Jordan Carrion knocked a single into center field but ended up at third after a throwing error to home. Jacob Young walked then stole second. Jud Fabian was intentionally walked. Then, Nathan Hickey stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded.
Hickey swung and the crack of the bat as it met the ball echoed throughout the stadium in a brief moment of silence before the crowd erupted in a chorus of screams and cheers. The Bulldogs could do nothing but watch as the ball easily sailed over the wall in left-center.
An explosive offense backed by a sturdy defense put the Gators on top of Samford 18-2 on Saturday in the series’ second game.
The game opened with a three-run first inning for the Gators’ offense. Young kicked things off with a lead-off liner that drove down the right-field line for a double to extend his hit streak to 25 games and 638 days. He went 2-3 on the night, including an RBI single in the seventh.
After that, though, the Gators stalled until the fifth inning. They were held scoreless until a Hickey triple and an error by Samford second baseman scored the fourth run of the game.
It was Hickey’s grand slam in the sixth that opened the floodgates. The designated hitter had another stellar night at the plate, going 2-4 with six RBIs.
The seventh inning looked more like batting practice as the Gators scored eight runs across three Samford pitchers.
A pitch hit Sterlin Thompson and two walks were dealt to load the bases to start things off. Two consecutive singles off the bats of Carrion and Young sent the first two runs home, and the damage didn’t stop until six more crossed as well.
The Gators would get one more in the bottom of the 8th to cap their 18-run massacre against the Bulldogs.
A big piece of the Gators’ success on Saturday was the pitching staff.
Starter Jack Leftwich made it through five and two-thirds inning of work giving up just two hits over 87 pitches. Those two hits were both solo shots over the fence in left-center off Kaden Dreier’s bat in the fifth and Sonny DiChiara’s in the sixth.
“I felt really good today, and I could kind of tell by the swings that my stuff was good,” Leftwich said.
The relief staff held strong to get the save.
Christian Scott entered the game after Leftwich. He gave up two hits and no runs in an inning and a third of work. David Luethje took care of the eighth inning with a quick one-two-three outing. Infielder Carrion stepped on the mound in the ninth, earning two strikeouts and no hits.
Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Saturday’s win was an all-around team effort.
“We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different people tonight,” O’Sullivan said.
The Gators already took the series with a win on Saturday, but look to get the sweep against the unranked Bulldogs on Sunday’s series closer set for 1 p.m.
Contact Sara Kate Dyson at skatedyson@alligator.org or follow her on Twitter at @sarakatedyson
