It looked as if the Gators were going to rely on unearned runs again on Friday night, but another big inning changed that.
Florida (18-18. 7-7 Southeastern Conference) used a three-run eighth inning to come from behind and defeat No. 8 South Carolina (27-9, 8-6 SEC) 4-3 to clinch the series win and get back to the .500 mark for the first time since March 9.
“All the pieces, they’re starting to come together,” second baseman Casey Turgeon said.
The Gators got an eight-run fifth inning on Sunday to propel themselves to a win against Mississippi State to begin their four-game winning streak.
USC reliever Adam Westmoreland had retired 11 of 12 UF hitters before the eighth inning.
Then, the Florida lineup woke up as it loaded the bases on singles from Casey Turgeon and Justin Shafer and a Vickash Ramjit walk. Third baseman Josh Tobias hit a sharp grounder off of Westmoreland, who recovered to get Tobias at first, but Turgeon scored to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then, freshman left fielder Harrison Bader gave the Gators the lead with a single to left that plated Shafer and Ramjit.
“I was just trying to get a pitch to hit,” Bader said. “He didn’t really want to come with anything off-speed just to avoid bouncing it in the dirt. He was attacking and I was trying to get a pitch to handle and hit it hard somewhere.”
Florida got an early lead the same way it four of its seven runs in its last two wins against South Carolina and FSU: with help from the opposing defense.
Freshman Richie Martin walked to lead off the bottom of the first and advanced to third on a Casey Turgeon single to right field. Two batters later, Montgomery tried to pick Turgeon off at first, but the throw sailed into right field and Martin scored, giving Florida a 1-0 lead.
Although the Gators wouldn’t generate much offense for the next six innings, Bader said the team didn’t lack confidence at the plate.
“It’s up to the hitter to have a solid at-bat,” Bader said. “To have a positive, good approach, and that sort of dictates in a lot of ways how the dugout reacts.”
UF starter Danny Young managed to hold the Gamecocks to just one run through three innings despite giving up six hits — several of which were hard-hit balls. His luck ran out in the top of the fourth with one out as he gave up a solo home run off the top of the left field fence to right fielder Connor Bright to put South Carolina up 2-1.
Gators catcher Taylor Gushue helped to squash the Gamecock’s hopes of getting any more insurance runs in the top of the eighth after USC extended it lead to 3-1 earlier in the inning. He threw out catcher Grayson Greiner trying to steal second with one out. Then, he threw out Bright following a single to left to end the inning.
“It was huge,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of catching the base stealers. “They were being aggressive. I still felt like we were in the game even though we went down 3-1.”
Before their current streak, the Gators were 1-7 in one-run games. They’ve now won three straight by a run.
“I know we lost some tough games,” O’Sullivan said. “But I know that baseball is a funny game, a game of percentages that if you stay the course it will come back to you. This time of year, we’ve been on the right side of things.”
For the second straight night, O’Sullivan used Saturday‘s scheduled starter Johnny Magliozzi to put the game away in the ninth. O’Sullivan said Magliozzi won’t start the final game of the series now, but didn’t know after the game who would take his spot.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Catcher Taylor Gushue throws the ball back to the mound during warmups between innings in Florida’s 4-0 victory against Ole Miss on March 31 at McKethan Stadium.
