Sunday’s rubber game between Florida and Missouri was a tightly contested affair with several twists and turns, but the Gators made just enough pitches to get the job done.
Florida defeated Missouri, 4-3, to win their third series in a row. By picking up their 13th conference win, the Gators (32-19, 13-14 SEC) may have already secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament with four games still remaining in the regular season.
Starting pitcher Nick Pogue was dominant for the second week in a row. He struck out a career-high eight batters in a career-best 6 2/3 innings. His final line shows three earned runs on five hits, but all of those hits and runs came in two innings. He was otherwise unhittable.
Relievers Blake Purnell and Ryan Slater pitched themselves into and out of jams to throw 2 1/3 scoreless innings and finish the game.
“Missouri played well all weekend,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We ran across a really good arm today. We knew going in it was not going to be easy. He threw a bunch of strikes low and in, so it kind of took away a little bit of our offense. But, credit Nick Pogue. He was just outstanding other than the two solo home runs there in the fourth. He was just outstanding. I’m really pleased with how Ryan bounced back to close out the game.
“It was a good team win. Missouri’s played everybody tough this year. To get a series win, especially this late in the season, it’s big for us.”
Kris Armstrong, who entered the day batting just .232 with six RBI this season, was the hero offensively, going 3-for-4 with a big two-run single in the sixth that ended up providing the winning run.
Colby Halter notched multiple hits for just the second time since April 9, and Josh Rivera clubbed his eighth home run of the year to change the game’s momentum.
“I thought Colby played really good today,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he swung the bat more aggressively, and, obviously, he’s played a really good third base for us, too, since moving over from second.”
The Gators weren’t great offensively, as they went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners on base, but Rivera and Armstrong provided the two clutch hits that they needed.
Pogue and Missouri starter Carter Rustad took turns posting zeroes through the first 3 ½ innings. The Tigers (26-22, 8-19) didn’t pick up their first hit until the bottom of the fourth.
Unfortunately for Pogue, Missouri’s first hit was a loud one, as Luke Mann drilled a 2-0 fastball over the right-center field wall for a leadoff homer.
Two pitches later, Trevor Austin launched one even further out of the stadium to left center.
Pogue then gave up an 0-2 double to deep left center to Josh Day, and it looked like the Tigers had him on the ropes.
However, Pogue showed his resilience by retiring the next three batters to end the fourth and then retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth.
“He was great, down in the strike zone,” O’Sullivan said. “We only had one walk, with one out in the bottom of the ninth. So, all of our pitchers threw strikes, and we played really good defense.”
In the meantime, Armstrong led off the fifth with a blooper that landed in shallow left-center field for a one-out single. Rustad tried to get ahead of Rivera with a first-pitch breaking ball. Rivera was ready for it and tied the game with a shot that hit the scoreboard in left-center field.
A hit by pitch, a single by Jac Caglianone and a walk loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Armstrong hit a soft line drive up the middle. The shortstop Day leapt for it but came up just short, and two runs scored to give the Gators a 4-2 lead.
UF had a chance to pad its lead in the seventh but failed to do so. Halter and Wyatt Langford led off with singles against Nathan Landry. Sterlin Thompson crushed Landry’s 0-1 pitch, but he hit it right at the third baseman Mann for the first out. Landry then struck out Jud Fabian and BT Riopelle to escape the jam.
It looked like the Gators’ failure to capitalize on that scoring opportunity was going to be a killer. Pogue plunked Nander De Sedas with two outs in the bottom of the inning, and Mike Coletta hit a groundball through the left side of the infield for a single.
Ross Lovich cut the lead to 4-3 by hitting a groundball that just escaped the reach of Thompson up the middle and rolled into center field.
Purnell entered with runners on the corners and two outs. Ty Wilmsmeyer hit his first pitch hard but right at Thompson, who tossed the ball to Rivera for the final out at second base.
Purnell recorded the first two outs of the eighth before Day and Torin Montgomery both singled through the left side. O’Sullivan went back to the bullpen and brought in Slater, who has taken on the closer role over the last two weeks.
Pinch hitter Tre Morris hit a line drive right at Fabian in center field to end the inning and preserve Florida’s slim lead.
Once again, the Gators put runners on first and second with nobody out in the ninth. Once again, they didn’t score. Austin Troesser got Langford to ground into a double play and later got Fabian to fly out to deep center to give the Tigers a chance in the bottom of the ninth.
Slater got De Sedas to ground out on the first pitch, but he walked Coletta to put the potential tying run on base. Slater nailed down his fourth save of the year by getting Lovich to fly out to center and Wilmsmeyer to ground into a fielder’s choice.
The Gators will return home for what figures to be an exciting week at Condron Ballpark. They’ll play Florida State on Tuesday in the rubber game of the season series, and then they’ll wrap up the regular season with a series against South Carolina that begins on Thursday.
“We’re excited to get back home in front of our home crowd, and [I’m] looking forward to having a great week,” O’Sullivan said.