Just when things didn't look like they could get any worse for Florida's suddenly struggling baseball team, they did.
The Gators had appeared to have battled back from four runs down to tie LSU in the bottom of the ninth inning when Preston Tucker launched a deep fly ball to right with Daniel Pigott on third base and one out.
At first, it looked like a game-winning homer and then a game-tying sacrifice fly.
But Pigott, thinking the ball was going out, forgot what he was supposed to do — tag up and score the tying run. Instead, LSU got out of the inning and won 7-6 Thursday night in front of a crowd of 4,487 at McKethan Stadium.
“I have no answer,” said Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan. “He had no explanation. I'm a little floored right now to be honest. I have no answer, no explanation. If the ball goes out, he scores. If the ball is caught, he scores. If the ball is caught in foul territory, he scores.
“I've never seen anything like that before.”
Asked if Pigott thought Tucker's ball, hit into a breeze, was out, O'Sullivan said, “Obviously, that's what happened. He thought it was a home run and lost his cool.”
Pigott was about one-third of the way down the base line when the ball was caught and had to retreat to third. Brian Johnson then popped up to end the game.
“We work on base-running every day,” O'Sullivan said. “You can't run the bases for them.”
It was one of two base-running blunders for the Gators in the game and spoiled a rally from down 6-2.
It was the third straight loss for top-ranked UF and the fourth in five games as the Gators dropped to 24-6 and 6-4 in SEC play. LSU is now 24-6 and 7-3 in conference play. The loss also snapped Florida's 15-game home winning streak.
“It was a tough loss,” said left fielder Vickash Ramjit, who had three hits in the game. “Right now we're struggling.”
The 12th-ranked Tigers hit Florida starter Johnson hard, scoring three runs in the first and three more in the fourth. Alex Edward had a two-run single in the first and JaCoby Jones had a two-run double in the fourth.
The Gators received a couple of gift runs in the second inning, an inning that ended in bizarre fashion.
Johnson led off the inning with a double to left that fell when LSU's outfielders each pulled up short and let the ball drop. Ramjit doubled Johnson home after Tyler Gushue's single. Cody Dent then ripped a line drive into right field.
LSU right fielder Mason Katz made a diving catch on the play, and Ramjit, thinking the ball would drop, was doubled up at second. Gushue was ruled to have scored on the play before the third out was made although replays showed he probably did not. Despite vehement objections from LSU coach Paul Mainieri, the run stood up.
“I misread it, and it cost us the game,” Ramjit said.
The Gators added another run in the fourth on two singles, an error and a fielder's choice. Down 6-4, Florida scored twice in the bottom of the eighth when Ramjit singled home Johnson and Nolan Fontana. But pinch-hitter Jeff Moyer, who has yet to have a hit this year, grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Jonathon Crawford (2-1, 5.28 ERA) will get the start tonight. O'Sullivan said Karsten Whitson will pitch Saturday's finale and that starter Hudson Randall has been shelved for the series.
“He has a tired arm,” O'Sullivan said.
