It might be fair to say that Josh Adams is the man, but for crying out loud, he's practically still a boy.
The Gators' freshman second baseman came into Tuesday night's game against Jacksonville third on the team in hits, second in RBIs and second in batting average with a scorching .375.
You would think he would cool off after awhile, right?
You'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Josh Adams is hot to the touch.
A half-inning after UF let a seven-run lead slip to just two, Adams gave the No. 24 Gators (18-4, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) a two-out, two-RBI double that put them back up four and helped seal an 11-6 victory against the Dolphins (13-8). The double was his fourth hit of the night, a career high, and also got him his fifth RBI, which tied a career high.
How does he explain his success?
"I'm just being patient and letting the ball get to me and putting a good swing on it," Adams said simply.
UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said the team worked on Adams' swing in the fall.
"He's changed his swing," O'Sullivan said. "He got real pull-happy and top-spinned a lot of balls to the pull side; he didn't use the other side of the field as much as he is now."
There were other storylines to the game Tuesday night - Jon Townsend and Cole Figueroa's three-hit nights, Dustin Bamberg's second consecutive Tuesday homer, Clint Franklin's successful relief of starter Travis Lawler - but nothing comes close to Adams' supremacy against the Dolphins.
Had he gotten two more feet on his fifth at-bat, he'd be looking at a five-for-five night with a home run and seven RBIs.
"I was hoping it was [a home run]," Adams said. "I actually played high school with the pitcher for two years, so that would have been a bit nice. But I gave them a little scare."
In the top of the fifth inning, Jacksonville started a furious comeback. By the time it was over, a seemingly safe 7-0 lead for UF had slipped to 7-5.
So with Avery Barnes on third base and Matt den Dekker on second in the bottom half of the inning, Adams did what he had done all night. The result was two more runs and a once-again safe lead for the Gators.
In the last nine games he has hit in the cleanup spot, Adams is 16 for 34 with 15 RBIs, and he now leads the team with 30 RBIs.
Besides the fifth-inning double, Adams had a run-scoring single in the first inning. The hit marked the seventh game in a row UF has scored in the first two innings.
The Jacksonville native also did damage to his hometown team with a two-RBI single in the fourth.
Adams attributed his success Tuesday night to his familiarity with the Jacksonville program.
"I've kind of got a good feel for their pitching staff since I grew up in Jacksonville," Adams said. "I've known their coach since I was 6 years old, so I've kind of got a good idea of what they like to do up there."
Wednesday night, he'll get the chance to tear through Jacksonville's pitching staff again, as the two teams finish their home-and-home series at 6:30.
Lawler was well in control of the game until the fourth inning. He gave up only one hit and two walks through four innings, effectively shutting down the Dolphins' offense.
But in the fifth, Jacksonville exploded for five runs on six hits, and Lawler came out of the game.
Franklin (3-1) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
