Florida took an easier road to its 10-7 victory Sunday over visiting Alabama that completed the Gators’ sweep of the Southeastern Conference series at McKethan Stadium.
This time, Florida (18-8, 6-3 SEC East) took an early 3-0 lead and never trailed against the Crimson Tide (16-10, 3-6 SEC West).
“It was a very good weekend for us,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “That’s a very, very good Alabama team. Not only are they talented, but they’ve got a lot of senior leadership. I knew today it would be a hard-fought game. They never let up.”
The brightest spot from the weekend might have been the resurgence of the Florida bats. The Gators recorded 41 hits in three games, scoring 30 runs. Sunday, every starter in the lineup recorded at least one hit, while six starters had two hits.
“We talked about it this morning,” O’Sullivan said of the offensive output. “Going into this weekend, we were last in the league in batting average. But if you take the SEC games, the most important games, we were right there … I think third or fourth in the league. We harped on that this morning that we aren’t swinging the bats as badly as we think we are.”
The extra confidence from the head coach gave the Florida offense exactly what it needed. The Gators jumped out with a three-run first inning against Alabama’s Del Howell (2-1). Matt den Dekker singled to lead off the inning and came around to score on Avery Barnes’ opposite-field home run. Florida made it 3-0 when Howell balked home Josh Adams with two outs.
Florida scored in four of the first five innings, but it was a four-run fifth inning which provided the knockout punch.
Brandon McArthur and Buddy Munroe had back-to-back singles to start the inning, ending Howell’s day and bringing in Casey Kebodeaux. Things didn’t look too promising when Kebodeaux picked McArthur off second base.
But then Riley Cooper singled to center and No. 9 hitter Clayton Pisani followed with a two-run double to left before den Dekker tripled to left center, sending Kebodeaux to the showers and bringing on Nathan Kilcrease. Daniel Pigott greeted him with a run-scoring single and Florida was up 10-5.
The Gators would finish with 15 hits, with den Dekker, Barnes, Adams, McArthur, Munroe and Pisani each having two. Pisani’s two hits produced 3 RBI, while Adams and Barnes knocked in two each.
“Like coach says, hitting is contagious,” den Dekker said. “One guys starts hitting and it spread to the next guy. It’s great to see. We’ve got a tough schedule coming up, so we’ve got to keep grinding it out. It’s just exciting that it’s all starting to come alive.”
If there was any disappointing news Sunday, it was the performance of senior right-handed starter Patrick Keating, who struggled again. Keating lasted only 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, but then Florida’s starters this weekend all struggled. The longest stint was freshman Nick Maronde’s 4.2 innings Saturday.
Once again, the Florida bullpen came to the rescue. In 16 innings this weekend, the Gators’ relievers allowed just three runs on 10 hits.
“It says two things,” O’Sullivan said. “Our bullpen was pretty good, but if you play a bunch of games and have the same outcome of starts, the outcome may not be the same. Patrick is going to be one of our guys. He’s going through a tough time right now, but he’s a tough guy.”
Friday night’s hero from the bullpen was Clint Franklin, and it was Alex Panteliodis on Saturday. Sunday it was freshman Anthony DeSclafani who stepped up to give the Gators 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts.
DeSclafani had been the Tuesday starter during midweek games, but he did a solid job coming out of the bullpen Sunday.
“He was really good,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s got really good stuff. He’s probably got the best swing-and-miss stuff on our staff. He really settled things down. He’s doing to be a good one for us.”
When DeSciafani left, Tony Davis worked 0.2 innings, allowing one hit and then Billy Bullock closed things up for his sixth save, getting the final two outs.
The Gators travel to Jacksonville Tuesday to play a neutral-site game against Florida State at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. First pitch is at 7 p.m. Florida then returns home Wednesday to play Stetson at 6:30 p.m. and then travels to Nashville, Tenn., for a weekend series with SEC East foe Vanderbilt.