trouble, but redshirt freshman Chase Lee and junior Casey Cobb entered in relief, combining for the final 4.0 innings and keeping the UF offense at bay.

The Gators were first on the board in Friday’s matchup, scoring one in the bottom of the first for the early 1-0 lead. Alabama evened things up in the top of the third thanks to an RBI-single from Kolby Robinson. The junior crossed freshman T.J. Reeves, who got aboard with a one-out single before eventually coming around to score on the Robinson two-out single.

Both teams went scoreless through the fourth before the Gators tallied a pair in the fifth for a 3-1 advantage. Alabama threatened in the sixth with a leadoff walk, but a double play and a strikeout followed. In the ninth, the Tide was able to reach the leadoff man once again but then went down in order, with Mace using a strikeout, popup and groundout to end things at 3-1 in favor of the Gators.

Alabama will look to even the series up on Saturday evening when the Crimson Tide and Gators meet for a 5:30 p.m. CT first pitch at McKethan Stadium. The game two matchup will feature a pair of righties with redshirt junior Brock Love getting the nod for UA while Florida counters with Tyler Dyson, a junior. The game will air live on SEC Network+.

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