Two batters into the top of the fifth inning, the Gators were in a hotly contested battle with Georgia State in the series finale at Florida Ballpark.
The score was tied at one, and the Panthers’ first two batters of the inning singled off of UF starter Timmy Manning.
Enter Nick Ficarrotta out of the bullpen. What happened in the following 40 minutes or so completely changed the complexion of the game.
Ficarrotta got Dalton Pearson to pop out to first and then induced a 4-6-3 double play out of JoJo Jackson to end the inning with the tie still intact.
The Gators’ offense then exploded in the bottom of the inning for seven runs on eight hits. Four of the runs scored with two outs, and Georgia State used four pitchers in the inning.
No. 15 Florida cruised to a 12-1 victory from there to sweep the series.
“That starts with [coach Kevin O’Sullivan] knowing the players on the other team, their weaknesses and their strengths but also playing into our pitchers’ strengths as well,” catcher BT Riopelle said. “It was a very good sequence that we had to get a groundball and get a double play and get out of it. It was huge for us, a big momentum switch and got the bats rolling.”
The huge inning started when Colby Halter hit a routine fly ball to center field that Pearson lost in the sun and allowed to fall in for a double. Jud Fabian followed with a long home run to left center field off of Rafael Acosta to give the Gators a 3-1 lead.
Sterlin Thompson then lofted another soft fly ball to left field that Jackson didn’t see until it was too late. Those two outs that Georgia State (4-4) didn’t make wound up killing them.
Wyatt Langford smoked a single past the third baseman to put two runners on with nobody out still.
Johnny Dow came in out of the bullpen to try to put out the fire, but the Gators (6-2) instead got even hotter.
Riopelle loaded the bases with a bunt single. Two batters later, Matt Prevesk lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 4-1.
Kendrick Calilao followed with a two-out, two-strike single up the middle to make it 5-1. Then Deric Fabian singled to left to plate another run.
Halter greeted reliever Nick Lommen with a double to the wall in left center to make it 8-1 and complete the onslaught.
“This game is momentum based,” Riopelle said. “If you see one guy do something good, you want to do good as well.”
Halter added a solo home run off of Trey Horton in the seventh, while Ty Evans took him deep for a three-run shot in the eighth.
“It’s awesome,” Riopelle said. “It’s good to see a bunch of young guys put together some at bats and progress forward to benefit this team going forward. Also, some older guys struggled last week, but we moved forward and worked hard this week and just got the ball rolling.”
Overall, UF finished the game with 17 hits. Halter went 4-for-6 with three RBI, Riopelle went 3-for-4 and Calilao went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
“Just kind of trusting my preparation that we put in every day leading up, preseason, whole thing and letting it take its course,” Halter said of his approach.
The Gators also turned in a solid day on the mound. Manning was much better after his rough first start, scattering six hits, two walks and two hit batters over four innings. He gave up just one run and struck out six batters.
Brandon Neely gave up just one hit in two innings, and Carsten Finnvold tossed a scoreless frame in his collegiate debut. Ryan Slater finished things off with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Gators will now prepare to play four road games next week, starting with a Tuesday game at North Florida. They’ll host Florida A&M on Wednesday before traveling to Miami for a three-game series next weekend.
They’ll do so with plenty of momentum thanks to Ficarrotta’s clutch pitching and the hitting parade in the fifth inning.
“Any time you have a chance to sweep somebody, you take advantage of it, and that’s what we did today,” Halter said. “It felt really good for sure.”