GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida ace hurler Alex Hart spotted LSU a 2-0 lead in the first inning before holding the Fighting Tigers scoreless until one out remained in the game, while a pair of two-run home runs provided the Gators all the offense they would need in a 6-3 victory that evened the three-game Southeastern Conference series Saturday evening at McKethan Stadium.
The rubber match of the series will be Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT and will be televised in Louisiana live by the Jumbo Sports Network (WGMB-Fox 44 in Baton Rouge) and in other SEC markets by Comcast Sports Southeast.
LSU (34-17, 15-10) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, as eight of Hart’s first 10 pitches were balls in walks to J.C. Holt and Aaron Hill. Wally Pontiff quickly gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a double inside the first base bag, and then Hill scored on Sean Barker’s sacrifice fly.
Barker’s fly began a remarkable run for the junior right-hander, as he would retire 20 of 21 batters, allowing only a bloop single to Holt to start the third, after which Hart would retire 14 consecutive Tiger hitters until Dustin Hahn’s two out single in the seventh. Hart struck out a career high nine in running his record to 12-1.
Hart was denied the opportunity for a complete game, though, when Osborn couldn’t handle Chris Phillips’ grounder that would have ended the game, scoring Blake Gill and bringing Holt to the plate with the tying run. Jamie Goldfarb, who took the loss in Friday’s game, immediately slammed the door when Holt grounded weakly to first for the final out.
The five hits by LSU tied a season low, also done last Saturday at Tennessee.
The Gators (37-14, 17-9) tied the game in the bottom of the second when Aaron Davidson lined a two-out home run to right field just out of the reach of Barker’s outstretched glove that tied the game at 2-2.
LSU starter Brian Wilson would suffer the same fate in the third, as he retired the first two batters, then gave up an infield hit to Aaron Sobieraj before Pat Osborn lined a shot just to the right of where Davidson’s home run landed to put Florida ahead to stay.
Wilson work out of several jams later in the game, but left with one out in the seventh inning after walking a pair of batters. The sophomore right-hander took the loss to fall to 7-4 just one week after striking out a career high 11 against Tennessee by giving up six runs on eight hits over 6.1 innings.
Reliever Brad David replaced Wilson and immediately uncorked a wild pitch to move Osborn and Mark Kiger to second and third, then Matt Goss put the game away three pitches later with a double just inside the right field line to score both runners.