Florida advances past Kentucky in 1st game of SEC tourney

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — Jacob Young homered, Tommy Mace struck out eight in five innings and No. 6 seed Florida beat 11th-seeded Kentucky 4-1 in the first game of the SEC Tournament. Florida snapped a four-game losing streak to advance to play No. 3 seed Mississippi State on Wednesday. Kentucky was eliminated from the tournament. Mace, on short rest, gave up seven hits and one run. Kentucky starter Sean Harney (3-2) went 4 1/3 innings. allowing four hits and one earned run. Young went deep to left on the first pitch of the bottom half of the first inning, and Sterlin Thompson made it 2-0 with an RBI single to left.