By GatorBait Media Staff ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays are not done yet. Facing a sweep, the Rays scored twice in the bottom of the 12th inning Tuesday night to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in Game 4 of the World Series at Tropicana Field, pushing the series to a fifth game. Milwaukee still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can clinch the title Wednesday night. Game 5 is at 8 p.m. ET at the Trop on Fox. The Brewers had gone ahead 3-2 in the top of the 12th on a home run off Rays reliever Ian Seymour. Tampa Bay answered in the bottom half against Antonio Senzatela and Shane Drohan. Drohan faced four batters, allowed four hits and did not record an out, and he was charged with the loss. Seymour got the win. Chandler Simpson led the Rays with three hits, including a double, and an RBI. Jonny DeLuca and pinch hitter Ben Williamson also drove in runs, and Liam Hicks had two hits. For Milwaukee, shortstop Cooper Pratt went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double and two RBIs, and David Hamilton also homered. Rays starter Griffin Jax worked four innings and allowed two runs on four hits with six strikeouts. Five Tampa Bay relievers, Kevin Kelly, Nick Martinez, Bryan Baker, Tyler Wells and Cam Booser, then combined for seven scoreless innings to keep the game tied at 2 from the fifth through the 11th. Dustin May started for Milwaukee and gave up two runs in three innings. The announced crowd was 40,514. Where are the Gators? Florida fans looking for one of their own on the Rays will come up empty. According to MLB's official roster data, no former Florida Gator is on Tampa Bay's 26-man World Series roster, its 40-man roster or its coaching staff. The only University of Florida product in this World Series is in the other dugout, and he is not suiting up. Right-hander Brandon Sproat is on Milwaukee's 40-man roster but not its active World Series roster, and he did not pitch in Game 4. The state's college ties in this series run through Tallahassee instead. Rays manager Kevin Cash and shortstop Taylor Walls are both Florida State products, as is Drohan, who took the Game 4 loss. The Brewers need one more win. The Rays need three in a row, starting Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field on Fox.

By GatorBait Media Staff GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The ball went in this time. Nine days after a 4-for-29 night from 3-point range in an exhibition loss to Baylor in Jacksonville, top-ranked Florida found its stroke Tuesday in an 85-68 exhibition win over Stetson at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, with Urban Klavzar and Denzel Aberdeen combining for 46 points and 10 3-pointers. That pair went 0-for-15 from deep against Baylor. Against the Hatters, Klavzar hit 6 of 12 from the arc and Aberdeen 4 of 5. "Me and Urb were not going to miss that way again," Aberdeen said. "We were going to step up and hit shots, but it also had to translate to the defensive end. Do that, we'll be fine." Klavzar, making his first start as a Gator with Boogie Fland out because of illness, finished with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Aberdeen added 22 on 9-of-12, plus four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Denzel Aberdeen, who hit 4 of 5 from three, brings the ball up against the Hatters. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media. "We've been working so hard since the summer," Klavzar said. "It was nice to see the ball go in." Florida shot 50.8% overall and 11 of 27 from three. The rest of the night was the problem. Stetson, picked to finish near the bottom of the Atlantic Sun Conference, trailed just 42-40 at halftime, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, scored 28 points in the paint and lost the glass only 40-36. Alex Doyle buried 6 of 9 threes for 18 points off the Hatters' bench, and Thiago Sucatzky added 18 points and six assists. The turning point came early in the second half, when a 7-0 Florida burst, five of the points from Thomas Haugh in transition, pushed the lead to 11. Stetson got back within five with 11 minutes left and within seven inside four minutes before the Gators scored the final 10 points. Thomas Haugh finishes at the rim. Haugh had five points in the 7-0 run that opened the second half. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media. Alex Condon filled the sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Haugh had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Rueben Chinyelu added six points and eight boards. The bench was another story. Stetson's reserves outscored Florida's 28-4, one game after Baylor's backups won that matchup 33-3. "Clearly, I don't think our bench is anywhere near good enough," Todd Golden said. The practice games are over. Florida opens the regular season Monday, Nov. 2, against No. 14 Miami in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic in Tampa, with a 6 p.m. tip on ESPN2. The Hurricanes won 26 games a year ago and return a strong core. "We're worried about next Monday, that game," Golden said. "A lot." Editor's note: More to come, including Chris Spears' courtside Three Things. Cover photo: Urban Klavzar drives against Stetson on Tuesday night at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media.

