Nothing has come easy for No. 7 Florida the last three weeks, and that continued Friday night in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Gators beat the Volunteers, 3-1, to take their first series opener in nearly a month, but it wasn’t without some close calls. Florida (27-7, 8-5 Southeastern Conference) staved off three late rally attempts by Tennessee (20-14, 6-7 SEC) to earn back-to-back wins for the first time since March 24 and 27, when UF beat South Carolina and Florida State, respectively.
“A win’s a win in this league, and a Friday night win — they’re not easy to come by,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’re slowly but surely getting better.”
After the Gators fell behind 1-0 in the second inning with right-handed pitcher Jonathon Crawford on the mound, the sophomore settled in, retiring nine of the final 13 hitters he faced. That allowed Florida to scrap back for its 16th come-from-behind win of the season.
The Gators tied the game in the fourth when Brian Johnson drove in Nolan Fontana with a single, and then they took the lead in the fifth thanks to an RBI double from Mike Zunino — his 14th double of the season. Florida added another run when Fontana, who finished the day 4 for 4 at the plate while batting fifth in the order for the first time this season, drove in Zunino with his second double of the game.
“[Fontana] was awesome,” O’Sullivan said. “He put some good swings on the ball, squared up every one of them. There wasn’t a cheap hit in the bunch. … He had four great at-bats — not good at-bats, but great at-bats.”
With a 3-1 lead, it was all about pitching and defense for the Gators from there on out.
After Crawford (4-1) gave up a single and a walk to lead off the sixth, Florida’s bullpen took over. Steven Rodriguez retired the first two batters he faced and then intentionally walked Zach Osbourne to load the bases and face leadoff hitter Will Maddox.
Rodriguez battled with Maddox six pitches — including one ball ruled just foul down the first-base line that would have tied the game — before striking him out to end the inning.
Rodriguez pitched a perfect seventh, and recorded four strikeouts in two innings of work before closer Austin Maddox took over. The Volunteers again had a chance with runners on second and third and one out in the eighth, but Maddox struck out Wes Walker before third baseman Cody Dent made a diving grab to his left on an Osbourne ground ball to save two runs and end another Tennessee scoring threat.
“He saved the game for us,” O’Sullivan said of Dent’s web gem. “I don’t care about the box score … but to be honest with you, if he doesn’t make that play, we’d still be playing because they score two.”
Maddox then closed the door on the Volunteers in the ninth and earned his 10th save of the season. After giving up a leadoff double and allowing the tying run to come to the plate, he retired the final three batters on a strikeout, a diving catch in right field by Preston Tucker and a pop up to Fontana at shortstop.
In all, the Volunteers stranded a dozen runners on the night, including nine in scoring position while the Gators left eight men on base.
“Both teams had opportunities tonight,” O’Sullivan said, “but both pitching staffs did a nice job when they needed to.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
