The beast has awoken. Charlie On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 5:33 PM Shane Ford <goufgator...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Florida routs Mississippi State to advance at SEC tourney > Noah Ram > Special to The Sun > [image: Florida pitcher Hunter Barco limited Mississippi State to four > hits Wednesday, as the Gators rolled to a 13-1 win in seven innings at the > SEC Baseball Tournament in the Hoover Met in Hoover, Alabama.] > > HOOVER, Ala. — Not many knew what to expect when Florida took the field > against third seed Mississippi State on Wednesday morning in the second > round of the SEC Baseball Tournament > <https://www.secsports.com/bracket/baseball>. > > The sixth-seeded Gators squeaked past 11th-seeded Kentucky 4-1 Tuesday > to face the third-seeded Bulldogs for the first time in 2021. > > What the fans at Hoover Met. Stadium and the ones watching at home > witnessed was an ambush, as UF demolished MSU 13-1 in a seven-inning > run-rule game to advance to the third round. > > The Gators (37-19), ranked No. 13 in the nation, will play 10 seed > Alabama (31-22) at 5:30 p.m. ET Thursday. The Crimson Tide defeated two > seed Tennessee 3-2 in 11 innings later Wednesday. > > The Bulldogs (40-14) handed the ball to relief pitcher Brandon Smith > (4-3), and almost immediately, found himself in some trouble. The Gators > loaded the bases with no outs, but only managed one run on a wild pitch > which scored left fielder Jacob Young, who had opened the game with a > double. > > Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan stayed with his rotation, going with big > lefty Hunter Barco, who attempted to recover from his loss to Arkansas over > the weekend, his first in nearly two months. > > Barco (10-2) allowed a run in the bottom of the first after a double and > two-out single, but mowed down Mississippi State the rest of the way. He > relinquished just two more hits the next six innings, both singles. > > “My mentality was just to pound the zone,” Barco said. “In the first > inning, they did a really good job of hitting. I could tell what they > wanted to hit it the other way, so I tried to bust them in.” > > Offensively, O’Sullivan made a crucial lineup change, moving Nathan Hickey > to third and putting Kris Armstrong at DH. The move paid dividends, as > Armstrong batted 3-4 with four RBI, two apiece in the second and third. > > “Not having Kris in the lineup yesterday, I felt like there was a huge > hole in the middle,” O’Sullivan said. “With Mac (Guscette) coming back to > catch, we were able to move Hickey to third and make it work.” > > Florida tallied eight runs combined in the second and third frames before > it whacked in four in the top of the seventh, putting the nail in the > coffin. Thompson's double highlighted the seventh. > > Besides Armstrong, Young drove in three runs on a 2-for-4 outing > and Sterlin Thompson also drove in three with two hits, including his > fifth home run of the season. > > "I think it was probably our most-complete game that we played in a while, > obviously," O'Sullivan said. "We got production from everybody up and down > the lineup. I thought we played pretty good defense for the most part. > Hunter Barco was outstanding against a really good lineup. > > "We kind of got on a roll early, and some guys were feeling really good > about their swings. I'm just really pleased with how we played the last two > days because obviously, it could have went one of two directions after the > weekend at Arkansas." > > Mississippi State, which is ranked No. 8 nationally, falls to the losers' > bracket for a 10:30 a.m. ET game Thursday against Tennessee (42-15). > > *Note: *Hickey started at third base in place of slumping Kirby McMullen > (4-for-29, .138). > > *Thursday* > > *What:* Third round of SEC Baseball Tournament > > *Who:* Florida (37-19) vs. Alabama (31-22) > > *When:* 5:30 p.m. ET > > *Where: *Hoover Metropolitan Stadium > > *TV:* SEC Network > > *Radio: *AM-850, 98.1-FM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sent from Shane’s iPhone > Go Gators! > > -- > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 > National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 > National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel > (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "GatorNews" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to gatornews+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gatornews/3DE035B0-C61F-4358-910A-638CA558C3A8%40gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gatornews/3DE035B0-C61F-4358-910A-638CA558C3A8%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. 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