Florida outhit Missouri on Saturday but the Gators fell to the Tigers, 4-3, dropping their first weekend series of the season.
Liam Peterson delivered his best start since the beginning of SEC play, but four wild pitches on the day led to a sloppy final line. He gave up four runs — all earned — on four hits and a pair of walks. Two of those runs scored on spiked breaking balls, handing the game to Missouri in the bottom of the sixth.
It wasn’t a bad start for Peterson, though. He went six innings without too much trouble and retired 10 straight batters before a dropped third strike put a man on. Peterson’s got really good stuff, but those wild pitches cost him with men on third base. Take those away and its a quality start and potentially a win.
Florida’s team-wide slump at the plate continued, except for Jac Caglianone’s two hits. His 15th home run of the season put Florida ahead briefly in the top of the sixth, but then Peterson gave away the lead.
Broday Donay, Ty Evans, Colby Shelton and Tyler Shelnut struck out twice — Evans for the sixth time in the past two games. Hardly anyone in Orange and Blue is seeing the ball well. The ones that are — Luke Heyman, in particular — are delivering hard-hit balls right into gloves.
Blake Purnell pitched the seventh and eight for Florida. He looked good (except for one ball thrown behind a batter), striking out three and facing the minimum.
Bringing in Purnell after Peterson worked well. Peterson is overpowering with a 95-97 mph fastball that comes out of the three-quarters arm slot, and Purnell has that 89-90 mph stuff that plays well with his funky delivery. The two combined for 12 punchouts.
The Gators are going to take a hit in the rankings this week. Missouri entered the series with just one SEC win, and Florida’s saving grace was that it won big weekend series against good teams after blowing it in the midweek.
Caglianone takes the mound on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET with hopes of righting the ship.
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