After Florida dropped its first contest 5-3 to Missouri on Friday, Lauren Haeger brought the Gators back to its winning ways.
Behind the junior’s two home runs and solid work in the circle, No. 3 Florida (42-9, 12-8 Southeastern Conference) evened the series with No. 15 Missouri (37-13, 13-7 SEC) with a 9-4 win on Saturday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
“I haven’t pitched in a while, so it was nice to get back out there,” Haeger said. “My swings felt really well, finally. I’m starting to feel a little better, slowly but surely. It was a great team effort, though.”
Delanie Gourley started in the circle for the Gators, but the freshman left-hander struggled from the start, giving up four earned runs to the Tigers before the first out of the game was recorded.
After Gourley threw her second wild pitch that scored Missouri catcher Sami Fagan, Walton brought in Haeger — who pitched just five innings during Florida’s 10-game win streak — into the game.
The Peoria, Ariz., native responded by throwing seven scoreless innings, surrendering seven hits while fanning two batters.
“I was just taking it batter by batter, pitch by pitch,” Haeger said. “Just trying to hit good locations. They’re a really great hitting team and I didn’t want to make a single mistake.”
But Haeger’s contributions extended beyond her work in the circle.
In addition to earning her eighth win of the season and dropping her ERA to a 1.88, the junior hit two home runs — a leadoff shot to left field in the second inning and a three-RBI home run to right-center field in the fourth frame — and five RBIs. With the two home runs, her 13th and 14th of the season, Haeger now leads the team in both home runs (14) and slugging percentage (.634).
“I thought she did a great job of coming in there and limiting the damage,” coach Tim Walton said. “I mean, she got all 21 outs today. So she did a really good job and then she provided that big spark offensively, so she was huge today.”
In addition to Haeger’s big day against the Tigers, junior Briana Little made the most of her sole hit of the contest, notching a three-run home run in the third inning off of Missouri right-hander Casey Stangel to give Florida the lead for good.
“During my first at-bat, (Stangel) threw the same pitch and I watched it,” Little said. “And I said during my second at-bat, if she threw the same pitch … I was looking for it and she threw it.”
The Gators, looking to win its third consecutive SEC series, play the rubber game against the Tigers on Sunday at 11 a.m. Florida is one game behind Missouri and Tennessee for the SEC Eastern Division lead and four games behind Alabama for the overall SEC lead.
“With our team, we’re never going to quit,” Little said. We’re always going to fight back, no matter if it’s the sixth or seventh inning. No matter what inning it is, we’re going to keep fighting and try to get back on top.”
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Lauren Haeger swings during Florida’s 2-0 win against Ole Miss on March 9 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
