The Gamecocks had already clinched their first series win over Florida since 2011 with a Game 2 win on Saturday, and they added insult to injury in Game 3 on Sunday.
Trying to avoid a sweep, the Gators came up short and were defeated in all three games by South Carolina for the first time since the 2006 season. In the final game of the series, Florida’s pitchers struggled as USC held on for an 8-5 win despite a late rally attempt from Florida.
The first inning went by without either UF’s Hunter Barco or South Carolina’s Will Sanders allowing a hit. The bats started to get hot in the second inning, though.
It was the Gators that managed to grab the early lead off a homer in the second from Sterlin Thompson, but Sanders only allowed one more hit the rest of the way, giving up just two hits and three runs (two earned) in four innings as he earned his fourth win of the season.
Meanwhile, Barco quickly lost control of the game in the bottom of the frame. He allowed back-to-back home runs to lead off the inning and then a third later in the inning. In the third inning, the Gamecocks crushed a fourth homer off Barco and led 4-1.
The Gators got a run back in the fourth with their second homer of the day, this time from Kirby McMullen, and it scored two runs to bring the game within one. Barco managed to somewhat salvage the terrible start, getting through five innings without allowing additional damage, but he still gave up six hits and four earned runs in five innings of work to take his second loss of the season.
Ben Specht entered for Florida in the sixth looking to lead a comeback, but after he gave up a two-RBI double and two-run homer in the frame, the Gators found themselves down five runs.
UF attempted a minor rally in the eighth inning, and it managed to score a pair of runs off a double from Nate Hickey, but McMullen struck out the next at-bat, ending the threat and stranding a runner on base. In the ninth, Kris Armstrong managed to hit a two-out single, but Josh Rivera popped it up to right field the next at-bat, sealing a series sweep for South Carolina.
The Gators can likely say goodbye to their top-10 ranking, and they will try to right a 3-3 start to conference play in their home series against Ole Miss next weekend. First, UF has a Tuesday night midweek game against Mercer at Florida Ballpark. First pitch for that one is set for 6 p.m. EDT.
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