After sliding into second base on Florida’s first hit of the game, Harrison Bader yelled, clapped and fist-pumped before urging the crowd to do the same.
Florida State’s right-handed pitcher Boomer Bielgalski shook his head. It was the start of a six hit, six run, two inning outing for him, one in which UF scored four runs in the first inning and led by nine by the seventh.
Ultimately, in front of the 10th largest crowd in school history, fourth-seeded Florida (48-16) rolled past Florida State (44-20) 13-5 Friday night. With one more win, Florida will head to the College World Series.
“The good thing is, we played great tonight,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “The bad thing is, we can’t take any of the runs we scored today into tomorrow.”
For seven innings, Florida dominated. The game seemed over even before JJ Schwarz blasted a home run slightly short of the center-field media tower in the fifth inning.
“It was an old fashioned switching,” FSU coach Mike Martin said. “…we’re up here very humbled because we just got whipped.”
Right-hander Logan Shore (9-6) rendered the Seminoles scoreless through five innings while striking out five batters. But Shore was pulled in the sixth, and the rest of UF’s pitching staff didn’t fare as well. Five UF relievers combined to allow five runs and seven hits while striking out just one batter.
“I came out a little bit earlier than I would've liked,” Shore said.
Offensively, Florida continued its postseason hot streak. Every UF starter reached base, and Schwarz, Josh Tobias and Buddy Reed finished with multiple hits while accounting for five of UF’s runs.
Tobias began the scoring with an RBI single in the first, and freshmen Schwarz and Rivera followed with singles of their own to take a 4-0 lead.
“They’re making me look smart,” O’Sullivan said of Florida’s freshmen.
Rivera hit another RBI single in the third, and the Gators followed with three unearned runs to increased their lead to nine.
After Florida put up four more runs in the fourth, FSU’s DJ Stewart hit a line-drive two-run homer to right field to put the Seminoles on the board.
But FSU’s comeback was cut short after right-hander Shaun Anderson entered the game and recorded the final two outs.
Florida and FSU will play Game 2 on Saturday at 5 p.m.
“I thought from an offensive standpoint, we stayed within ourselves… and had really good at bats the entire night,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb
UF's JJ Schwarz runs past third base and heads to score during the first inning of Florida's 13-5 win against Florida State in the NCAA Super Regionals on June 5, 2015, at McKethan Stadium.
