Right fielder Ryan Larson wanted a solid start to the season.
Catch a few fly balls, put some runners in scoring position and keep the errors to a minimum.
But when his teammates began to rack up hits against Rhode Island on Saturday, the sophomore stepped up to the plate with a different mindset.
"Hitting is contagious," he said.
"One guy gets a hit and it’s like, oh, I can do it, too."
Larson hit a deep shot into left field for a three-run homer on Saturday — the first home run of his career.
He didn’t realize he had scored until he was halfway around the bases.
"I’m not a home run hitter, so I hit the ball and my head was down, thinking second the whole time," Larson said. "Then I looked up and people were cheering, so I was like OK, I guess I’ll start jogging now."
It was part of an opening series in which four different Gators homered — including JJ Schwarz, Richie Martin and Harrison Bader — for the first time since Kevin O’Sullivan became head coach in 2008.
"I think we have a chance to have a good makeup of a club, but it’s so early," O’Sullivan said. "There’s a lot of ups and downs in the season and I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but we did have a lot of good at bats."
Bader, freshmen help make history: Florida baseball made history over the weekend.
The Gators finished with their highest batting average (.340) in a season-opening series since 2004 and their most runs (37) since 2006.
Bader led the team with a .583 batting average, 11 RBIs and three home runs, one more homer than he had in all 44 games last year.
But after Saturday’s 22-3 victory over Rhode Island, in which the junior went 3-for-4 with six RBIs, he was quick to compliment his teammates.
"It’s not only coming from me," Bader said. "It’s always the best part when everyone in the lineup is really hitting."
This has been especially true of the freshmen, who have combined for 10 RBIs and 15 hits in three games.
Freshman Dalton Guthrie overcame opening-week jitters to lead the rookie class in almost every category.
"The first night I was really excited, I couldn’t really feel my hands," Guthrie said.
The second baseman finished second on the team in total bases (nine), hits (six) and runs (four).
But the weekend’s standout was Bader, who earned his first career Southeastern Conference Player of the Week award on Monday.
"I’ve never seen someone hit like him. He’s pretty impressive," Guthrie said of Bader. "That day he had with the two homers was pretty impressive. I’ve never seen something like that."
UF-Florida A&M game postponed: Florida’s Tuesday-night matchup with Florida A&M was postponed due to inclement weather.
The Gators (3-0) play the University of South Florida (2-1) tonight at 6:30. Sophomore Brett Morales, who appeared in 11 games with five starts in 2014, will start on the mound for Florida.
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Ryan Larson celebrates with A.J. Puk (10) after hitting a home run during Florida's 22-3 win against Rhode Island on Saturday at McKethan Stadium.
