On Friday night, the Mississippi State did what no team has done in over a year: Beat the Florida Gators in a series.

April 9, 2017, to be exact was the last time Florida lost a series, as it went on to win the national championship that year and is currently the No.1 team in the nation. Still, the Gators got drubbed by Mississippi state on Friday, losing 12-4 after falling 6-3 on Thursday.

“Great job by our kids,” MSU coach Gary Henderson said in a post game press conference. “I want to thank the fans for their support. This was a great series win for our team. We just had a lot of quality at-bats and pitched it well.”

Both teams heated up early, with the Bulldogs scoring twice in the first inning off a Hunter Stovall single, and a sac fly and a double by Blake Reese in the second inning things up for the Gators.

Mississippi State took control over the next two innings, with Luke Alexander giving them a four run advantage in the third. Florida came back with an Austin Langworth home run but still trailed by three runs heading into the fifth.

It was there that things got out of control, with Mississippi State stringing together a six-run inning, sparked by a wild pitch that scored Elijah MacNamee, extended by a two-run single by Rowdey Jordan, and capped off by a three-run homer by Tanner Allen, his second in the series. 

That was the last time the Bulldogs scored, but they built up enough of a lead to coast to the victory. Florida managed just one more run in the eighth inning when Wil Dalton scored on a throwing error.

Mississippi State had 12 hits to Florida’s nine.

On the mound, JP France and Ethan Small split the game for Mississippi State. Small allowed three earned runs, five hits and two walks over the first 4 1/3 innings and struck out six batters, with France also striking out six and allowing four hits, one unearned run and one walk over the last 4 2/3 innings of the game.

Mississippi State will go for the sweep on Saturday while the Gators will try to turn things around before the start of the SEC Tournament. Play starts at 3:30 p.m. at Dudy Noble field.