After taking the ever-important first game of a three-game series against Texas A&M on Friday, 8-6, the Florida Gators fell to the Aggies, 10-6, on Saturday night.
The Aggies jumped all over freshman right-hander Liam Peterson early with a three-run Braden Montgomery homer in the first. Luke Heyman returned the favor with his own three-run shot, but back-to-back homers in the third knocked Peterson out of the game.
Alex Philpott walked two batters and Kevin O’Sullivan immediately went to a veteran arm. Fisher Jameson walked in a run and traded two outs for another pair, putting Texas A&M up 8-3.
Florida responded with two more runs in the bottom of the third. Dale Thomas drove in Tyler Shelnut and Ty Evans on a double down the left-field line, but the Gators still trailed by three.
Both bullpens found their footing in the fourth and kept the game at 8-5 into the ninth. A trio of freshmen arms did the job for Florida. Left-hander Robert Satin walked three over two innings but kept A&M from recording a hit, Grayson Smith fanned six of the 11 batters he faced over the next 2 2/3 innings and Frank Menendez got Montgomery to groundout in the eighth.
Menendez loaded the bases in the ninth, but his stuff didn’t look bad. A few seeing-eye singles in the inning, including the one that plated two runs. Blake Purnell threw that ball, but the runs were charged to Menendez.
Florida wasn’t going home quietly, though. A sacrifice fly from Landon Russell looked like a three-run shot but came up just short of the fence. That’s all the Gators could manage as Ashton Wilson grounded out to shortstop to finish the game.
The rubber match will be played at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday in Gainesville.