The momentum swung toward the No. 8 LSU baseball team after the Tigers took an eighth inning lead for the fourth time in their last five games.
Unlike those last four games, LSU (16-2, 0-1) couldn’t finish the job Friday night, as No. 1 Florida ripped a solo home run and a two-run single in the ninth inning off junior closer Matty Ott to prevail, 5-4.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s only one of 30 [games] in this league,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We’ve got to turn the page. Midnight starts a new day.”
LSU trailed, 5-3, after Florida’s damage in the top half of the ninth inning. The Tigers answered as freshman catcher Ty Ross smacked an RBI double off the left field wall to cut the lead in half, 5-4.
“I thought it was gone,” said junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook. “I didn’t think it was even close, to be honest.”
The Gators then got freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones to pop out on a sacrifice bunt attempt and struck out junior left fielder Trey Watkins and sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes looking to end the game.
“We kind of made a little comeback at the end,” Mahtook said. “But it wasn’t enough. Tomorrow we’ve just got to bounce back from this and forget about it.”
With the game tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning, junior shortstop Austin Nola ripped a two-out double down the left field line to score Mahtook from first base and give LSU a 3-2 lead.
“I definitely didn’t think we had the game won,” Nola said. “We caught a good break there, but I knew we had to come in and close it out in the ninth, and it didn’t happen.”
Florida sophomore catcher Mike Zunino hit the ninth inning home run to tie the game, 3-3, and sophomore shortstop Nolan Fontana’s two-run single put the Gators ahead for good, 5-3.
“It’s part of the job of being at the end of the game,” Ott said. “If that happens in the second inning, it doesn’t really matter. If it happens in the ninth inning, it makes a difference in a win or a loss.”
The Tigers had three hits in a two-run first inning but didn’t get another until junior first baseman Grant Dozar’s single in the fourth inning. Dozar was a late addition to the lineup after sophomore Alex Edward wasn’t able to play because of an illness.
Nola had two errors on the night but also rolled three double plays with Jones in the first four innings, including one in the fourth inning after the Gators cut the lead in half, 2-1, on an RBI single.
Sophomore pitcher Brian Johnson (4-0) started for Florida and hit fifth in the lineup. He gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings and tied the game, 2-2, with an RBI single to right field in the sixth inning.
LSU freshman pitcher Kurt McCune (3-0) surrendered two runs, one earned, in seven innings, and freshman pitcher Ryan Eades held the Gators scoreless in the eighth inning.