HOOVER, Ala. — With the game seemingly slipping away Wednesday, Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan convened his team in the dugout.
Trailing the Bulldogs 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, O'Sullivan rounded up his troops and sent them a message.
The No. 3-seed Gators (42-15) then rallied from a late three-run deficit to capture their first game at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, downing Mississippi State (34-22) 7-5 in Regions Park.
"I told them we needed to have better at-bats," he said. "We had some opportunities. I thought if we could just put some quality at-bats together we could make a run. Sometimes that works and sometimes that doesn't, but they obviously responded real well and we swung the bats a lot better."
The Gators promptly loaded the bases with a single, a walk and hit batsman before designated hitter Brian Johnson smashed a bases-clearing grand slam, giving UF the lead and sending the bench into a frenzy.
The sophomore worked a tough at-bat, fouling off three pitches with two strikes, but MSU freshman lefty Luis Pollorena hung a fastball and Johnson got just enough to keep the ball fair, barely eclipsing the right field wall.
"When I first hit it I thought it was definitely foul," he said. "But when I looked up it stayed straight as an arrow, so I just started running."
The wind was playing tricks all afternoon in Hoover, and O'Sullivan said he thought the ball was foul when it left the bat.
"I was just hoping it wasn't," he said. "But Brian took advantage of his opportunity."
The Gators plated an insurance run in the eighth when junior Preston Tucker, who gave UF a 1-0 lead earlier when he split the gap in right field for a run-scoring double, ripped an opposite field single to left for his second RBI of the contest.
Junior Tommy Toledo made his first start since March 1 versus Florida State, and he continued his strikeout binge, recording six punch-outs —one short of a career high — in just 2.2 innings.
Toledo did struggle with command early though, walking two and hitting a batter in the first two innings.
And in the third, MSU took a 2-1 lead when UF center fielder Bryson Smith completely misjudged a fly ball, plating two Bulldogs on a questionably ruled triple.
"I thought Tommy gave us a good start," O'Sullivan said. "We just misjudged a ball in center field."
Southpaw Nick Maronde tossed three innings in relief and was rolling along before MSU second baseman Nick Vickerson ambushed a fastball and cranked a solo homer that landed in the parking lot behind left field.
But the Gators rallied despite stranding eight runners in the first six innings, including four on walks.
Austin Maddox shut the door in the ninth for his fourth save.
After blowing a late lead against a top-five team, Bulldogs manager John Cohen was despondent in the post-game press conference, saying, "We had a combination of eight walks or hit-by-pitches. ... The grand slam is not just the issue, it's how the two guys got on second and third. You just can't hand a team like Florida those opportunities."
UF will play Alabama today at 4:30 p.m.
