After winning its first two games against No. 21 Texas A&M on Friday and Saturday, No. 5 Florida looked to earn its second straight Southeastern Conference sweep.
Hannah Rogers made it happen.
The senior right-handed pitcher threw a one-hit shutout as the Gators (40-8, 11-7 SEC) topped the Aggies (29-17, 9-12 SEC) 8-0 in six innings in College Station, Texas.
“To me, that’s as good as Hannah Rogers has ever looked with all of her pitches,” coach Tim Walton said in a radio interview. “You know, some days she has one pitch going, but today she had everything working. She struck out the first seven in a row. Just give her credit for her hard work and she really did a good job putting together her own scouting report and plan to go pitch, too.”
Rogers was on the verge of the no-hitter.
With UF ahead 8-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning against TAMU and a mercy rule looking imminent, the Lake Wales native kept her composure in the circle.
Rogers took out Texas A&M’s first two batters of the frame with ease just as she had all game, with Aggies first baseman Jenna Stark lining out to Rogers and pinch hitter Kaydee Rayburn grounding out to shortstop.
The senior ace needed just one more out to secure her second no-hitter of the season and the fourth of her career, but TAMU pinch hitter Abby Donnell stopped that from happening.
The freshman, pinch-hitting for Aggies shortstop Taran Tyler, ripped a single up the middle to give TAMU its first and only hit of the game.
Rogers finished the contest giving up just the one hit while striking out a season-high-tying nine batters — including the first seven she faced. The senior became just the third SEC pitcher to accumulate 20 wins this season, dropping her ERA to a 1.69 in the process.
“I’ve been working hard, throwing more in the bullpen,” Rogers said in a release. “I’m focusing on spots and location, whether it’s high, low or in the zone for each pitch. I’m working on reading the batter in the box and little things like that.”
Kelsey Stewart and Stephanie Tofft paced the Gators on offense on Sunday by going a combined 7 for 8 at the plate.
Stewart opened up the game with a solo home run to right field on a full count and then logged doubles in the second and fifth frames to bring her season total to 12 — the best mark on the team.
Tofft batted .700 throughout the series against Texas A&M and was the lone player to hit a home run in each of the three contests. The senior third baseman scored 10 RBIs on the weekend to give her a team-leading 51 in 2014.
“The way we’re swinging the bats right now, at least the way we show we’re swinging the bat the last two weeks, I think we’ve got the confidence back that we needed,” Walton said.
In the series, the Gators forced two run-rule contests while out-scoring the Aggies 30-5.
UF went .400 at the plate as a team and outhit TAMU 36-14 on the weekend with nine of its hits being home runs.
“We came in, probably watched as much video or game film I think that we’ve watched in a long time,” Walton said. “I think we knew their personnel pretty well, and I think our hitters did a good job coming in with a game plan.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Hannah Rogers pitches during UF’s 8-0 home win against Indiana on Feb. 22. Rogers pitched a shutout and struck out a season-high-tying nine batters during Florida’s 8-0 victory against Texas A&M on Sunday.
