Dalton Guthrie’s performance against Stetson had happened in any of the UF baseball team’s previous 33 games this season, it probably would have been the highlight of the night.
The freshman second baseman hit his first two home runs in a UF uniform during the 22-2 blowout on Tuesday and reached base on three more of his seven plate appearances.
He became the first UF player to hit a leadoff home run in more than two years, and his slugging percentage increased from .398 to .430.
"I don’t have many games where I hit one (home run) to be honest," Guthrie said.
Unfortunately for Guthrie — but fortunately for the Gators — a school-record four home run performance from fellow freshman JJ Schwarz and an overall consistent night from the offense overshadowed Guthrie’s outing.
"That was really impressive," Guthrie said of Schwarz's play.
But what has really been impressive about this Florida team has been the production of its freshmen — Guthrie included.
Florida’s foursome of starting freshmen — Guthrie, Schwarz, Mike Rivera and Jeremy Vasquez — has a combined .306 batting average and .481 slugging mark, both of which are slightly higher than UF’s team marks in both categories (.302 and .472 respectively).
Guthrie leads UF and is tied for first among all freshmen with 48 total hits.
Schwarz shares the team lead in home runs (nine) with junior Harrison Bader and paces the Gators in RBI (40) and total bases (77).
The Palm Beach Gardens native leads SEC freshmen in all three categories and ranks first, second and third nationally among Division I freshmen in the respective categories.
Florida finished Tuesday's bludgeoning of Stetson with 22 hits by 12 different batters and a season-high .449 batting average. Eleven of those hits came from six freshmen.
And all of this came just 48 hours after the Gators dropped a road series to Missouri. It also ended a five-game stretch where the team collectively failed to post at least a .350 batting average.
"A lot of us have been struggling hitting the bats," said Guthrie, who was 4-for-20 at the plate in that stretch. "And a lot of us broke out (Tuesday)."
But the road is far from over.
Florida still has 21 regular-season games on the schedule, 18 of which are against SEC foes.
With the conference schedule almost halfway finished, UF is tied for third in the SEC East with a 6-6 record, four games behind No. 1 Vanderbilt.
And UF has been anything but consistent in its first four SEC series.
The Gators have a .271 batting average through 12 SEC games and failed to hit above .200 as a team in four of those games. That unpredictability won’t bode well when postseason play begins.
It needs to change fast.
"When guys are struggling, the only way to get out of it is swinging the bat," UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after Tuesday's win.
The Gators left Tuesday’s win against Stetson swinging.
They need to keep it that way.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Dalton Guthrie swings at a pitch during Florida's 8-7 win against Fairfield on March 10 at McKethan Stadium. Guthrie scored the go-ahead run for Florida in its 9-7 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
