Baseball loses series to Florida

By+Hannah+Stone

By Hannah Stone

Cody Estremera, Sports Editor

Alabama baseball fell to Florida 12-3 on Saturday night, tying its second worst loss of the season.

“It was a really tough night for us,” Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said in a press release. “To Florida’s credit, they really hit a lot of balls hard – 16 hits and five home runs. They’re starting to look like the team that everyone anticipated going into the season. When you’re facing a really talented team, you have to get ahead in the count; keep the ball down and out of the middle of the plate; and you have to be able to throw some secondary stuff for a strike; and we didn’t do enough of that tonight.”

Florida won the game with the long ball.

The Gators its first run in the bottom of the first by a home run from Brady McConnell and added three more long balls in the third.

Alabama scored its first run in the top of the second, when Drew Williamson hit his first career home run.

The Crimson Tide added another run in the top of the fourth when Joe Breaux sent a long fly ball to the outfield, scoring TJ Reeves from third.

The bottom of the fourth inning started with a pair of Gator singles, signaling the end of starter Brock Love’s day. Both runners scored on a single.

Alabama tacked on another run in the top of the seventh when Breaux scored from third on a wild pitch.

Florida added a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh and three in the eighth to finish the game at 12-3.

Love allowed seven runs in three innings of work. Connor Shamblin and Dylan Smith allowed the other five Gator runs, while Garret Rukes went three scoreless innings.

Alabama looks to avoid the sweep on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.