Florida Walks It Off in Ranked Win Over Mississippi State in Game One
By Baron Dionis
The sixth ranked Florida Gators won game one on a walk-off hit over the twenty-first ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Brandon Neely got the start for the Gators and struggled. In 3.1 innings of work, Neely struck out four batters and gave up five hits, two walks, and five earned runs. Cade Fisher also threw 3.1 innings out of the pen and struck out five batters while allowing two hits, three walks, and one earned runs.
Khal Stephen got the start for the Bulldogs and had a soldi start. In six innings on the mound, Stephen struck out eight batters and gave up three hits, two walks, and two earned runs.
In the first inning, Florida got on the board first with a solo home run from Ty Evans.
Then in the third inning, Dakota Jordan tied the game with a run scoring single. In the bottom half, Tanner Garrison give the Gators the lead with a solo home run.
Mississippi State would go on to score four runs in the fourth inning. Bryce Chance got a run scoring single, Amani Larry got hit by a pitch to score a run, David Mershon hit a sacrifice flyout to bring in a run, and Hunter Hines walked in a run. This gave the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead.
Bryce Chance hit a run scoring single in the seventh inning to extend the Bulldogs lead by four.
In the eighth inning, the Gators would begin to comeback and win this game. Tyler Shelnut hit a run scoring groundout and Cade Kurland hit a run scoring double. This made the score 6-4.
In the ninth inning, Florida Ty Evans hit a run scoring single and Tyler Shelnut walked in a run. This tied the game at six. Cade Kurland came up to the plate and hit a run scoring single to win the game.
The Gators won 7-6 after being down 6-2 in the eighth inning. This win improves Florida's record to 15-10, with a 5-2 conference record. The loss makes Mississippi States record 18-9, with a 3-4 conference record.