For once, it wasn’t the Gators celebrating.
When Preston Tucker’s ninth-inning throw home sailed wide of catcher Mike Zunino, Rebels sophomore Bobby Wahl crossed home plate, starting a team-wide mixture of celebrating and taunting that prompted Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco to apologize to UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
The Gators had lost a series for the first time this season.
“We’ll have to learn from it,” O’Sullivan said. “We made plenty of mistakes. … It’s disappointing but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Minutes before Tucker’s misfire, there had been talks of a tie. Sunday’s ninth inning was going to be the final inning regardless of score because of a travel deadline for the Gators. Another inning would not be started after 4:45 p.m. Instead, there was a decision, and it was a 7-6 loss for No. 1 Florida (24-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) at the hands of No. 16 Ole Miss (20-8, 5-4 SEC).
The day began as rough as it ended for the Gators.
Sophomore righty Jonathon Crawford’s run of good fortunes ended as he was pulled after just 1.2 innings. He gave up five earned runs and put the Gators in a hole difficult to escape. Fueling the outburst from Ole Miss was junior second baseman Alex Yarbrough, who went 4 for 5 on the day with three RBI, a triple and a double.
“We just didn’t get a good start from Jonathon,” O’Sullivan said.
But as it has done for most of the season, the UF offense bounced back.
Florida erupted in the fourth inning, racking up four runs on RBI hits from Nolan Fontana and Justin Shafer, as well as a solo home run by senior Daniel Pigott. Things kept rolling in the sixth and seventh innings when Fontana and Preston Tucker each hit a solo home run to give the Gators their first lead of the day.
“I was pleased with the way we swung the bats,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought we battled like heck and I felt really good about the game. Unfortunately we had a couple mistakes there at the end.”
Battling both travel plans and an Ole Miss team that tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh, Florida brought in closer Austin Maddox. He didn’t allow a hit until one out in the ninth when Gainesville native Will Allen singled to right on a ball O’Sullivan said he thought Tucker should have caught.
Then, after another single and an intentional walk, Tucker moved in from right field to play next to first, giving Florida five infielders. When freshman Senquez Golson dribbled a ball Tucker’s way, the senior could not make the play. It was Golson’s first at-bat of the game and his fifth RBI of the year.
“I’m proud of our guys for battling back, but it is disappointing how we played [Sunday] in certain situations,” O’Sullivan said.
Ole Miss took the series behind a dominant pitching performance by Wahl on Friday. Florida was able to avoid a sweep when it scored six runs in the eighth inning of Saturday’s game en route to a 9-4 win.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
