Lexington, (Ky.) ? Florida broke open a 1-1 game with four runs in the top of the fifth, on its way to an 8-1 victory over Kentucky on Sunday at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The loss, Kentucky?s fifth in a row, dropped the Wildcats to 14-10 on the season and 2-4 in Southeastern Conference play. Florida improved its mark to 23-5, 5-1 in the SEC.

UK was unable to muster much offense against Florida?s combination of starter Tommy Boss and reliever Connor Falkenbach. Boss (2-0) threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits to pick up his second win of the season. Falkenbach came on to earn his second save of the year, going 3 1/3 innings and limiting the Cats to four hits.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Billy Grace doubled for UK and later scored on a Michael Bertram ground out to tie the score. With the score still knotted in the fifth, Florida?s Ben Harrison launched his eighth home run of the year, a three-run blast, to give the Gators a 5-1 lead. Florida added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth to provide the final margin.

?Our team did a much better job of competing today,? UK head coach John Cohen said. ?Even though the score board may not indicate it, we had a much more spirited effort all the way around. There is nothing for us to do right now except go back to work and continue to get better.?

Casey Gilvin, Spencer Graeter and Grace led Kentucky with two hits each. UK starter Craig Snipp (1-3) took the loss for the Cats, allowing five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work.

Kentucky returns to action on Wednesday, as it plays host to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Game time is set for 4 p.m (ET) from Cliff Hagan Stadium. Live stats of the game will be available at www.ukathletics.com.

— UK —