After seeing Army left fielder Ben Koenigsfeld lay out and snag a hard-hit ball in the fourth inning, the Gators took a different approach.
They turned what should have been two easy fly outs into two doubles in the fifth to score three runs in the inning and gain some separation from Army (5-4).
It was all No. 6 Florida (12-3) would need, as it blew past the Black Knights 9-3 on Monday.
“We’ve got the advantage because we play here a lot,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’ve seen that a lot and we’ve talked a lot amongst our team that when it does get twilight, the infield has to point and yell to help the infielders out.”
In the eventful fifth inning, catcher Mike Zunino hit a fly ball to shallow center field that fell in between three Black Knights for a two-bagger, while Daniel Pigott hit a lazy ball up in the air that the dark sky helped turn into an RBI double. Austin Maddox then hit a single to knock the other two runs home.
“It felt good. The sky helped me out a little bit, but I’ll take what I can get,” Pigott said.
Florida didn’t stop there.
With a 5-2 lead, shortstop Nolan Fontana doubled down the right-field line to lead off the sixth and got to third on an error. Third baseman Bryson Smith, the next batter, lined a single up the middle to drive in Fontana and extend the lead.
Then in the seventh, Preston Tucker ended his homer drought and hit a two-run shot to left-center field after going 14 games without one.
He hit 15 last season, about one every four games.
“It was just a matter of time,” O’Sullivan said. “I think it was more of a big deal to him than it was to any of us. I think he just wanted to get the monkey off of his back.”
He finished the game with three RBIs and has driven in nine runners in the last three games.
“It just goes to show that guys are afraid to pitch to Maddox because he’s been driving in a lot of runs,” Tucker said. “They are starting to pitch to me more and it’s been real effective.”
Sophomore pitcher Anthony DeSclafani did his job on the mound and turned in 5.2 innings of two-run baseball while striking out three.
Reliever Jeff Barfield took it from there and threw 3.1 innings and gave up one run to earn his second save and close out the game, saving the bullpen for today’s game against FSU.
After failing to record an out and allowing five runs on March 2 against the Seminoles, DeSclafani has bounced back with two-straight wins.
Earlier, Matt den Dekker went yard to lead off the game after seeing his 22-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday.
The Gators will be back at it today as they send out freshman pitcher Hudson Randall to take on No. 5 FSU (13-2) at 6:30 p.m. in McKethan Stadium. UF fell to the ’Noles 10-5 in their first meeting.
