Florida Gators baseball drops seventh SEC game in a row to start Ole Miss series

Seven Florida pitchers combined for 13 walks Thursday night as the Gators fell to 0-7 in SEC play with a 7-5 loss against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Kevin O'Sullivan is doing what he can to shake up Florida's lineup and pitching staff, but nothing seems to lead to the desired results. Aidan King struggled for a second straight week, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out five. The big issue for King on Thursday was walking four batters over 3 1/3 innings. Through the first 26 1/3 innings of the year, he walked just five batters and never more than two in an outing.

King gave up two runs in the first, the second of which scored on a bases-loaded walk. He didn't take the loss, thanks to a three-run home run from Ashton Wilson in the third that put him in line for the win briefly. A sac fly in the bottom of the inning knotted things up, though.

Luke McNeillie took the loss after the Rebels got to him for three runs in the fifth. A pair of one-out walks and a wild pitch put men into scoring position, and Will Furniss doubled them both in to take the lead. Brayden Randle added one more on a sacrifice fly off Caden McDonald later in the inning. Kevin O'Sullivan pulled McNeillie after his third walk of the inning, but he was still responsible for that third run.

A leadoff double in the sixth brought Christian Rodriguez into the game, but he couldn't find the zone either, walking three batters — one intentionally — and allowing the leadoff man to score on another sac fly. Carlos Montsdeoca finished off the inning with a strikeout down the middle of the plate. Niko Janssens came in to face one batter with two outs and two in the seventh. He walked him on five pitches and Billy Barlow was next out of the 'pen. Balow did the same as Montsdeoca and froze the Ole Miss batter on a hittable third strike.

It seemed as if Sully was making a statement with all the pitching changes — if you're not throwing strikes, you're not going to stay on the mound. That's the kind of tough love this ball club needs at this point in the year, and the lineup is going to get the same treatment as the pitching staff soon.

Florida out-hit Ole Miss, 10-8, but only two of those came with runners in scoring position. Bobby Boser singled in Brody Donay and Landon Stripling in the seventh to cut a four-run Ole Miss lead to two, but that's all the scoring Florida could muster. The Nos. 3-5 hitters, Blake Cyr, Brendan Lawson and Ty Evans combined to go 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in the loss.

Boser and Colby Shelton can't do it all at the top of the order, and it's a bit odd to see Donay and Luke Heyman so low in the lineup. Stripling, too, after being one of the team's better bats over the past few weeks, albeit off the bench most of the time.

Florida and Ole Miss are back at it Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The Gators do not have a starter listed for the matchup.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Gators baseball at Ole Miss Game 1 recap