Florida Gators Spring Sports Weekend: Gymnastics plays for a trip to Ft. Worth today.

After a strong opening round score of 197.925 Friday night, the 4th-ranked Gators (24-4) will try to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships this afternoon (5 p.m., ESPN+) in the Gainesville Regional final against No. 5 Utah, Missouri and Michigan State.

Florida had a brilliant opening rotation of 49.575 on the vault, then after an uncharacteristic 49.3 on the bars, finished strong with a 49.575 on beam and a 49.475 on floor to close out a first place finish. Victoria Nguyen scored a 9.950 to tie Maryland’s Emma Silberman for the top score on vault. Freshman Anya Pilgrim won the bars title outright with a 9.975.

Leanne Wong had Florida’s top all-around score of 39.650 with 9.9s on both the vault and bars and 9.925s on beam and floor.

“This is typically a competition where nobody's gonna have a perfect meet,” Florida coach Jenny Rowland said. “It's all about who's going to be able to react, control your emotions and be able to keep moving on with the least amount of mistakes as possible. So extremely proud of the Gators and everybody stepping up."

The Gators, who have six consecutive SEC championships under Rowland, have finished second to national champion Oklahoma the last two years.

Today’s schedule:

GAINESVILLE REGIONAL: 1. FLORIDA; 2. Utah; 3. Missouri; 4. Michigan State

Berkeley regional: 1. California; 2. Stanford; 3. Denver; 4. Arizona State

Punched their tickets

Ann Arbor regional: Oklahoma 198.400; Alabama 197.575

Fayetteville regional: LSU 198.250; Arkansas 197.825

UF SOFTBALL: Walsh’s 3-run homer lifts Gators past LSU, 4-2

Reagan Walsh’s 3-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted 10th-ranked Florida (33-5, 8-2 SEC) to a 4-2 win over 5th-ranked LSU (30-5, 8-5 SEC). Responding to LSU taking a 1-0 lead in the top half of the inning, the Gators got consecutive singles from Kendra Falby and Skylar Wallace before Korbe Otis singled to left to score Falby, tying the game at 1-1. Two outs later, Walsh powered a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for a 4-1 lead. LSU pushed across a run off Keagan Rothrock in the seventh, but the freshman pitched her way out of a jam with a called third strike to end the game.

Rothrock (17-3, 1.41 ERA) went the distance, allowing four hits and walking four. Her only strikeout of the game was the one that ended it.

Ava Brown is the likely pitcher today when the Gators face LSU in game two of the series at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium (1 p.m., ESPN2).

Saturday’s SEC scores: No. 10 FLORIDA (33-5, 8-2 SEC) 4, No. 5 LSU (30-5, 8-5 SEC) 3; No. 3 Georgia (31-7, 7-4 SEC) 3, No. 4 Tennessee (27-6, 9-2 SEC) 2; No. 11 Missouri (30-9, 5-6 SEC) 12, No. 19 Arkansas (27-10. 6-5 SEC) 3; No. 14 Texas A&M (31-7, 10-4 SEC) 10, Kentucky (23-14, 2-9 SEC) 9; No. 15 Alabama (28-8, 5-6 SEC) 5, Ole Miss (21-17, 3-11 SEC) 1; No. 16 Mississippi State (28-9, 8-6 SEC) 4, No. 25 South Carolina (27-12, 3-8 SEC) 0; Auburn (20-11) 5, Louisiana Tech (24-11) 0; Georgia Tech 25-16) 10, Auburn (20-12) 9

UF BASEBALL: Missouri takes out Gators, 4-3

For the second straight game, Florida’s bats were largely silent as the 6th-ranked Gators (17-13, 6-5 SEC) lost their second straight game to Missouri, 4-3, Saturday afternoon. After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Gators pushed across a run in the fifth and two in the sixth on a 2-run homer by Jac Caglianone, but the Tigers scored twice in the bottom half of the inning, plating the game-winner on a wild pitch.

Liam Peterson (1-4) went the first six innings, giving up only four hits and striking out nine, but two of his four wild pitches were converted into Missouri runs. Blake Purnell went the final two innings for the Gators, holding Mizzou hitless while striking out three.

Florida scored in the sixth when Brody Donay was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a balk and third on a ground out before scoring on an infield hit by Jaylen Guy. In the sixth, Cade Kurland led off with a single to right field and Caglianone followed by taking a 1-0 pitch out of the yard to right field for his 15th homer of the season.

The Gators had a chance to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh when Landon Russell hit a 1-out triple to right and Guy was hit by a pitch. Kurland Kurland struck out and after Caglianone was intentionally walked, Ty Evans took a called third strike.

The Gators had another scoring opportunity in the eighth when Tyler Shelnut hit a 2-out single and moved to third on an error on a Donay grounder. Russell hit a line drive to left that was hauled in for the third and final out.

The Gators will try to salvage at least one win for the weekend today when Jac Caglianone (3-0, 2.18 SEC) goes to the mound for the 2 p.m. game (SEC Network+).

Saturday SEC scores: Missouri (13-18, 3-8 SEC) 4, No. 6 FLORIDA (17-13, 6-5 SEC) 3; No. 1 Arkansas (27-3, 11-1 SEC) 7, Ole Miss (18-16, 3-9 SEC) 4; No. 3 Texas A&M 28-3, 8-3 SEC) 6, No. 22 South Carolina (21-10, 5-6 SEC) 3; No. 4 Tennessee (25-6, 6-5 SEC) 12, Auburn (18-12, 2-9 SEC) 2; No. 7 Vanderbilt (25-7, 8-4) 13, No. 18 LSU (21-12, 3-9 SEC) 3; No. 17 Kentucky (26-4, 10-1 SEC) 7, No. 13 Alabama (22-9, 4-7 SEC) 0; Georgia (25-7, 5-6 SEC) 3, Mississippi State (20-12, 5-6 SEC) 2

UF LACROSSE: Gators smash East Carolina, 19-7

Maggi Hall scored five goals and added an assist to lead the Gators (12-2, 3-0 AAC) to their 12th straight win, 19-7, over East Carolina (3-10, 0-4 SEC) in Greenville Saturday afternoon. Emily Heller had four goals and two assists while Sarah Falk scored four goals. It was Florida’s sixth consecutive win by 10 or more goals.

The 10th-ranked Gators will be home next Saturday for a critical American Athletic Conference matchup with James Madison.