Florida mounted a comeback Friday night to beat Mississippi State, but no such heroics were present on Saturday as the Bulldogs evened up the series with a 12-2 victory.
Liam Peterson was fine for three innings and then he imploded in the fourth. Back-to-back homers and four singles turned into five runs, and it was all off hard-hit balls. No errors, no bloopers, just good hitting from Mississippi State.
Grayson Smith took over for Peterson with two outs in the fourth. He got out of the frame without giving up any more runs, but the fifth was a different story. Two more home runs made it 8-1, and a leadoff walk in the sixth brought in Alex Philpott.
Another three-spot in the sixth put the mercy rule in play, but Florida answer with one to force a nine-inning game. The Bulldogs only scored one more run — another home run in the ninth — but it never felt like the Gators would come back.
Perhaps the ugliest moment of the night came during that three-run sixth. A would-be fly out to right field fell between Jac Caglianone, Ty Evans and Cade Kurland as the two infielders crashed into each other. Little league stuff…
Most of the lineup struggled to figure out Mississippi State starter Jurrangelo Cijntje, but Tanner Garrison and Cade Kurland both drove in runs.
This is the kind of loss that teams go through every now and then. Shaking it off and bouncing back to win the series on Sunday is all that matters now that it’s over.
Florida and Mississippi State are back at it tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.
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