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No. 1 Florida Gators won the weekend series against No. 18 Texas A&M Aggies, however, lost Sunday’s game 7 -3. The Gators won Friday’s game 9-0 and Saturday’s game 6-1. Florida now has a 38-11 overall record and is first in the SEC (18-6). Texas A&M now has a 34-14 overall record and 12-12 in conference. In Sunday’s game, the Gators started off strong with a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Aggies took a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning that changed the pace of the game.
Pitching
RHP, Jack Leftwich pitched through six innings and finished the day with a 3.96 ERA for Florida. Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said, “This was a really good challenge for Jack. I was pleased with how he threw, he just left a couple balls up and got caught in some offensive counts and they took advantage of it.”
RHP, Tommy Mace, came in to replace Leftwich and pitched through part of the seventh inning. After giving up two runs, he was relieved by LHP Andrew Baker who finished the game with a 2.42 ERA.
Texas A&M RHP, Stephen Kolek, pitched 6.2 innings and had a 3.78 ERA. RHP, Nolan Hoffman relieved Kolek and pitched 2.1 innings and ended with a 0.89 ERA.
Game Recap
Despite not having a hit in the first two games of the series, Jonathan India hit a solo home run in the first inning to put the Gators on the board 1-0. This was his 15th homer of the season. India finished the day going 3-for-4.
India's first hit of the weekend is outta here! #JonnyGator #Gators take a 1-0 lead in the first.
WATCH NOW on ESPN2:https://t.co/CltcN3nhu9 pic.twitter.com/C72bbDA6yf
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 6, 2018
In the second, JJ Schwarz was walked, which brought his reached base streak to 22 games. Afterward, Brady Smith singled to right center and Schwarz advanced to third base. Then Blake Reese flied out to right field and Schwarz scored.
In the bottom of the second, Hunter Coleman singled through the left side for the Aggies. Then Cole Bedford singled to right field, which advanced Coleman to third. Right after Jack Leftwich balked causing Bedford to advance to second and Coleman scored. After Aaron Walters hit a double to right center and Bedford scored. Then George Janca singled to right field, which scored Walters.
In the third, India single through the left side, then stole second. After, Wil Dalton singled to left field and scored India. To tie the game 3-3.
Then a pair of homers put the Aggies up 5-3. In the bottom of the 3rd Hunter Coleman tore the cover off the ball as he hit one over the left field wall that hit a building across the street. Later in the 6th, Cole Bedford hit a solo home run over right field.
In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Helman singled through the left side. Then Braden Shewmake singled through the right side and Helman advanced to third. Later, Coleman reached on an error by the center fielder and advanced to second, which caused Shewmake and Helman to score. This lead to the final score of 7-3 Texas A&M.
Up Next
Sunday, the SEC Tournament seeds were released and the Gators secured the No. 1 seed. The tournament runs May 22nd-27th.
The Top 4 Seeds:
#⃣1⃣ @GatorsSB
#⃣2⃣ @UGASoftball
#⃣3⃣ @GamecockSoftbll
#⃣4⃣ @Vol_SoftballThe 2018 #SECSBTourney Bracket: https://t.co/6h8XjQOqlA pic.twitter.com/gz9qtECtK4
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 6, 2018
The Gators still have a few more regular season games before the SEC Tournament. The team will be back in Gainesville on Tuesday to host USF at 6 p.m. You can watch on SEC Network+ or listen to live coverage of the game at ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM. Later in the week, Florida will host rival Georgia for a three-game weekend series.
