Gators fall to Tennessee in Series Opener

The road woes keep going for Florida. To open the series against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Gators take a 6-4 loss.

The Gators kept the game close, but they could never get on top.

Mace Gets Put in Check

It was an unusual night for the Gators’ Friday starter, Tommy Mace. Mace allowed four earned runs in six innings of work while striking out six.

Liam Spence opened scoring with a single to center, scoring Logan Steenstra. The Vols tacked on more runs against Mace in the fourth and fifth innings. Evan Russell doubled into the right-field gap to plate two, and Drew Gilbert had an RBI single.

Gators Bats Try to Back Mace

The Gators got on the board when Nathan Hickey blasted a homer to right center on the first pitch he saw to tie the game 1-1. Kirby McMullen followed it up with a solo shot of his own to give the Gators a 2-1 lead.

In the seventh innings, Jud Fabian homers to make it 4-3 Tennessee, while Colby Halter singled to left to tie it up at four runs apiece.

Unfortunately, Gators reliever Christian Scott was unable to hold the Vols and two more runs would come in to score in his outing. The Vols win 6-4.

“I think four of their six runs were with two outs. They did a nice job offensively extending innings. We hit a couple home runs off of fastballs and I think offensively, we didn’t make an adjustment quick enough because they spun the ball for three innings. We didn’t make the adjustment offensively. Honestly, we just need to do a little bit better job on the mound. I think we had a 25-pitch first inning and nine of the first 10 hitters hit with two strikes. We talk about being a little bit more aggressive, especially being on the road. It was a tough loss, but we have to obviously come back tomorrow.”

The Gators are back on Saturday to try and even the series. They would snap a five-game road losing skid too if they did.

First pitch is at 7 p.m.