The opportunities were there, but in the end, No. 9 Florida was just a little bit better than UGA as the Gators scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to beat Georgia on Friday night, 4-3.
The loss drops Georgia to 28-19, 11-13 in the SEC.
"They just made one more play than we did,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “Liam Sullivan gave us a great start and a chance to win. At the end of the day, they got the big hit, and we just couldn’t get it done at the end.”
The game was tied at 3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but that’s when the Gators scored a run on a two-out single by Josh Rivera against reliever Ben Harris (4-1).
Georgia would try to rally in the ninth, putting runners at first and second on singles by Chaney Rogers and Fernando Gonzalez.
However, with two opportunities to tie the game, both Ben Anderson and Josh McAllister struck out to end the contest.
Sullivan, who was making his second straight SEC Friday night start, struck out four over the first two innings before the Bulldogs scored twice in the third for a 2-1 lead.
In the inning, Cole Tate extended his on base streak to 17 games and his hitting streak to eight games, both career highs.
After Florida bounced back to tie the game, junior Connor Tate pushed Georgia back ahead in the fifth with a two-out, RBI-single, scoring McAllister who had reached with his third hit of the evening and his second stolen base. The hit gave Tate a 27-game on base streak plus a 10-game hitting streak, both career highs.
Florida tied the game in the bottom of the inning as Cory Acton singled and scored on a one-out double by Jacob Young. He would make it to third with two outs and Sullivan came back to strike out Jud Fabian to end the inning.
Sullivan went five innings, allowing three runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
In the top of the seventh, McAllister reached with a two-out double to give him his first four-hit game of his career.
However, the Gators turned to left-hander Trey Van Der Wide who retired Blaylock to keep it a 3-3 game. Florida's Tommy Mace registered 10 strikeouts over 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits in a no decision.
