The clock read 9:13 p.m. when the second-ranked Gators basketball team finished off the Tigers on the hardwood. Cheers coming from Auburn’s implosion at the O’Connell Center drowned out the 2,740 fans that turned down the air conditioning for the brisk Gainesville night.
Forty-seven minutes later, Casey Turgeon smacked a single up the middle to give Florida a one-run lead heading to the ninth inning.
Richie Martin tied the game a pitch earlier, bringing in two runs after reaching on a misfielded ground ball by North Florida third baseman Trent Higginbothem. Freshman right-hander Shaun Anderson earned the save in his collegiate debut as No. 23 Florida outlasted North Florida 8-7 on Tuesday at McKethan Stadium.
“It was awesome. I think that’s the difference with this year’s team and last year’s team,” Martin said. “We might’ve fell down and stayed down the whole game. This year’s team — we fight back every time if we’re down four runs in the first or in the last inning. It doesn’t matter.”
Florida found itself in an early hole after freshman starter Dane Dunning didn’t last past the second after surrendering one run, a wild pitch and leaving with the bases loaded. North Florida cleared the bases on a double by Higginbothem off Aaron Rhodes.
The Gators grabbed their first lead in the seventh while throngs of basketball fans walked along Stadium Road as Taylor Gushue, hitting right-handed, skied a sacrifice fly to deep left-center field to make the score 5-4.
It disappeared just as fast as it came. A wild pitch and a single against closer Justin Shafer led to two North Florida runs in the eighth. An error by Martin on a potential inning-ending double play scored the final Ospreys’ run.
Yet, the Gators withstood the onslaught as they had all game. Freshman left-hander Kirby Snead pitched a scoreless eighth inning with a strikeout of North Florida’s No. 3 hitter Donnie Dewees in a left-on-left matchup and a 4-6-3 double play.
Wednesday featured the typical Florida-North Florida midweek affair — filled with mound visits, prolonged innings and lead changes. The Gators now lead the all-time series 8-6, with eight of those matchups decided by two or fewer runs. Florida notched its third-straight victory heading into a weekend series at No. 16 Miami.
“We’ve seen them for three years now. They’re really good,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of Miami’s starting pitching. “They’re arguably one of the better pitching staffs in the whole country, so we’ll have our hands full. I’m looking forward to it. From a coaching standpoint, you’re anxious to see how they’ll handle it.”
Florida showed poise as it flirted with disaster all game with North Florida stranding 11 runners. The Gators bullpen, solid through four games, benefited from four double plays. Depth allowed O’Sullivan to trot out eight pitchers and 13 different position players. That he said is the biggest difference from a year ago.
Perhaps the seventh-year coach is right, but there’s no denying the youthful Gators have exhibited a greater knack for the dramatic. As O’Sullivan said, they’re having fun and don’t know any better. Winning can do that.
“Last year we were capable. This year, these guys are battling left and right,” Turgeon said. “I like how it looks.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Casey Turgeon swings during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium.