Florida-Georgia used to be about who wanted it more. On Oct. 31 in Atlanta, it may come down to who has more players who can still walk without a limp. They called it the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. This year it may be the World's Largest Indoor Training Room. Bring your own ice. In Gainesville, the bye week showed up like a cold towel on a hot neck. Florida (5-2, 3-2 SEC) beat No. 7 Texas, then spent Saturday on the couch. Best break Jon Sumrall has caught all month. The Gators were ranked 17th in the latest AP poll. Miami held on to the No. 1 ranking. This week's AP Top 25 1. Miami (Fla.) 2. Ohio State 3. Georgia 4. Indiana 5. Notre Dame 6. Utah 7. UCLA 8. BYU 9. Kentucky 10. Alabama 11. Texas 12. Ole Miss 13. Texas Tech 14. Wake Forest 15. LSU 16. Tennessee 17. Florida 18. Houston 19. SMU 20. Boise State (tie) 20. Northwestern (tie) 22. Arizona 23. Missouri 24. Oklahoma State 25. Wisconsin Florida's injury picture Aaron Philo took a shot to his throwing shoulder against South Carolina. Sumrall called it a "couple week deal," and Philo is questionable. Meanwhile, Tramell Jones Jr. made his first career start and beat the seventh-ranked team in the country. Sumrall hasn't announced who starts. Vernell Brown III, Florida's leading receiver, hasn't played since a low-grade knee strain against Ole Miss on Sept. 26. Sumrall said he feels "really good about where he is." Brown is questionable. Bailey Stockton has been fighting a lower back injury since what Sumrall called "basically a car crash on the field with two guys." Eric Singleton Jr. (ankle) is healing, and running back Duke Clark (foot) is a question mark. With Brown out, redshirt freshman Dallas Wilson became the main target. It's a receiver room held together with tape and faith, but it's holding. Georgia's injury picture Up in Athens, Kirby Smart is doing the same thing with more tape. Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) limped into its open date after a 27-24 home loss to Auburn, and Smart didn't dress it up: "It seems that we're more beat up than we've been in the past." That's the most buttoned-up coach in America, a man who would rather give up his playbook than an injury report. Believe him. All-American safety KJ Bolden hurt his right leg against Alabama and watched Auburn in a walking boot. "We're hopeful to get him back," Smart said. Translation: nobody knows. Quarterback Gunner Stockton left on the first play against Auburn with a shoulder stinger. None of that has scared the market. As of Sunday morning, Polymarket had Florida as a 10.5-point underdog, with the total at 55.5. Georgia has won five straight in the series and eight of the last nine, and leads it 57-44-2 by Florida's count. Georgia says 58. The two schools can't even agree on how many times they've beaten each other up. Around the SEC And Florida and Georgia are hardly the only ones counting bodies. Arch Manning got up Saturday night. Ole Miss end Kam Franklin hit him hard enough that an independent medical examiner sent him to the sideline. Then Manning came back, plunged in for the go-ahead touchdown, and Texas survived, 34-27. Survived is the right word. Now count the bodies. Left tackle Trevor Goosby, a preseason All-American, was carted off holding his left knee. Star receiver Cam Coleman landed on his left shoulder and was soon on the sideline in street clothes, which is never the outfit you want. "Obviously, neither of them look very good," Steve Sarkisian said. When a coach says that after a win, start bracing for Monday. Colin Simmons, the nation's sack leader, is out about three weeks with a high ankle sprain. And Goosby's replacement got beat on the strip-sack touchdown that started the Rebels' comeback. One injury turned into three. Ole Miss limped home too. Tailback Kewan Lacy reinjured his left shoulder and left on a cart. "He was in a lot of pain," Pete Golding said. "Same shoulder." The cost of a ninth game This is what the SEC paid for. The league wanted nine conference games, and in 2026 it got them. Gone is the cupcake parked in mid-October, the sorry directional school that let the bruises fade while the band played. Add prime-time kickoffs that put players to bed at 2 a.m., and the recovery window is about as wide as a Kirby Smart smile. Lane Kiffin said it in September, after LSU's Whit Weeks broke his leg: "Be careful what you wish for, SEC." People rolled their eyes, because Kiffin always has an angle. It reads more like a forecast every week. Last Wednesday, Oklahoma listed 13 players as out, doubtful or questionable. Ole Miss and Alabama had 10 each. Those aren't injury reports. They're casualty lists. Everybody wanted more big games. TV wanted them, and so did the guy in the end-zone suite with the pastel golf shirt. Nobody asked the 19- and 20-year-olds who play nine league games with no breather, then a title game, then a playoff. Nobody asked the guys on the cart. And November hasn't even started. So go ahead and check the line. Then check the injury report. Florida-Georgia won't be decided by who wants it more this year. It'll be decided by who's left standing. File photo: Florida defenders tackle an Auburn ball carrier. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media.

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Independent Florida Gators news, football, recruiting, analysis, original photography and The Buddy Martin Show from GatorBait Media. Welcome to GatorBait Media Hey Gator! Read daily articles Buddy Martin, Franz Beard, Loren Meadows, Kyle Curtis, Matt Quarterero and Photos by Chris Spears. Watch The Buddy Martin Show, Comment on our GatorBait.net Message Boards, or download our mobie app. Read More HOME Latest SHOP JOIN SIGN IN Groups More FLORIDA GATOR NEWS QB1 Philo Hurt. QB2 Jones To Start? Explained by That Great Football Mind Ted Lasso Buddy Martin called in the two greatest minds he knows, Albert Einstein and Ted Lasso, to explain Jon Sumrall's reverse thermostat, why calm is not surrender, and why Gator fans might not be crazy for believing. Members, the biscuits are inside. Einstein had relativity. Ted Lasso has biscuits. And an amazing attitude. So does Tramell Jones. Numbers Don't Lie Florida and South Carolina were nearly even in first downs and yards, but the Gators lost 38-19. Eddie Gilley on the three turnovers and two short fields behind a statistical draw. No surprise here: Gators picked to win SEC basketball title Florida is the preseason SEC basketball favorite, Tommy Haugh is preseason Player of the Year, and Franz Beard looks at the Gators' frontcourt, UNF scrimmage and preseason outlook. An Anatomy Of Total Gator Collapse: A Swamp Strewn With Broken Dreams Buddy Martin examines Florida's consecutive losses and asks whether the failures are separate football problems or symptoms of something larger. Texas opens as a 10-point favorite against Florida Franz Beard on Florida's response to consecutive losses as Texas opens as a 10-point favorite, plus Easton Royal's commitment and the latest SEC notes. Are The Gators Being Seduced? No. 9? Don’t Go Sweet-Talking Us Again! “These are the musical chairs I was talking about, with no answer that is 100 percent defensible. Do you drag everyone up or down? A lot of season still to go.” FLORIDA GATORS FOOTBALL NEWS Join Us THE BUDDY MARTIN SHOW