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Tigers blasted by Gators 16-9, drop fourth straight game

On a night with not many positives, LSU baseball suffered its fifth loss in sixth games, falling to the Florida Gators in game one 16-9.

Florida (26-14, 7-9) came into Thursday’s game outscored by opponents in its last six games 74-24 and basically used LSU as its punching bag in the series opener.

The Tigers (24-15, 9-7) entered the game losers of four of their last five contests and with the 10 run loss Thursday, became the largest defeat since the regional loss to Oregon State 12-0 last season.

LSU coach Paul Maineiri elected not to trot out usual Friday starter Zack Hess to the mound to open the game. The junior pitcher was recovering rapidly from a pulled groin sustained last weekend against Missouri and was available from the bullpen.

Instead, sophomore Ma’Khail Hilliard drew his first SEC start of the season, a familiar role after being part of the weekend rotation his freshman season.

The outing couldn’t have started worse for Hilliard as Florida recorded seven hits on the sophomore, six of them coming in the second inning, leading to six runs. The Gators batted around the order in the monster inning while catcher Brock Mathis took a couple of shots to his right hand that required a look from trainer Cory Couture.

“They saw my fastball a lot and took a lot of the curveballs I was throwing at them,” Hilliard said. “I’m healthy and that’s the main thing but I feel really good and remaining confident.”

Hilliard was replaced for freshman Chase Costello in the third inning, allowing six runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

“It was just one of those games where we got in a big hole right out of the gate,” Maineiri said. “In 13 years I don’t think that’s really happened to us at home but a handful of times.”

Mainieri said that getting in that early 6-0 hole in the second inning brought the team to a situation where they didn’t want to use their high end relievers. Maineiri wanted to give Costello an opportunity to really establish himself at a high level but it just wasn’t able to happen.

The LSU offense put runners on base but couldn’t capitalize in the early innings, mainly because there were already two outs in the inning. In each the second and third innings, LSU put runners on first and second with two outs, and both times, hard hit balls found the gloves of the Florida defense.

One of the very few positives for LSU was outfielder Antoine Duplantis seemed to break free of a dry spell, going 4-for-5 on the night. Will Ripoll was also able to give the Tigers three innings of one run baseball with the game already out of hand.

“I felt good, just trying to relax and take some fastballs back to the middle of the field,” Duplantis said. “It’s hard because when you’re up to bat you can’t do some of the things you could do in a tight ball game. You have to just swing your way back into the game which is a little tough.”

By the fourth inning, the Florida offense had compiled 10 runs on 13 hits including a three-run homer by third baseman Cory Acton, the first of the season for him.

Not even Clay Moffitt, who carried a 0.00 ERA into the contest, could stop the Gator onslaught as the senior surrendered the first three runs of his season, including the second, three-run Florida homerun of the game.

Trailing 13-0 and looking for anything, the offense loaded the bases in the fifth and scrape two runs together off a Cade Beloso single. Seven runs over the final three innings made the offensive outing a positive performance and awarded some of the key guys confidence heading into the rest of the weekend.

LSU will look to even the series on Good Friday with first pitch set for 7 p.m. and Cole Henry on the mound.

“Every game counts the same and in this league, every team beats each other up,” Mainieri said. “You just have to keep your chins up and come out the next day and play great.”


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