Florida’s bats couldn’t figure out LSU starter Luke Holman all night Friday en route to a 6-1 series-opening loss in Baton Rouge to the Tigers.
The Gators struck out 16 times in total. Holman recorded his first nine outs via the punchout, and Florida’s hitters looked completely confused at the plate until Ty Evans broke up the no-hitter with a solo shot to right field.
Florida only conjured up four hits all night, though. It took until the seventh, when Griffin Herring took over for Holman in relief, to notch the second hit of the evening. The other two came in the ninth — Evans with a single and Tyler Shelnut with a double to left field.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Kevin O’Sullivan tinker with the lineup after this one.
On the mound, Cade Fisher looked decent despite taking the loss and surrendering five earned runs. Fisher is slowly figuring things out, but at some point, the results are going to catch up with him. An 8.13 ERA through six starts simply doesn’t cut it.
Ryan Slater, Fisher Jameson and Blake Purnell threw the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, in that order. Each gave up hit, and Slater walked a batter, but they kept LSU from adding to the lead mostly. A run crossed in the eighth, but Cade Kurland’s fifth error of the year took it off Purnell’s official record.
Liam Peterson will take the mound for Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
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