Life without Hunter Barco didn’t get off to a good start for the Gators on Friday night.
With their third-year southpaw ace sidelined indefinitely with elbow discomfort, redshirt freshman righty Ryan Slater got the ball against Tennessee for his second career start.
He stranded a couple of baserunners to hang a zero in the first inning, but the second inning was a nightmare for him and the Gators. The Volunteers took advantage of some shaky defense by UF to pile up seven runs on five hits despite only hitting two balls hard in the inning.
That ended up being more than enough offense for Tennessee, as their three pitchers limited the Gators to just three hits.