GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Auburn dropped the series opener at No. 7 Florida, 6-3, Thursday night at Condron Family Ballpark.
After trailing 6-1 through the fifth, Abe Chancellor turned in a career-high 3.0 scoreless innings to give the Tigers a chance at a comeback. A two-run seventh decreased the deficit, but the Gators ultimately took the opener.
“I just didn’t think we got off to a great start,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “They just got the leadoff man on all night in some way, shape, form or fashion. I thought we did a nice job of keeping them to two runs after they hit the three-run homer.
“If we could’ve just answered a little bit we could’ve done some different things, but again I thought the bullpen guys did a nice job,” Thompson added. “Every big moment when we got a little something going, we could not have an at-bat. I give King a lot of credit. At the end of the day, he took his fastball, his best pitch, and threw it through us.”
Auburn (25-12, 8-8 SEC) jumped out to an early lead on a two-out single from Logan Gregorio in the top of the first. Ethin Bingaman nearly added to the early advantage with a hard-hit ball to left center, but Blake Cyr made a diving catch to keep a couple of runs off the scoreboard.
Florida (28-11, 10-6 SEC) responded with a run on a two-out double in the bottom of the first and later took a 4-1 lead with a three-run homer from Cyr in the third. The Gators eventually chased Andreas Alvares (6-2) from the game with a walk and single after 2.1 innings pitched. LJ Cormier came entered with two on and one out and did a good job to keep the damage to three with a fielder’s choice and strikeout.
After Auburn scored with three hits in the first five batters, Florida starter Aiden King (6-2) retired the next 10 Tigers he faced. Auburn drew a leadoff and one-out walk to threaten in the top of the fourth, but King struck out the first two in the Auburn lineup to maintain a three-run lead.
Cormier turned in 1.2 scoreless in relief, but the Gators scored a pair of tough-luck runs off Garrett Brewer to extend its lead to five in the fifth. After the first two batters reached on a walk and infield single, a two-out bloop into shallow left field dropped for a two-run double.
Auburn didn’t record a hit from the second through sixth innings but cut the deficit to three with two runs on four hits off a pair of Florida relievers in the seventh. Mason McCraine singled through the infield to score Eddie Madrigal, and Chase Fralick followed Chris Rembert’s two-out single with a RBI single of his own to make it 6-3.
Making his second SEC appearance, Chancellor retired nine of the 10 batters he faced en route to his career-best outing, keeping the Tigers within striking distance.
A one-out single from Brandon McCraine in the ninth put the potential tying run in the on deck circle, but Florida closer Joshua Whritenour retired the next two he faced to earn his seventh save.
Game two between the Tigers and Gators is scheduled for Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT.