FILE - Florida outfielder Jud Fabian bats during an NCAA college baseball game against Florida A&M in Gainesville, Fla., in this Wednesday, March 4, 2020, file photo. The Gators are in a familiar place as the consensus No. 1 team in the preseason. Fabian might be the best position player in the country. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, File)

Florida Gators Seal Series Against Georgia With the Long Ball

No. 9 Florida baseball took the series against the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night from Florida Ballpark. The Gators took Game 2 with a final score of 9-2 to take the series.

Freshman pitcher Hunter Barco took the mound for Florida in Game 2 against Georgia freshman Jaden Woods.

Barco finished the day after 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts, two runs and six hits.

Georgia Strikes First

The Bulldogs struck first at the top of the second inning. Corey Collins put Georgia on the board 1-0 after advancing home on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Randon Jernigan singled to third base for an RBI.

Florida tied the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the second with a two-run RBI from Jacob Young.

The bottom of the third featured some homers from Florida’s big hitters. Jud Fabian hit his 19th home run of the season to lead off the Gators’ at-bat. Two hitters later Kendrick Calilao knocked one over the center-field fence to give Florida a 4-2 lead.

Georgia’s Danny Pasqua took over on the mound for Woods.

Florida Jumps Ahead

The bottom of the fifth inning featured another Fabian home run that put the Gators up 5-2. Make that 20 home runs on the year for Fabian.

Gator shortstop Josh Rivera extended the lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. The Gators began to pull away with the lead 7-2.

At the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs switched things up on the mound. Former Gator Nolan Crisp took the mound for Georgia.

In the top of the seventh, Christian Scott relieved Barco on the mound. Scott quickly ended the top of the seventh after a double play.

In the bottom of the seventh, Crisp got into a jam with the bases loaded and one out.

Rivera struck again with a two-RBI single that advanced Armstrong and Calilao home. Rivera recorded four RBIs on the night. The Gators wrapped up the seventh inning with a 9-2 lead.

A scoreless eighth and top of the ninth would give the Gators a 9-2 victory.

The Gators look to break out the brooms tomorrow with a chance to sweep Georgia. First pitch is at noon.

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