Gators Dominated at Home, Lose Second-Straight to Georgia

Georgia dominated Florida's pitching staff with six home runs as the Gators lost 17-2.

The Florida Gators are now 0-5 in conference play after being swept by Tennessee and back-to-back losses to Georgia. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan didn't mince words after his team's 17-2 loss to rival Georgia on Saturday, which kept Florida winless in conference play.

"Coming off a loss last night, the way we lost in the ninth and lost the lead. You know, you would hope and think that your team would come out with a lot more fire and energy," he said. "I mean, it's Florida-Georgia. Maybe some of our players just don't understand the rivalry and the importance of it. Obviously, there's some things that we need to get corrected, and we need to get them corrected in a hurry."

Florida's 0-5 start in SEC play is its worst since 2001.

"Today was a disappointing loss. They’re all disappointing, but this one is a bit humiliating, be honest with you," O'Sullivan added.

After Friday's 8-7 loss, O'Sullivan preached the need for his starting pitchers to go six innings, especially after injuries to weekend starters Liam Peterson and Pierce Coppola and a season-ending injury to reliever Frank Menendez.

On Saturday, it was much of the same with starter Billy Barlow, who only pitched three full innings after giving up seven hits, six earned runs and three home runs in his first weekend start since transferring from Clemson.

"Not good," O'Sullivan said. "We talked about it. We got to get deeper in the game with our starters. I know we got a couple of starters out, but that's no excuse. We just didn't have anything on the ball. They attacked us from the very first pitch of the ballgame."

Reliever McCall Biemiller appeared to be a capable replacement for Barlow after taking over in the fourth inning, downing his first three batters with two strikeouts. His outing in the fifth inning, though, left a lot to be desired with back-to-back home runs, including a two-run shot from Christian Adams, as Georgia held a 9-0 lead going into the sixth inning.

Georgia put runners on base in all nine innings scored at least once in every frame until a scoreless outing from UF freshman Carson Montsdeoca in the sixth inning during his first collegiate appearance.

However, the Bulldogs quickly loaded the bases in the seventh with one out after a single, hit batter and walk, before Montsdeoca hit and walked two mores batters, giving Georgia a 10-run lead.

Unlike Friday's loss, Florida's bats never kept up with the Bulldogs' offense or had any momentum whatsover. The Gators didn't put a runner on base until the fourth inning with an infield single from Blake Cyr and didn't score until the sixth inning after an RBI single from Brendan Lawson.

Florida did threaten for more runs after Lawson's base hit with a double from Landon Stripling to put two runners in scoring position with two outs, but Luke Heyman flew out to end the frame.

Hayden Yost hit his first career home run an inning later to bring the deficit back to single digits before Georgia plated six runs in the ninth with a pair of two-run doubles and a two-run home run off of UF reliever Jacob Gomberg.

Next Up

Florida (18-7, 0-5 SEC) will look to avoid its second-straight series sweep and first sweep at home since 2022 (Tennessee) on Sunday with Game Three against Georgia. First pitch is at 1 p.m. with streaming coverage on SEC Network+.

Righty Jake Clemente will take the mound for Florida.

"If they don't know what's at stake, if they don't know the importance of tomorrow's game, they're all important, then, obviously, we got a lot of things to straighten out," O'Sullivan said.

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