The Gators received mountains of hype and accolades before they even played an inning this season.
Fifteen games into its schedule, No. 1 Florida had yet to prove it is deserving of the attention.
But on Tuesday, the Gators showed why they were atop the rankings.
Thanks to a pretty soft schedule to start the season, UF’s record looked like that of a No. 1 team.
However, midweek losses to FSU and Georgia Southern indicated otherwise.
On, Tuesday, though, Florida finally broke through.
And, who knew, all it took was one swing from Daniel Pigott.
With the win, the Gators ended the Seminoles’ four-game winning streak in the rivalry and extinguished any doubts that would have come along with three midweek losses to start the season.
The importance of the victory didn’t go unnoticed by coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
“Personally, I’m worn out,” he said. “I don’t quite remember ever being involved in a game like that. There was so many pitching changes. I think there were 15 pitchers who touched the mound tonight for both teams. They used their bench. We used our bench. Kind of a back-and-forth game.”
That it was, but that’s what Florida needed.
Before the victory, the Gators had been winning by a margin of more than five runs per game.
Florida had not yet been forced to execute a comeback or come through at the plate during the late innings.
For a while it looked like UF would flounder as it left 13 runners on base, but surprising standout Daniel Pigott came through, like he has much of the season, with game-tying and game-winning hits.
“For me it was (a sense of relief),” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a rival game and one that we can’t let slip away. You got all of these opportunities and we left, I think, 13 guys stranded. At some point, you’ve got to cash in against good teams.”
A loss to the Seminoles would have sent the Gators into their Southeastern Conference schedule reeling — a place they don’t want to be in heading into Baton Rouge, La., to play No. 8 LSU this weekend.
But it’s funny how sports work.
Take away Pigott’s effort and the Gators lose a fifth consecutive game to the Seminoles.
Florida would have likely lost its No.1 ranking and doubt would have filled the minds of most of the players.
However, just one hit from Pigott changed all of that. All of a sudden, things are looking up heading into conference play.
“I think [the win] helps a lot, to be quite honest with you,” O’Sullivan said. “I don’t know if it’s going to have any outcome on how we play this weekend, but I know going into it I feel a lot better.
“You get beat by your rival four games in a row, you start feeling like you got to get one, start breaking a trend. I thought this was a big win for us, a really big win.”
Momentum is always swinging back and forth, but the Gators have it on their side now.
They can thank Pigott for that.
