Brady Singer struck his way out of trouble in the first inning of Saturday’s game, and from there, the junior never let up.
Behind his second complete game of the season — and his career — the Gators downed Missouri 2-1 on Saturday in Columbia to take the three-game series.
“The pitching from Brady was outstanding again,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He had his sinker going to both sides of the plate.”
Singer allowed three hits, three walks and struck out four in his third win of the season. His ERA also dropped to 1.47, which leads the team. But he wasn’t the only hero for the Gators on Saturday.
Florida actually trailed 1-0 until the fourth inning, when third baseman Jonathan India led off with a home run. His shot catalyzed Florida’s offense, which strung together three hits in a row. The big one came from shortstop Christian Hicks, who drove in what turned out to be the winning run with a single.
No. 8 UF (19-9, 4-4 SEC) picked up eight total hits in the game, with two apiece coming from Hicks and catcher JJ Schwarz.
“India put a big swing on one early with the home run,” O’Sullivan said, “and then JJ got a couple more hits, Hicks got a couple more hits and played really good defense.”
Speaking of defense, Florida committed one error on an errant pickoff attempt from Singer. However, the Tigers (21-6, 4-4 SEC) couldn’t capitalize.
After evening their SEC record, the Gators will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 2, and O’Sullivan sounded confident about his team’s chances.
“We’re fresh in the pen and we’re in the same position we were in last week winning the first two,” O’Sullivan said. “So hopefully we can finish off this weekend.”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @ebaueri
UF pitcher Brady Singer throws a pitch during Florida's 2-0 win against Miami on Feb. 25, 2017, at McKethan Stadium.
