In the first SEC baseball contest in nearly two calendar years, Florida delivered one of its best performances of the young season in a 13-4 beatdown of Texas A&M to take the first game of the weekend series. The Gators (14-5, 1-0 SEC) scored nine runs between the third and fourth innings, and paired with an excellent game on the mound from starter Tommy Mace, the Aggies (15-5, 0-1 SEC) were out of the game from early on.
The first several innings looked like they were setting up a defensive showdown. Mace and TAMU starter Dustin Saenz each allowed one hit in the first and pitched cleanly through the second. Saenz lost control quickly in the third, though, giving up back-to-back singles followed by a walk to lead off the inning. With the bases loaded, two more singles from Nate Hickey and Kirby McMullen brought three runs home to give the Gators the early advantage.
Texas A&M got one back on a home run in the fourth, but a two-run homer from Colby Halter at the bottom of the inning started a big scoring spree. UF added runs on a wild pitch, sac-fly and two singles in the inning, as the Aggies needed three pitchers to end the threat, but not before the Gators took a 9-1 lead.
Mace didn’t face any more issues until the sixth inning, when TAMU mounted a small rally. Florida’s defense, which ranks last in the conference in fielding percentage, made several mistakes. After an error and a wild pitch, the Aggies scored on a double. A single and sac-fly later in the inning added two more runs as Texas A&M cut the Gators’ lead to five, though only one of the three runs Mace allowed in the inning were earned.
Luckily, Florida got some insurance at the bottom of the sixth. Jacob Young hit an RBI single, and Jud Fabian crushed a home run to right-center. Mace was pulled following the seventh inning after allowing six hits and two earned runs while tying his career-high in strikeouts with 11.
Ryan Cabarcas pitched cleanly through the eighth for Florida, and Brandon Sproat put it away in the ninth after giving up a pair of singles to lead off the inning.
The Gators will be back in action on Friday night when they try to take the series against the Aggies. First pitch for that game is set for 6:30 p.m. EDT.
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