BATON ROUGE (Interstat) — Ethan Surowiec’s grand slam in the first inning fueled a six-run outburst and the Florida Gators held off a late LSU Tigers rally to win 11-8 on Thursday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium/Skip Bertman Field.

Florida improved to 35-18 overall and 15-10 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU fell to 29-25 and 11-16 in league play.

The game was decided in the top of the first. After K. Jones singled, Lawson singled and Cyr walked to load the bases, Surowiec drove a pitch over the right-field wall for a grand slam, scoring all three runners. The Gators weren’t finished. Stripling doubled, Kurland walked and Strayer walked to load the bases again. LSU starter Lachenmayer was replaced by Reagan Ricken. K. Jones then singled up the middle, driving in Stripling and Kurland to make it 6-0. Jones advanced to second on a fielding error by third baseman, but Lawson flied out to end the inning.

Florida pitcher Aidan King navigated through the early innings despite control issues. King struck out seven over 5.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on no hits, though he walked several batters. LSU scored in the third when Stanfield singled, Braun singled, and a wild pitch brought Stanfield home. Curiel doubled in Braun, and Arrambide singled in Curiel, cutting the deficit to 6-3.

Florida answered in the fourth. H. Yost was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Cyr’s single to left center. In the fifth, McDonald doubled, advanced on a flyout and scored on Stripling’s single to right, pushing the lead to 8-3.

LSU got a run back in the sixth when Steven Milam homered to right. Milam finished 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. But Florida added two unearned runs in the seventh on a walk to H. Yost and a wild pitch, then made it 11-4 in the eighth when Cyr scored on a bases-loaded walk to Kurland.

LSU mounted a charge in the bottom of the eighth. Omar Serna Jr. homered to right center. After a walk and a pitching change, Milam reached on a fielder’s choice, and a throwing error by Florida pitcher Billy Barlow allowed Curiel to score. A hit batter loaded the bases, and Simpson walked to force in another run, trimming the lead to 11-6. Simpson was later ruled out trying to advance to second on a challenge that was confirmed.

The Tigers made it close in the ninth. Braun singled, Serna Jr. doubled, and after a pitching change to Joshua Whritenour, Milam doubled to right center, driving in both Braun and Serna Jr. That made it 11-8. Whritenour then struck out Dardar to end the game. Whritenour earned the save with one perfect inning, striking out two.

King was the top star for Florida. In his previous start on May 8 against Kentucky, he pitched 6.1 innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs with six strikeouts in a 7-6 win. Against LSU, he struck out seven and gave up no hits despite four earned runs.

For LSU, Ricken pitched 4.1 innings of relief, allowing four hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts. Connor Benge tossed 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Dax Dathe pitched a scoreless ninth.

Florida’s win came after dropping two of three at home to Kentucky last weekend. LSU had lost seven of its last nine games entering Thursday.

The Gators and Tigers will meet again Friday and Saturday to conclude the series. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Florida 6, LSU 5. The ELO system gave LSU a 54.40 percent probability to win. Florida was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of plus-1.5.