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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Center fielder Nick Horvath hit a three-run homer during Florida's win over FGCU Tuesday night. </p>

Center fielder Nick Horvath hit a three-run homer during Florida's win over FGCU Tuesday night. 

After sweeping No. 8 Vanderbilt at home on Sunday, the No. 1 Gators (26-5, 7-2 SEC) stayed at McKethan Stadium to face off against Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday. Florida — coming off a 26-run outburst against the Commodores over the three-game series — continued its dominant ways en route to an 8-4 win over the Eagles (22-6).

The Gators’ offense churned out another productive evening at the plate, even if it wasn’t from its more well-known sources.

Freshman catcher Brady Smith paced the team with three singles in four plate appearances and scored twice. Center fielder Nick Horvath, who made a leaping, home-run-robbing catch in the top of the sixth over the left-center field wall, crushed a three-run dinger in the bottom of the frame to put the game out of reach.

Along with its offense, Florida’s pitching remained efficient. Freshman right-hander Tommy Mace got the starting nod for the Gators. He gave up one earned run and struck out four batters before relinquishing control of the mound to lefty Andrew Baker in the fifth inning. Baker allowed just one hit and struck out three in three innings.

After right-hander Hunter McMullen disappointed in his 0.1 innings of work — allowing a pair of runs off three hits — junior Michael Byrne came on in the eighth to close the door on FGCU’s offense, recording a clean sheet in 1.2 innings.

With the win over FGCU, Florida finished out the past week undefeated. Here is a look at the players who have over- and underperformed in that time frame.

OVER

Jonathan India, 3B: It’s almost too predictable by now. India doubled down the left-field line in the bottom of the third inning Tuesday night to stretch his hitting streak to 16 games. He’s now more than halfway to breaking the UF all-time record for longest hitting streak currently held by former Gators infielder Tim Olson at 29 games. Over the team’s last four matchups, he has batted .429 with a pair of homers.

Brady Singer, RHP: Singer dominated from the mound on Friday, earning his sixth win of the year. The junior right-hander threw hard for seven innings, tossing over 100 pitches for his third consecutive start. He struck out all three batters in the second inning, just a taste of what was to come in his 11-strikeout performance. In addition to mowing down batters left and right, Singer allowed just two hits in his start. Though he appeared in just one game during the week, his performance set the tone for the Vanderbilt series as a whole.

UNDER

Tommy Mace, RHP: Though his performance last night was good enough to get himself the win, the freshman right-hander didn’t exactly stuff the stat sheet in the last week. He made three appearances for the Gators, pitching a combined 5.1 innings. He gave up nine hits and five runs (four earned) in that span.

Keenan Bell, 1B: Florida’s offense as a whole has been on a tear lately, as evidenced by its 26-run weekend. In the case of Bell, even his lagging numbers aren’t bad in hindsight. The sophomore from Jacksonville went 3-for-13 from the plate with a pair of homers. He’ll look to bounce back after going 1-for-7 in his last two games when the Gators take on Tennessee in Knoxville for a three-game set starting this Friday.

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Follow Morgan McMullen on Twitter @MorganMcMuffin and contact him at mmcmullen@alligator.org.

Center fielder Nick Horvath hit a three-run homer during Florida's win over FGCU Tuesday night. 

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