It was Baseball After Dark in Hoover as the Gators got a late start at the SEC Tournament and didn't take the field until after 10 PM. Once things got underway, Florida pitching did their part and held Ole Miss to just one earned run.
But an untimely run compared with bats that went cold for Florida led to a frustrating 3-1 loss that is a bump in the road for Florida's chances to host Regionals next week.
Florida Baseball falls to Ole Miss in SEC Tournament
Liam Peterson got the start and, for three innings, looked completely under control. He started to run into some trouble in the 4th inning and gave up a run-off back-to-back doubles with two outs.
Florida had a chance to get out of the inning with just one run given up, but an error by Landon Stripling kept the inning alive to lead to another run, and a throwing error by Ashton Wilson enabled a third run to score.
Luke McNeillie and Jake Clemente teamed up for the remaining four innings and gave up no runs, but all Florida could manage on offense was four hits, one walk, and ultimately just one run.
The SEC Tournament is single elimination as so Florida's stay in Hoover is done.
What do Florida's NCAA Tournament hopes look like?
Florida is going to make the NCAA Tournament, but the question is whether they have done enough to host a Regional round. The loss drops the Gators to 16th in RPI, just one ahead of Ole Miss who now claims three wins out of four over the Gators.
Florida does have a better RPI than TCU and Georgia Tech, two teams that Bracketology projections tend to have hosting. FSU is also seen as a safe host, but Florida is just one spot behind the Seminoles and took two-out-of-three from FSU.
UCLA is also in the mix to host but has seven Quad 3 and 4 losses compared to Florida, which just has one.
The Selection Show will be on Monday, May 26 at 12 p.m.