A pitching duel was expected on the mound in Gainesville on Saturday afternoon, but only one side delivered.
LSU fell 8-1 to Florida with the briefest start from senior pitcher Jared Poche’ this season, costing them the weekend series to the Gators.
Entering Saturday’s game with an ERA of just 0.25, Poche’ took the mound for the Tigers up against Florida’s Brady Singer.
One could say Poche’ endured his roughest outing of the season thus far.
The senior southpaw pitched a total of four innings with six hits, four runs, four walks, two hit batters and two strikeouts.
Poche’ had only walked a total of four batters and hit one coming into Saturday’s game.
In the bottom of the second inning, Poche’ found himself in a bind.
Florida loaded the bases with no outs.
Poche’ plunked the next batter he faced in Florida’s Christian Hicks, and the Gators jumped ahead 1-0.
LSU escaped the inning without adding on to the deficit with a flyout, throwing the lead runner out at home plate, and a strikeout from Poche’.
Florida’s Deacon Liput led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to right field, and a steal of second base. He advanced to third on a flyout, and scored another run for the Gators due to an RBI single from Florida’s Nelson Maldonado.
The Gators entered the fourth inning with a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore centerfielder Antoine Duplantis had seen enough.
Duplantis began the fourth inning with a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored LSU’s opening run after freshman third baseman Josh Smith grounded out to second base.
Poche’ gave up another leadoff hit in the bottom of the fourth inning to Florida’s Ryan Larson.
Larson moved to second base after Liput was walked, and came home to score due to a wild pitch from Poche’ and the Gators went up 3-1.
The Gators kept things going in the fifth inning.
Back-to-back no out doubles from JJ Schwarz and Maldonado brought in another run and Florida extended its lead to 4-1.
Poche’ walked the next batter he faced, and that ended his day. Junior pitcher Austin Bain took over in the fifth inning and took down the first three batters he faced while picking up two swinging strikeouts in the process.
Bain finished the day at two innings after walking Maldonado and allowing an RBI double from Florida’s Mike Rivera that put Florida up 5-1 to begin the bottom of the 7th inning.
Freshman pitcher Todd Peterson took over for LSU and got the Tigers out of the inning. Junior pitcher Hunter Kiel came on to begin the eighth inning on the mound.
Kiel walked Liput, who stole second and third base, and scored on an RBI single from Schwarz.
Schwarz stole second base, and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Kiel walked another batter in Maldonado, and ended his day at just ⅓ of an inning.
Senior pitcher Collin Strall took over for Kiel and gave up back-to-back hits that tacked on two more runs for the Gators and put the game away 8-1.
Singer threw a complete game for Florida. He allowed six hits, one run, no walks, and four strikeouts. LSU’s lineup went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, carrying on from Friday when the Tigers went 0-for-9.
LSU faces Florida once more on Sunday at noon. The game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.
