Your No. 1 Florida Gators baseball team opened SEC play with a sweep of No. 5 LSU in Baton Rouge.
The Gators (18-2, 3-0) won the series finale Sunday, 7-3, propelled by a 5-run 4th inning. In another sign of how deep the Gators can be, Austin Maddox pitched 4.1 innings in relief, allowing only two hits for the win. Maddox played first base in the first two games of the series. He now has a 1.12 ERA in 8 innings and five appearances.
On Saturday, UF defeated LSU, 1-0. Daniel Pigott knocked in Nolan Fontana with the only run. Hudson Randall pitched 6.2 innings for the win and Nick Maronde struck out the side in the 9th for his first save. The series opened with Florida's comeback 5-4 win, in which the Gators rallied for three runs in the 9th to take the lead. Florida has swept all of their series this season (USF, Boston College, Miami, Rhode Island).
The LSU (16-4, 1-3) series followed a dramatic 5-4 win over FSU on Tuesday, when the Gators rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the 8th and won 5-4 in ten innings.
Pitching has powered the Gators so far this season. UF leads the SEC with a 2.29 ERA and opponents are batting .232 against UF. The Gators are near the top in most offensive categories.
The Gators have a two game series against Winthrop starting on Tuesday and a weekend series against South Carolina (14-4, 2-1) to open the home SEC schedule.