Sean McLaughlin, Photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://sonnykennedyphotography.smugmug.com/

Georgia freshman Sean McLaughlin pitched a gem in front of a season high crowd of 3,016 as the Bulldogs registered a 3-1 win over Florida Friday.

McLaughlin (5-6) came out on top in a pitching duel, tossing seven strong innings including five straight scoreless innings, striking out four, and only giving up one run on four hits. With the victory, Georgia has a chance to win its first series over the Gators since 2006 when it swept Florida in Gainesville. Florida (29-26, 14-15 SEC) took a lead in the second inning. Jordan Shafer, who led off with a walk, was driven in by a ground-rule double by Josh Tobias.

Georgia (20-32, 6-20 SEC) quieted the Gators’ bats thanks to some great defense and a composed McLaughlin who settled down to pitch four consecutive scoreless innings and only giving up three hits. Florida carried a 1-0 lead through five innings.

Photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://sonnykennedyphotography.smugmug.com/

The Bulldogs rallied in the sixth. Heath Holder reached with a lead-off walk. DJ Smith reached first on an error advancing Holder to second. Nelson Ward advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Curt Powell reached base compliments of another error in the field scoring Holder. Hunter Cole smacked a single to right field scoring Smith from third. Daniel Nichols later singled and scored Powell to cap the three-run outburst. That would mark all the scoring on the night.

The Gators used three pitchers to get through the sixth inning. Florida starter Bobby Poyner lasted 5.1 innings, striking out three, and only allowing two hits but was charged with both runs in the inning. He got the loss to fall to 3-3.

Georgia got stellar relief from freshman Mike Mancuso and junior Dylan Cole. Mancuso tossed a scoreless eighth while Cole was called on in the ninth and retired the batters in order to earn his fourth save of the season.

“It’s important to finish strong, and the team showed that tonight,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We won the Tech series earlier this week and now we have an opportunity to win an SEC series over Florida and we haven’t done that in a long time. I’m proud of Sean and the way he performed plus solid relief pitching, and we got some key performances from a lot of guys that are going to be back next season. Everybody has hung in there because tonight they were playing for pride.”

The series concludes Saturday at Foley Field with the first pitch slated for 2:08 p.m., and the Bulldogs will recognize their seven seniors starting at 1:40 p.m.

All photos copyrighted property of Sonny Kennedy, http://sonnykennedyphotography.smugmug.com/

Sean McLaughlin, Photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://sonnykennedyphotography.smugmug.com/

Florida scored two runs in the ninth inning to defeat Georgia 4-2 Thursday in front of a crowd of 1,908 at Foley Field .

The Gators (29-25, 14-14 SEC) got on the board in the top half of the second inning. Vickash Ramjit was hit by the first pitch he saw from Georgia starter Blake Dieterich to lead off the inning, and then later reached third on a Harrison Bader double down the right field line. Brady Roberson was then able to provide a sacrifice fly into right-center that scored Ramjit to put the Gators on top 1-0.

The Gators added to their lead in the fourth inning, loading the bases with no outs after a lead off single by Justin Shafer, a double by Ramjit, and Josh Tobias was hit by a pitch. Dieterich allowed just a sacrifice fly to Bader to keep it a 2-0 contest.

Georgia (19-32, 5-20) threatened in the bottom half of the third inning, putting runners at the corners with two outs. Hunter Cole reached on a two out single and then stole second base. Kyle Farmer then reached on an error by Florida shortstop Cody Dent, which allowed Cole to reach third. Florida starter Jonathon Crawford worked Jared Walsh to a 1-2 count with two outs, and then threw a wild-pitch that went to the backstop, allowing Cole to score from third to put Georgia on the board.

Patrick Boling replaced Dieterich for the Bulldogs in the sixth inning and retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing a base hit to Ramjit in the top of the ninth inning.

After failing to record a base runner since the fourth inning, the Bulldogs were able to tie up the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Farmer singled into centerfield with one out and then reached second on a groundout by Walsh. Senior Brett DeLoach then delivered a clutch two out single into left field to score Farmer and tie the game at 2-2.

UGA Baseball, Photo by Sonny Kennedy, http://sonnykennedyphotography.smugmug.com/

Jess Posey followed DeLoach’s two out single with a base hit of his own to keep the seventh inning going for Georgia, ending Crawford’s day on the mound. The Gators turned to Daniel Gibson who was able to force Daniel Nichols to ground out to Dent at short who made a diving play to end the inning.

The Gators had failed to reach base in 11 straight plate appearances leading into the top half of the ninth inning before their first three batters of the inning recorded singles. Ramjit led off the inning legging out an infield single, then reached third as Tobias smacked a single just over the head of Nichols at first. Bader then drove in Ramjit from third to provide the go ahead run with a single into center field.

Boling was able to settle down and record two straight outs through a sacrifice bunt and a pop out to shallow left field. However, he was called for a balk with two outs and runners on second and third, thus bringing in the second run of the inning and giving Florida a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Johnny Magliozzi entered the game in the ninth to close the game out for Florida and recorded his 12^th save of the season. Ryan Harris picked up the win to move his record to 5-3 while Boling dropped to 3-7.

“We were a long shot coming in to make the tournament and now we just have to finish strong, and I think we will,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We’ve had a tough time scoring all season and tonight we made a mistake at the wrong time. Still, we didn’t walk anybody and had a chance in the ninth. This team has fought all year but when you get enough scars, it starts to wear on you. We’re playing good baseball, and this is still an important series so we’re looking for Sean McLaughlin and Jared Walsh to give us good starts the next two days.”

Thursday’s loss coupled with a Missouri victory eliminated the Bulldogs from making the SEC Tournament. Game two of the UF series will be Friday at 7 p.m.

All photos copyrighted property of Sonny Kennedy, sonnykennedyphotography.com/