After two consecutive dramatic comebacks and a gem featuring few offensive highlights, the top-ranked Gators won their eighth straight game Sunday, capping off a stellar week with a 7-3 drubbing of No. 5 LSU in Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
Thanks in part to two unlikely stars, No. 1 Florida (18-2, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) pulled off their first-ever sweep at LSU, quieting a hostile crowd behind Austin Maddox’s arm and Jeff Moyer’s bat.
Maddox, primarily UF’s starting first baseman, relieved freshman Karsten Whitson in the fifth inning after the phenom struggled with his command in his first road start.
Maddox was surprisingly called upon in relief, but the burly right-hander promptly threw 4.1 scoreless innings, shutting down LSU (16-4, 0-3 SEC) and earning his first collegiate victory.
Entering Sunday, the sophomore fireballer had tossed just 3.2 innings all season, but he said afterward his arm felt great despite throwing more pitches than he had since high school.
UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan has preached all year about his confidence in Maddox as a valuable bullpen arm and said, “I know he hasn’t thrown a whole lot, but we weren’t going to bring him out of the game unless we got into trouble.”
Florida displayed its deep bullpen all series against LSU, as five pitchers combined for 10.1 innings, 11 strikeouts, one walk and just one earned run.
In Friday’s 5-4 win, Anthony DeSclafani escaped a jam in the bottom of the ninth and earned his third save of the season. After Hudson Randall pitched 6.2 shutout innings on Saturday, lefty Nick Maronde closed the game, striking out the final four hitters in UF’s 1-0 win.
“Our bullpen was outstanding,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a team sport. You never know who is going to be the hero, and today was Jeff Moyer coming off the bench, and Maddox coming out of the bullpen. You just never know, but it was a great team effort.”
Down 3-0 in the fourth, the Gators rallied for five runs, including three with two outs. The inning was highlighted by Moyer’s two-out pinch-hit single up the middle, plating two and giving Florida the lead.
“That was a clutch at-bat there,” O’Sullivan said. “Those two out hits win ball games.”
Moyer, who was 3 for 3 with three RBIs, added an insurance run in the ninth with a towering shot into the right-field bleachers.
“Sully called my number,” Moyer said. “It’s great that he has trust in me.
“I haven’t seen a team like this before,” the junior transfer added. “It could be anyone on any given night. Sully and [assistant coach] Brad [Weitzel] do a great job plugging guys in where they can thrive and help the team.”
