For the third consecutive weekend the Florida Gators (33-15/18-6 SEC) completed a SEC weekend sweep. Florida’s 13-3 win in Tuscaloosa over Alabama (30-18/ 13-11 SEC) was their 11th consecutive SEC win, tying a school record for consecutive conference victories.
The Gators got on the board in the top of the second inning when designated hitter Mike Fahrman doubled down the left field line. The ball careened off of the padding on the left field wall, allowing Braden Mattson to score all the way from first to give the Gators a 1-0 advantage.
Florida wouldn’t stop there, sending eight batters to the plate in the third inning and scoring four more runs. It began with one-out walks to Casey Turgeon and Richie Martin. Harrison Bader sent a scorching single into right-center to plate Turgeon and move Martin to third. Taylor Gushue crept closer to the single season sacrifice fly record, scoring Martin for Florida’s second run of the inning. After a Mattson single, Peter Alonso doubled, bringing Bader and Mattson across the plate to extend the Florida lead to 5-0.
Alabama responded with a Kyle Overstreet single to score Wade Wass but Florida countered in the fifth when Alonso singled home Bader, extending the Gator lead to 6-1. Alonso would continue his hot hitting day with a solo shot to left field in the seventh.
Alabama charged back in the bottom half of the seventh inning with two runs of their own but like they did all weekend long, Florida would answer.
Ryan Larson kicked off the eighth with a walk and stole second before John Sternagel drew a walk of his own. Turgeon moved both runner up 90-feet with a sacrifice bunt before back-to-back singles from Martin and Bader would plate three additional runs. Just like that the Gators had an insurmountable 10-3 lead.
Florida would tack on three more insurance runs in the ninth before shutting the door on yet another sweep.
The Orange and Blue now lead the SEC by three games with just six to play. Florida will host Mercer at McKethan Stadium on Tuesday night before opening their doors to Vanderbilt for a three game series starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday.
Hitter of the weekend
Casey Turgeon: 8-11, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 4 walks
Turgeon entered the week hitting under .250 on the season but his numbers don’t truly represent how he has been hitting the ball. Turgeon hasn’t had the best luck this season but had an amazing weekend on the road in Tuscaloosa.
Pitcher of the weekend
Logan Shore: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Shore picked up his sixth win of the season. All six of Shore’s wins this season have come in league play and Shore leads all SEC pitchers in that stat.
Kevin O’Sullivan has had some great freshmen pitchers in his tenure at Florida but you would be hard pressed to find a freshman pitcher that has had this kind of impact on Friday night.