Buddy Reed was poised when he stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
No. 6 Florida and No. 8 Miami were tied 3-3 with temperatures dipping into the upper 30s and the sense of extra innings at McKethan Stadium looming.
But with the game on the line, Reed laced a 1-2 pitch count from UM freshman left-hander Michael Mediavilla into shallow left-center field to score Josh Tobias from second base for the walk-off single to give the Gators a 4-3 win to open the series on Friday.
“I just wanted to win the game,” Reed said. “Sully told me ‘Buddy win the game for us.’ And by the grace of God, I did.”
Reed finished the game with three of Florida’s hits and two stolen bases to go along with two key defensive plays in the outfield.
The sophomore threw out UM’s Edgar Michelangeli at second from the warning track to end the top of the sixth.
Two innings later, Reed relayed an eighth-inning hit from Willie Abreu to shortstop Richie Martin, who powered the ball to Mike Rivera at home plate to tag out Zack Collins.
“I thought Buddy did an unbelievable job cutting that ball off,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “That was a huge play obviously to cut down that run.”
Friday was supposed to be a game between two aces: Florida sophomore Logan Shore and Miami redshirt junior Andrew Suarez.
But Suarez was scratched from the lineup after suffering a strained oblique in practice, while Shore saw the mound for just nine pitches before suffering a minor hip flexor injury.
With Suarez out, Miami started Ryan Otero — a redshirt junior right-hander who had a combined 3.2 innings of experience under his belt.
“We just got the guys together and said ‘Hey, they made a change. Let’s go figure out what he can do,’” O’Sullivan said. “It was an adjustment for us.”
And in Shore’s absence, Bobby Poyner had his chance to shine.
The senior right-handed pitcher tossed 5.1 solid innings, giving up just four hits and two runs — both earned — while striking out a career-high-tying seven of the 20 batters he faced.
“My thing was to try and keep us in the ballgame as long as possible, to try and throw strikes and keep the score close,” Poyner said. “It’s not something that I’ve done in a while, but I have started before. I just tried to keep the ballgame close and give us a chance.”
Junior Taylor Lewis earned his first career win after retiring the final four batters.
But while Florida (5-0) saw the production it needed on the mound, UF had a difficult time manufacturing hits.
The Gators hit a season-low .226 on Friday.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Richie Martin came home on a balk, the Gators saw their next five batters go down in order.
“Our team needed a game like this,” O’Sullivan said. “We needed to be put in a tougher situation.”
Miami (4-2) tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth on a passed ball, an RBI single and a wild pitch, pushing Florida into a do-or-die situation.
And Mike Rivera came in clutch in the bottom half of the frame, ripping a two-out, two-RBI single — his lone hit of the game — into right field to tie the game at 3-3, setting up Reed’s game winner three innings later.
“He might go one for four, but that one hit is one when you need it,” O’Sullivan said.
Game two of the three-game series will take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Buddy Reed runs toward home plate during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium. Reed is hitting .154 in his first five college games.
