Jacob Young led off Tuesday's SEC Tournament opener between Florida and Kentucky with a home run on the first pitch he saw, and the sixth-seeded Gators never looked back in a 4-1 victory over the Wildcats in Hoover, Ala.
Florida (36-19) advances to the double-elimination bracket of the tourney, while Kentucky's season likely ended at 29-23. It will almost certainly mark the third straight season that the Cats will miss the NCAA Tournament since making a run to the super regionals during Nick Mingione's first year at UK.
Much as it has done all season, Kentucky proved to be its own worst enemy on Tuesday. The Cats committed two errors leading to three unearned runs, including dropping a pop-fly and failing to turn an inning-ending double play. UK also stranded 14 runners on the day (five at third base) to negate an 11-5 hitting advantage over the Gators.
"I thought we had our chances, especially offensively," Mingione said. "... We had guys in scoring position, and, unfortunately, we didn't cash in with the timely hit. And I thought, defensively, we were not sharp, leading to a couple of their runs."
For the second time this season, Florida starter Tommy Mace (6-1) had the Cats off-balance at the plate. The 6-foot-6 junior right-hander worked five innings, allowing only one run on seven hits and a walk. The strikeout was a major weapon for him as he fanned eight of the 24 batters he faced.
Jack Leftwich earned his fifth save of the season by tossing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Gators.
Sean Harney (3-2) was the tough-luck loser for Kentucky. The senior right-hander allowed only four hits, but walked four and hit four batters. Still, he deserved a much better fate as errors led to three of the four runs he surrendered.
Daniel Harper, Cole Daniels, and Holt Jones worked 3.2 innings of scoreless relief out of the Cats' bullpen, but the UK offense failed to deliver in the clutch.
The Cats went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-5 with a runner at third and less than two outs. The game ended as UK brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth inning but had a strikeout and a routine grounder to short to end it.
John Rhodes was one of the lone bright spots at the plate for UK. The sophomore outfielder went 3-for-4 with a two-out RBI double to produce the Cats' lone run.
Kentucky finished the season 5-16 against ranked opponents, including a 1-3 mark against No. 12 Florida. The Cats won only three of their last 13 games against SEC opponents to close the season, watching their NCAA "bubble team" status deteriorate after a solid start to league play.
UK is 32-60 in all games against SEC opponents since 2018. In 2017, Mingione's first year in Lexington, the Cats came within a game of winning the conference at 19-11 and advanced to the NCAA super regionals.
