The Florida Gators (48-16) win game one of the super regional by a score of 11-1 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs (37-23) Friday afternoon in Gainesville.
The Gators pounced on the Bulldogs from the onset and never looked back. They scored in each of the first five consecutive innings, including a four-spot in the first inning triggered by a Tyler Thompson two-RBI double off of Bulldog starter, Evan Mitchell. Mitchell was pulled after one batter in the 3rd inning when Mike Zunino homered to start the inning. Mitchell finished the day going just 2+ innings, giving up seven runs on five hits with three walks and surrendered two home runs.
Seven Florida hitters had at least one RBI on the day as Florida scored 11 runs on just 11 hits. Florida blasted three home runs on the day with Nolan Fontana blasting his 5th home run of the season in the 2nd inning, Zunino hitting his team-leading 17th homer of the year in the 3rd, and Daniel Pigott hitting his 3rd of the season in the 7th inning to put the exclamation point on the 11-1 victory.
Florida got a great start from Hudson Randall who improved to 10-3 on the seaon after going 8 innings, and giving up just one run on six hits while striking out eight.
Pitching match ups for Saturday in this best of three series has Karsten Whitson (8-0 2.42 ERA) for Florida facing Nick Routt (3-3 3.78 ERA) for Mississippi State.
You can find more in-depth analysis on this series over at our SB Nation Blog.