Florida pitcher Tommy Mace returned to the mound on Friday night against Samford with a gem. The junior earned his second win of the year pitching a six-inning shutout against the Bulldogs in which he allowed just three hits and struck out 11 batters.
Between his performance and another good night from their bats, the Gators (4-2) powered past Samford (3-2), 8-4, to win the opening game of the weekend series.
Mace pitched a clean opening inning, but Samford starter Samuel Strickland also fared well. He gave up one hit in the first to Jud Fabian, but nothing came of it for Florida. The second inning was a different story.
In the top of the frame, Mace was perfect once again. But at the bottom, Strickland struggled to finish it off after opening with two outs. He walked Sterlin Thompson, and then Kris Armstrong and Colby Halter reached on errors. A single from Jordan Carrion scored two runs before Strickland finally got out of the inning,
Mace found himself in some danger in the third after allowing two hits, but he managed to evade it. Fabian led off the bottom of the inning with a homer, and Florida’s lead was pushed to 3-0.
Things continued to go off the rails for Strickland in the fourth, as he gave up an RBI triple to Armstrong followed by another RBI from Halter on a double. Another double from Jacob Young later in the inning gave the Gators their third run in the frame.
The barrage continued into the fifth, as Thompson hit an RBI triple and then scored himself off a fielding error, and Florida was now up 8-0.
The Bulldogs managed to chip away at that lead after Mace was pulled. Reliever Brandon Sproat gave up a homer in the seventh and allowed another run to score in the eighth off a wild pitch. Hunter Mink eventually finished off the eighth, and though he only gave up one hit, Samford managed a small rally in the ninth. It scored two runs off fielder’s choices, but Florida managed to put the game away with a fly-out.
The Gators return to the field on Saturday at 4 p.m. EST, where they will try to take the series against the Bulldogs.
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