Unlike his teammates, Connor Mitchell didn’t have any opportunities to waste. The redshirt sophomore singled home Vickash Ramjit on the first pitch he saw for a walk-off win against Jacksonville.
The Gators (7-7) defeated the Dolphins (4-9) 7-6 on Wednesday night to reach .500 for the first time since Feb. 19. Mitchell entered in the eighth inning as a pinch runner for Brady Roberson and ended the game with his second at-bat this season. Florida extended its winning streak to four games and earned its first one-run win in five tries.
It wasn’t until the ninth when the midweek matchup woke up a weary McKethan Stadium where the cheers from the men’s basketball game were louder than the few fans watching baseball.
Florida had stranded nine runners and couldn’t put Jacksonville away. The Dolphins scored the go-ahead run on a sinking single into center off right-hander Ryan Harris.
Justin Shafer led off the bottom half for Florida with a single. Right-hander Drew Woods hit Zack Powers to move runners to first and second. Taylor Gushue advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt. Woods intentionally walked Vickash Ramjit to get to Cody Dent.
The strategy looked right on paper if it weren’t for a woeful Jacksonville defense. Dent had been 2 for 25 since leading Florida in batting average in its opening weekend against Duke. He lifted a fly ball to left field not deep enough for Shafer to tag up. Left fielder Dylan Dillard camped under it and appeared to drop it while attempting a throw into the infield.
Shafer ran home for the tying run once he saw the ball hit the grass. The umpires awarded Dent first base, and the Gators caught a break. Both coaches ran onto the field for clarification. Mitchell’s at-bat came directly after the confusing sequence.
“I don’t even know what happened,” Shafer said. “I thought (the umpires) said he caught and then it was on the exchange. When I saw him drop it, that’s when I took off going again.”
Dillard committed the fourth error by the Dolphins and the eighth in their last two games. Florida swept the season series against Jacksonville with its wins on back-to-back nights.
The UF dugout spilled out onto the infield in between first and second. Florida met its unlikely hero who had the first game-winning hit of his baseball career.
“They were all hugging me,” Mitchell said. “I might have broken my nose when they mobbed me. It feels good.”
Pitching rotation remains same: Florida hosts Indiana (6-2) on Friday night at 7 for its last non-conference weekend series. O’Sullivan intends to use the same pitching rotation he featured against Miami.
Right-hander Jonathon Crawford (0-1, 3.60) started Friday night while freshman right-handers Tucker Simpson (0-1, 4.15) and Eric Hanhold (0-0, 5.19) went Saturday and Sunday. A Florida pitcher hasn’t earned a victory in 14 starts this season.
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
