Georgia baseball tops Florida 6-4, hunts first series win over Gators in six years

ATHENS — Georgia baseball put the chomp on Florida on Friday night, 6-4, and is gunning for its first series win over the Gators in six years.

The No. 9-ranked Bulldogs (35-12, 14-8) play Florida (28-19, 9-13) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Foley Field.

Tony Locey (8-1)  got the start and delivered six innings of four-hit work, allowing two earned run and a walk, while fanning six.

Georgia jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Florida starter Tommy Mace (7-4) on the strength of Tucker Maxwell’s leadoff home run and a Cam Shepherd RBI groundout.

The Bulldogs made it 5-1 with a three-run fourth, and that was all the run support the Bulldogs’ pitching staff needed before the capacity crowd of 3,106.

UGA coach Scott Stricklin was relieved to get the win, but displeased to see 13 runners left on base.

“It certainly feels good to get a win up on the board,” Stricklin said in the postgame release. “We didn’t play well last week against a really good team in Mississippi State so it’s nice to get back on the winning track in the SEC. 

“It was one of those uncomfortable wins because we left so many guys on base and we had so many opportunities to expand our lead. At the end of the day our defense bailed us out and our pitching did their job.”

Locey, who got his first Friday win, said the Bulldogs know the importance of momentum.

“We got back in the win column on Tuesday (against The Citadel), we had to keep it rolling (Friday) to try to win the series,” Locey said. “I don’t think we have won a series against Florida in six years, we want to come out on top.”

Tim Elliott (5-3, 2.63 ERA) will be on the mound for the 2 p.m. Saturday game.

The Bulldogs haven’t announced who will start in the 12:30 p.m. nationally-televised ESPN2 tilt on Sunday.

Coach Stricklin is VERY happy with the win over Florida tonight en lieu of all the injuries his team is facing: #UGABaseball pic.twitter.com/1wzZkTChAO

— 960 The Ref (@960theref) May 4, 2019