UF baseball ties series with USC

COLUMBIA, S.C. — After taking it on the chin in the series opener Thursday night against two-time defending national champion South Carolina, Florida proved Friday night why it's the top-ranked college baseball team in the country.

Florida hit four home runs to back the pitching of Brian Johnson and two relievers for an 8-2 win over the Gamecocks, who stopped the Gators' 18-game winning streak with a 9-3 decision a night earlier. Johnson helped his own cause by driving in two runs, one on a solo home run, and Vickash Ramjit hit two homers.

The teams play for the series decider at 1 p.m. today.

Florida (21-2, 4-1 SEC) jumped on South Carolina (17-6, 1-4) pitcher Forrest Koumas in the first inning, scoring five runs thanks to back-to-back home runs by Mike Zunino -- a three-run blast -- and Johnson. Another run scored on a balk later in the inning

Koumas (1-2) was lifted after an inning. He gave up six runs on four hits and five walks. Johnson singled in a run in the second inning for a 6-0 Gator lead.

Christian Walker's home run put South Carolina on the board in the fourth.

Ramjit made it 7-1 UF with a solo home run in the sixth.

South Carolina cut the deficit to 7-2 on a RBI double by Brian Celek in the home half of the sixth.

Ramjit added a solo home run in the ninth inning for the final score.

The Gators outhit the Gamecocks 11-5 and regained their three-game lead over USC in the Eastern Division of the SEC

Johnson (4-0) went six innings, allowed two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out four. Greg Olson and Daniel Gibson shut down the Gamecocks the rest of the way.

The game was delayed an hour and 15 minutes by lightning.

UF, already playing without starting center fielder Tyler Thompson, who is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL in his knee last week, saw starting third baseman Josh Tobias leave with an injured hand after the first inning. Cody Dent, the starting center fielder Friday, moved to third to replace Tobias. Ramjit took over in left field and Daniel Pigott moved over to center from left field.