Florida has been at its best all year when it jumps on opponents early in games, and the Gators did it again against Mississippi State in the first game of the Gainesville Super Regional, winning 11-1.
The Gators (49-16) scored in each of the first five innings against the Bulldogs (37-24), jumping out to an early 10-0 lead as sophomore right-hander Hudson Randall (W 10-3, 2.21 ERA) dominated on the mound for the Gators.
“This time of year, it’s all about momentum,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Really proud of the way we played today offensively. Might have been one of our better offensive days in a while.”
Heading into Friday afternoon’s NCAA Super Regional game, the Gators had won 36 of 42 games when scoring first.
Florida has exploded early in games since entering the NCAA Tournament, scoring 34 runs in the first three innings in four NCAA Regional and Super Regional games, while allowing just one run.
“Nolan (Fontana) and Bryson (Smith) do a great job with the first at-bats of the game just to let everyone see a lot of pitches,” sophomore catcher Mike Zunino said. “When they get on, we really get going.”
The Gators drew first blood from the Bulldogs in the bottom of first inning when Zunino hit a two-RBI single to center field to score Fontana and Smith.
Fontana walked to lead off the inning, and Smith followed him with a single. Tucker followed them with a walk to load the bases with no outs before Zunino’s single put Florida on top 2-0.
With one out, junior left fielder Tyler Thompson drove home two more runs with an RBI double to right-center field, scoring Tucker and Zunino.
Florida scored two more in the bottom of the second inning when sophomore Cody Dent drew a one-out walk and Fontana homered to right field to extend the lead to 6-0.
Zunino hit a leadoff homer just over the left-field wall on the first pitch of the third inning to put Florida up 7-0. In five games against the Bulldogs this year, he’s hitting .476 with nine RBI.
Florida extended its lead to 9-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Dent drew a leadoff walk and Smith hit an RBI single to center field.
Smith reached second on the throw to the plate, which wasn’t in time to get Dent. He scored on a two-RBI single to left field by senior second baseman Josh Adams.
Dent hit a sacrifice fly to score junior designated hitter Daniel Pigott in the bottom of the fifth inning, extending the lead to 10-0 after Pigott reached second base on an infield error by the Bulldogs.
Dent drew two walks and hit a single in the game to help turn over the lineup and provide the Gators with a nice lift at the bottom of the order.
“Right now he’s not swinging and missing,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He’s not chasing balls out of the zone. I think he has a really good idea what his role is at this point in the season.”
Randall had one of his best outings of the year on the mound for Florida, cruising through the first five innings without giving up a run.
Mississippi State scratched out its lone run in the top of the sixth inning against Randall after third baseman Jarrod Parks led off the inning with a single to center field and second baseman Nick Vickerson followed him with a double to the left-field corner.
Right fielder Jaron Shepherd scored Parks on a sacrifice groundout to second base, before Randall was able to work out of the inning without any further damage.
Randall, who struggled in his first outing of the year against Mississippi State, finished the day giving up just one run on six hits through 8.0 innings, while recording a season-high eight strikeouts.
“They tattooed me over in Starkville,” Randall said. “I missed pitching against them in the SEC Tournament, so I was really excited to come back out and give it another go.”
After hanging a lot of balls up in the zone against the Bulldogs in his loss earlier in the season, Randall seemed in control from the start in the NCAA Super Regional rematch.
“I got back into the swing of things,” he said. “I’m a sinker-ball pitcher, so I was sinking the ball a little bit better, hitting my spots on both sides of the plate. That was a big difference.”
The longest outing of Randall’s career allowed Florida to rest its bullpen for the remaining games in the Gainesville Super Regional.
“I thought he pitched really good,” O’Sullivan said. “He kept his intensity and focus, which was a huge key for us to be able to keep our other guys down in the pen and not have to use them.”
Pigott added a solo home run to left field to extend the lead to 11-1 in the bottom of the seventh, before freshman righty Keenan Kish came in to close the ninth for the Gators.
Mississippi State freshman right-hander Evan Mitchell (L 6-2, 5.68 ERA) gave up seven runs on five hits through 2.0 innings.
Florida played without two of its top players, as sophomore Brian Johnson missed his seventh consecutive game after a concussion and sophomore Austin Maddox missed his second-straight with a foot sprain.
Johnson is still day to day, after O’Sullivan said after the game he incorrectly told the media he would be ready to play on Thursday. Maddox is also still day to day.
Florida will start freshman right-hander Karsten Whitson (8-0, 2.42 ERA) against Mississippi State junior left-hander Nick Routt (3-3, 3.78 ERA) on Saturday.
Despite the big win, the Gators expect a dogfight from the Bulldogs on Saturday with a trip to Omaha for the College World Series 2011 on the line.
“This job is not done,” O’Sullivan said. “We don’t carry any runs from today into tomorrow … I can assure you we’ll be ready to play.”