Rebel skipper Mike Bianco waits out a weather delay Friday night in Gainesville.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ole Miss came into Friday night’s game looking to claim the series against No. 21 Florida. Prior to the start of the game, it was pushed back two hours due to a weather delay.
Florida evened the series with a 2-0 win.
Ole Miss (21-11, 4-7 SEC) and Florida got into a pitchers’ duel in the second game of the series.
Hunter Elliott escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first.
“Hunter wasn’t sharp early,” head coach Mike Bianco said.
The Gators’ starter, Aidan King, gave up a leadoff base runner to the Rebels in the first two frames.
Florida’s center fielder, Kyle Jones, led off the third inning with a single. Jones’ second base hit of the game. With two outs in the inning, Florida struck first with a run off the bat of Cade Kurland that brought Jones home. Elliott then gave up back-to-back walks that scored the second run of the inning for the Gators.
Through five innings on the mound, King had six strikeouts and retired nine straight Rebels.
Elliott threw over 100 pitches in 4.0 complete innings, allowing two runs on four hits with four walks and nine strikeouts.
Bianco brought Landon Koenig into the game in the fifth.
Ole Miss got a leadoff single by Utermark in the sixth. Utermark finished the game going 2-for-4 with two base hits.
Koenig worked 2.0 complete innings with no runs on two hits, no walks, and two strikeouts.
Bianco then turned to Wil Libbert in the seventh. He tossed 2.0 innings with no runs on no hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
“Coming out of the pen in a really close game wanting to give us a chance to win,” Libbert said.
King went 7.0 complete innings, surrendering no runs on four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
Florida brought Jackson Barberi to the mound in the eighth. Barberi tossed 1.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
The Rebels got runners on base in the eighth, as Hayden Federico got a base knock, two batters later, Tristan Bissetta walked, and the rally ended on a groundout double play to short.
The Gators brought Joshua Whritenour to the mound in the ninth. Whritenour got the final two outs.
In the ninth, Dom Decker got a one-out base hit, Brayden Randle drew a walk, Cannon Goldin got on board by a fielder’s choice that brought Austin Fawley to the plate.
Ole Miss struck out a total of 16 Gators as a staff on Friday night.
Ole Miss and Florida will play a rubber game on Saturday night. The first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and can be seen on the SEC Network.
