Gators beat Missouri, clinch SEC Tournament berth
It wasn’t easy and Florida Gators fans were left chewing their fingernails and sweating out another ninth inning. As a groundball found Josh Rivera’s glove, he flipped it to Sterin Thompson at second base and the Gators’ completed a comeback win to take the series over Missouri, 4-3.
The win improved Florida’s SEC record to 13-14 and clinched a berth in the SEC Tournament. Sunday’s series finale was delayed by an hour and forty-five minutes due to inclement weather, but play eventually started just after 3 p.m.
Saturday was all about two veterans — Nick Pogue and Kris Armstrong.
Pouge posts a career day for the Gators
Pogue earned his first weekend start of the season on Sunday. He was back in Columbia, Missouri, home to his best career start to that point. As a freshman in 2019, Pogue lasted a then career-high 5.1 innings, striking out six to just one walk. He wouldn’t factor into the decision that afternoon but would get a win on Sunday.
Pogue retired the first nine batters he faced before a couple of mistakes that the Tigers capitalized on. Luke Mann and Trevor Austin started the fourth with back-to-back home runs. Josh Day made it a trio of extra-base hits with a double. Pogue was able to get out of the frame without allowing any more damage.
Pogue would last all the way into the seventh. He recorded two quick outs but hit a batter and allowed two singles to score one more run, cutting the Gators’ lead to 4-3. Pogue was lifted but not before notching a career-high in innings (6.2) and strikeouts (8).
“He was great. Down in the strike zone,” O’Sullivan said of Pogue. “We only had one walk, with one out in the bottom of the ninth. So, all our pitchers threw strikes and we played really good defense.”
Rivera blasts the Gators back into the game
Trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning, the Gators were getting into dire territory. Florida is 0-18 this season when trailing at any point after five. Josh Rivera didn’t want to test fate. Kris Armstrong singled with one out and Rivera smacked a breaking ball off of the scoreboard in left-center for a game-tying home run.
“Josh had the big, two-run homer to tie the ballgame up and Kris had a good day. He had three hits. It was a good team win. Missouri’s played everybody tough this year. To get a series win, especially this late in the season, it’s big for us.”
Florida scored two more in the sixth. With two outs and an 0-1 count, Kri Armstrong delivered a clutch, two-run single to center to make it 4-2 in favor of the Gators.
Next up
The Gators have just four games left in the regular season and will play all of those at Condron Ballpark. First up is Florida State (32-18) on Tuesday night. Florida will have a quick turnaround with South Carolina (26-24, 12-15 SEC) coming to town to wrap up the regular season for a three-game set starting on Thursday night.
Box Score
