Daniel Pigott doesn’t bunt much. When he does, he makes it count.
The freshman surprise bunt toward third base scored Jerico Weitzel with the winning run as Florida rallied with seven runs in the ninth inning to beat Alabama, 9-8, in a Southeastern Conference baseball game Saturday at McKethan Stadium.
“My mind is all cluttered right now,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said with a grin of disbelief. “We kept battling. I keep looking up and there’s another freshman (hitting for the Gators). Those games don’t come around often so you’ve got to enjoy it while you can.”
The victory assured Florida (17-8, 5-3 SEC East) of a series win and comes a day after Friday’s 11-4 victory during which Florida spotted Alabama (16-9, 3-5 SEC West) a 4-0 lead after four innings before scoring three runs in the seventh and six in the eighth.
Florida goes for its second straight SEC sweep Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Gators will send senior right-hander Patrick Keating (2-3, 4.68 ERA) to the mound against Alabama junior Del Howell (2-0, 0.00 ERA).
The ninth inning started with Florida losing 8-2 and without much hope against Alabama freshman Adam Morgan. But someone forgot to tell the Gators.
Preston Tucker led off with a triple to deep center field. Pigott came up to pinch hit for Riley Cooper but grounded out. Ben McMahan then pinch hit for Pisani and reached on a walk.
Matt den Dekker reached first on an error by Alabama left fielder Taylor Dugas, who dropped his fly ball, allowing Tucker and moving McMahan to second. Jonathan Pigott walked to load the bases.
Josh Adams reached first on an infield single to third base, scoring McMahan and moving everyone else up a base. Alabama then switched pitchers, bringing Nelson in for Morgan.
Teddy Foster pinch-hit for Hampton Tignor and lined out to left field for the second out. Avery Barnes then reached first base on an error by Alabama first baseman Brandon May, scoring den Dekker to close the score to 8-5 Alabama and leaving the bases loaded.
Jerico Weitzel then singled into right field, scoring Pigott to make it 8-6 and leaving the bases still loaded.
Tucker followed with his second hit of the inning, a single to center that scored Adams and Barnes to tie the game at 8-8 and moved Weitzel to third. That brought up Daniel Pigott.
After taking a ball to even the count at 1-1, Daniel Pigott stepped out of the box and third-base coach Craig Bell relayed O’Sullivan’s sign. With Alabama third baseman Jake Smith playing deep to guard against the extra-base hit, the Florida coach elected to have Daniel Pigott drop down a bunt.
“I thought it was a good idea,” Daniel Pigott said. “At first I wasn’t expecting it, but then I started thinking about it. ‘Man that’s perfect.’ It worked out perfectly, just like the coaches called it. I just put it down and ran. I had to beat it.”
Older brother, Jonathan, led the charge to dog-pile Daniel Pigott, leaving Jonathan with a moment he will never forget.
“That was the most fun I’ve ever had in my time here,” Jonathan Pigott said. “That was awesome. That was my favorite moment ever here. That’s top notch, for sure.”
Six of the 11 batters in the inning were freshmen. In those six at-bats, the freshmen went 4-for-5 with a walk and three runs batted in.
The left-handed Morgan went 8.1 innings, allowing nine hits and seven runs, only two of which were earned.
“He’s a very poised freshman and we kind of knew that coming in,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s pitched in big games before. He kept coming. He never quite gave us a big opening. He never walked the leadoff man or walked us after giving up a hit. He always made big pitches when he needed to. You tip your cap; he did a heck of a job. He frustrated us all day.”
Florida freshman left-hander Nick Maronde only last 4.2 innings. He gave up seven earned runs on seven hits, although he did strike out a career-high seven.
Freshman Greg Larson picked up the win for working a scoreless ninth inning, but it was fellow freshman Alex Panteliodis who stood out among the pitchers. He went 3.1 innings, allowing just one run on five hits. The left-hander owns a 0.75 ERA in his last 12 innings of work.
“I think our bullpen did a really good job,” O’Sullivan said. “Four and a third innings between two freshmen. A.P. came in and gave up a couple leadoff doubles and buckled down to keep the damage to a minimum and then Larson was solid.”
A statistic that may go under the radar in a comeback victory of this magnitude is the fact that the Gators played error-free baseball. While Alabama’s demise came because of its six errors, including two in the ninth, the Gators stayed undefeated in games that they do not commit one.