CORAL GABLES – No. 10 Miami scored three unearned runs in the fifth to turn a one-run deficit into a lead it would not relinquish during a 9-6 victory over No. 5 Florida Saturday night at Alex Rodriguez Park.
The Gators (6-2) and Hurricanes (7-2) conclude their series Sunday at 3 p.m. Fox Sports Florida will televise the game.
Scott Lawson and Nathan Meledres each drove in three runs for Miami. Zeke DeVoss and Chris Pelaez led the 11-hit Miami attack with three hits each. Eric Whaley, the second of four pitchers used by Miami, improved to 2-0 and David Gutierrez earned his third save getting the final five outs, three by strikeouts.
For Florida, freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana had three hits while senior Matt den Dekker, sophomore Preston Tucker and junior Bryson Smith had two hits each in Florida’s 13-hit attack. Smith hit the first home run of his Florida career.
Starter Brian Johnson (1-1) suffered the setback for Florida, allowing five runs (only two earned) on six hits while striking out five.
Miami got single runs in the second and third innings off Johnson to take a 2-0 lead. Pelaez hit a solo home run in the second inning. In the third inning, DeVoss doubled down the left-field line, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on another grounder by Lawson.
But Florida wiped out that lead with three runs in the fifth inning. Fontana had a one-out triple and den Dekker drove him home with his second hit of the game. After walks to Josh Adams and Tucker, Austin Maddox tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Thompson then drove home Adams with a single to left and a 3-2 Gators lead.
Miami responded with three runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to grab the lead for good. In the fifth inning, Florida made two errors, allowing three unearned runs. The Hurricanes expanded their lead to 8-3 in the sixth inning when Melendres hit a 3-run home run.
But Florida wouldn’t go away. Smith hit a 3-run home run in the seventh inning to close the scored to 8-6 but that would be as close as Florida would get the rest of game.