Florida Bats Erupt in Victory to Sweep South Carolina

UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan talked about how hard it can be to sweep a series — especially in the SEC. After scoring a combined four runs in the first two games, Florida’s bats unloaded a cannon for Sunday’s 13-3 win at Condron Family Ballpark against South Carolina (12-9, 0-3 SEC).

The Gator (18-3, 3-0 SEC) bats came alive early. After Cash Strayer’s center-field sacrifice fly allowed Kyle Jones to score in Friday’s walk-off win, Strayer experienced déjà vu — except this time it occurred nine innings earlier. With one out and one hit on the board, Strayer again lifted a fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly, driving in Jones for the first run of the game.

Strayer has not only been “cash” for Florida this season, but he’s also turned a profit for the Gators offense. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Strayer went yard — scoring as many runs (four) as Florida had in the first two games of the series.

“Me not moving him out of the five spot tells you everything you need to know about how I feel about him,” O’Sullivan said. “I do believe he is one of the more natural hitters we have in our lineup.” 

Umpire Joseph Smith was scheduled to work the first-base line Sunday. However, in the first inning, home plate umpire Jason Millsap was hit in the mask by a foul ball and had to leave the game. Smith took over at home and wouldn’t wait long to make his biggest call of the game.

Florida lefty Brendan Lawson, who leads the SEC in walks (26), waited patiently for his pitch — and it came. Lawson launched a home run with an exit velocity of 102 mph, took a moment to admire the home run and flipped his bat toward the mound.

South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri was not a fan of the home run — or the bat flip — and he expressed his displeasure to Smith amid the crowd’s boos to eject Mainieri, who holds the most Division I wins among active head coaches with more than 1,500 career victories.

Instead, both teams were issued an unsportsmanlike warning, much to Mainieri’s dismay.

Lawson is third in the SEC in batting average (.429), first in on-base percentage (.625) and has already matched his freshman campaign with 10 home runs on the season – which is good for third most in the SEC. Part of his success is tied to the ability to never let the moment get too big.

“He never gets excited in the box – he’s calm,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s very comfortable hitting with two strikes; he’s a really smart hitter… he’s one of the best hitters we’ve had come through here.” 

Cooper Walls (3-0) made his first SEC start of the year and added to Florida’s strikeout totals. He recorded five, while the pitching staff struck out 34 Gamecock batters throughout the weekend.

In 4 1/3 innings, Walls gave up seven hits and a three-run home run to Luke Yuhasz in the second inning. He didn’t stand out, but he also didn’t falter. For O’Sullivan, that’s all he could ask from his Sunday starter after strong outings from Liam Peterson and Aidan King.

“That’s what you need on Sunday’s, you just need strikes,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he threw the ball better.” 

Despite the win, Florida fell short of playing an error-free game. The Gators committed three errors, ranging from dropped ground balls to throwing mishaps to first baseman Ethan Surowiec, and had seven total errors across the three-game series. To compare, South Carolina leads the SEC in errors this season with 26 but committed only two during the series.

“It’s not from a lack of fundamentals, it’s not from a lack of reps, I don’t know if it’s just a lack of concentration at times, I don’t know what it is,” O’Sullivan said regarding the team’s defense. “We’re definitely going to have to clean that up going forward.” 

Next up, Florida hosts the Stetson Hatters on Tuesday in its third matchup of the season. Florida has outscored the Hatters 21-5 so far this year. Coincidentally, the last time Florida hit a grand slam was against Stetson earlier this season.

Florida’s next SEC series begins Friday at 7 p.m. against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Category: College Baseball, Feature Sports News