James Davison ran toward the ball. He got under the ball. He prepared to catch the ball.
Then he fell, as did the ball.
It was unclear if he tripped over himself, over the warning track or lost the ball in the sun, but the miscue allowed Florida outfielder Nelson Maldonado to get to second base and teammate Deacon Liput to get to third with one out.
It wasn’t UF’s first threat of the game. The Gators had already stranded four men on base in three innings. But this time, the Gators delivered.
First baseman Christian Hicks started the scoring by driving a ball deep enough for Liput to score from third. And after Maldonado advanced to third on a wild pitch, a Nick Horvath single drove him home and gave Florida the lead.
That lead was never relinquished in UF’s 6-2 win over Miami on Sunday as the No. 3 Gators (6-1) completed the sweep of the Hurricanes (2-4) in Gainesville to the delight of coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
“Food tastes a little bit better after a win like this,” he said.
Aside from Hicks and Horvath, shortstop Dalton Guthrie, catcher JJ Schwarz and Maldonado also picked up RBIs, with Guthrie knocking in two.
The junior shortstop continued his dominance at the plate by smacking three hits and inflating his average to a team-best .423 despite a questionable call going against him early on.
Leading off in the bottom of the third, Guthrie had already started to jog to first, thinking he'd walked, when he heard the strikeout grunt from the umpire. He wasn’t happy about it, and neither was O’Sullivan, who stood outside the dugout with his hands on his head.
“I tried to stay calm,” Guthrie said, “because I knew I was gonna get another chance later on.”
He was right, as all three of his hits came later in the game.
UF’s six runs and 10 hits were an awakening for its offense, which was largely dormant in the first two games of the series. The Gators scored three runs combined on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s nice to see that we could break through and do some damage,” Guthrie said, “but I think we’ve definitely still got some work to do.”
The pitching, meanwhile, took a step back.
On Friday and Saturday, the Gators shut out Miami in back-to-back games for the first time in series history, which started in the 1940s.
Sunday’s starter Jackson Kowar couldn’t match that success.
The sophomore allowed one earned run, four hits and three walks against the Hurricanes. He also struck out seven in his 5 and 2/3 innings.
For comparison, Friday starter Alex Faedo was one out away from tossing a complete-game shutout with eight strikeouts and two hits allowed. And Saturday starter Brady Singer struck out 11 in 7 and 2/3 innings.
Kowar’s effort was still more than enough to secure the win, though, with his only significant blemish being a solo home run surrendered to UM’s Romy Gonzalez.
“Obviously the two guys before me were dynamite,” Kowar said, “so I felt a little bit of pressure trying to live up to that. But at the end of the day, as a starter, as long as we’re in the game, it doesn’t really matter.”
Michael Byrne was brought on in relief and pitched one scoreless inning. Austin Langworthy — who started in left field for the Gators — relieved him, chugging from the outfield to the bullpen to switch gloves before jogging out to the mound.
He surrendered another homer to Gonzalez in the eighth inning, but he rebounded and finished the game in the ninth.
“Winning the series is nice,” Guthrie said of facing the rival Hurricanes, “but sweeping them is even better.”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
UF shortstop Dalton Guthrie swings during Florida's 2-0 win against Miami on Feb. 25, 2017, at McKethan Stadium.
