GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013\u00a0No. 6 Auburn dropped the series opener at No. 7 Florida, 6-3, Thursday night at Condron Family Ballpark.<\/p>\n
After trailing 6-1 through the fifth, Abe Chancellor<\/a> turned in a career-high 3.0 scoreless innings to give the Tigers a chance at a comeback. A two-run seventh decreased the deficit, but the Gators ultimately took the opener.<\/p>\n \u201cI just didn\u2019t think we got off to a great start,\u201d head coach Butch Thompson<\/a> said. \u201cThey just got the leadoff man on all night in some way, shape, form or fashion. I thought we did a nice job of keeping them to two runs after they hit the three-run homer.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we could\u2019ve just answered a little bit we could\u2019ve done some different things, but again I thought the bullpen guys did a nice job,\u201d Thompson added. \u201cEvery big moment when we got a little something going, we could not have an at-bat. I give King a lot of credit. At the end of the day, he took his fastball, his best pitch, and threw it through us.\u201d<\/p>\n Auburn (25-12, 8-8 SEC) jumped out to an early lead on a two-out single from Logan Gregorio<\/a> in the top of the first. Ethin Bingaman<\/a> nearly added to the early advantage with a hard-hit ball to left center, but Blake Cyr made a diving catch to keep a couple of runs off the scoreboard.<\/p>\n Florida (28-11, 10-6 SEC) responded with a run on a two-out double in the bottom of the first and later took a 4-1 lead with a three-run homer from Cyr in the third. The Gators eventually chased Andreas Alvares (6-2) from the game with a walk and single after 2.1 innings pitched. LJ Cormier<\/a> came entered with two on and one out and did a good job to keep the damage to three with a fielder\u2019s choice and strikeout.<\/p>\n After Auburn scored with three hits in the first five batters, Florida starter Aiden King (6-2) retired the next 10 Tigers he faced. Auburn drew a leadoff and one-out walk to threaten in the top of the fourth, but King struck out the first two in the Auburn lineup to maintain a three-run lead.<\/p>\n Cormier turned in 1.2 scoreless in relief, but the Gators scored a pair of tough-luck runs off Garrett Brewer<\/a> to extend its lead to five in the fifth. After the first two batters reached on a walk and infield single, a two-out bloop into shallow left field dropped for a two-run double.<\/p>\n Auburn didn\u2019t record a hit from the second through sixth innings but cut the deficit to three with two runs on four hits off a pair of Florida relievers in the seventh. Mason McCraine<\/a> singled through the infield to score Eddie Madrigal<\/a>, and Chase Fralick<\/a> followed Chris Rembert<\/a>\u2019s two-out single with a RBI single of his own to make it 6-3.<\/p>\n Making his second SEC appearance, Chancellor retired nine of the 10 batters he faced en route to his career-best outing, keeping the Tigers within striking distance.<\/p>\n