In his final regular season game and with his family watching from the stands, Josh Tobias rounded the bases one last time.
The senior had just powered a fastball to deep left-center field, giving the Gators a two-run lead in the sixth inning that would assure them a win in their season finale.
After reaching home plate, Tobias hugged Richie Martin and Peter Alonso. Then, as he headed back to the dugout, Tobias was swarmed by the rest of his cheering teammates.
“It felt great. I was just trying to do something to help the team win, and I hit the homerun,” Tobias said. “It was kind of icing on the cake to do that.”
No. 6 Florida (40-15, 19-11 Southeastern Conference) beat Auburn (34-22, 13-17 SEC) 3-1 on Saturday, reaching 40 wins for the sixth time in eight years under coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
“To be able to get to 40 wins with (our) SEC schedule and out of conference schedule, that’s pretty special,” O’Sullivan said.
Florida scored all three of its runs off homers. The first came off a Alonso solo homer to right field in the second inning, and Tobias extended UF’s lead to two with a two-run homer four innings later.
To cap off Senior Day, senior left-hander Bobby Poyner entered the game in the ninth inning to record the final out of the game.
“You couldn’t have drawn it up much better than that,” O’Sullivan said of Tobias and Poyner’s performances.
Auburn scored its only run of the game on a wild pitch from Alex Faedo in the second inning. The freshman allowed five hits in 4.1 innings and also struck out four batters.
Faedo was pulled for junior Taylor Lewis, who pitched 4.1 scoreless innings in his fifth win of the season.
“As long as we win, I don’t care what I do,” Lewis said. “I just try to come in whenever they call me and do my job.”
Tobias led the Gators with a 2-for-3 hitting day and two RBIs, and ended the season with a 12-game hitting streak. Alonso went 2-for-4 at the plate and recorded his third home run of the season.
“Overall I think we’re playing really well. Going into the (SEC) tournament and playing good baseball is really important,” Alonso said. “. … All the pieces are starting to come together and we’re looking to make some noise in the tournament.”
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Josh Tobias bats during Florida's 14-8 win against Florida State on March 17 at McKethan Stadium.
