The Gators have a case of the hitting bug.
It started with a couple players early in the season, but it spread to everybody on the team this weekend.
UF's recent offensive explosion continued Sunday in its 10-7 victory against Alabama, completing the weekend-series sweep. The Gators scored 30 runs on the weekend.
"When one guy is hitting good, we feed off it," junior Clayton Pisani said. "It's definitely contagious."
Every starter had a hit in Sunday's win for UF (18-8, 6-3 Southeastern Conference), and six starters had two.
It wasn't just the hitting that led the Gators to the sweep. The bullpen was called upon again to stop the bleeding early.
Patrick Keating's start ended after he allowed 5 runs in 3 1/3 innings, allowing the Crimson Tide to keep pace with the 5 runs scored by the Gators. UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan turned the ball over to Anthony DeSclafani (2-0, 3.80) with the bases loaded and one out to prevent Alabama from pulling away.
DeSclafani responded by striking out the first hitter and got help on the last out of the inning from Matt den Dekker, who made a sliding catch in center field to keep any more runs from scoring.
DeSclafani was nearly perfect - except in the eighth when he gave up two solo homers - allowing just one hit and the minimum of 11 hitters over the previous 3 2/3 innings with four strikeouts.
"Once again we didn't get a great start out of our starter in Patrick, but our bullpen and DeSclafani did a heck of a job for us and settled things down in those middle innings," O'Sullivan said.
Getting a strong outing from a reliever was nothing new for the Gators, as they needed Clint Franklin's (2-0, 2.45) four innings of shutout pitching to keep the team in the game during UF's 11-4 win Friday. Starter Jeff Barfield allowed Alabama to get a 4-run lead in three innings.
Saturday starter Nick Maronde gave up 7 runs over 4 2/3 innings before Alex Panteliodis threw 3 1/3 innings and allowed just 1 run to keep the game in the Gators' reach. They rebounded in dramatic fashion to win 9-8 with a 7-run ninth inning.
Sunday's win was the only weekend game the Gators did not need late rallies to win.
UF crept back into the game Friday before taking the lead with a 3-run seventh and ran away with the game during a 6-run eighth.
On Saturday, the Gators needed a big ninth inning to overcome the 8-2 deficit they faced.
UF jumped out in front in the first inning Sunday on a 2-run homer by Avery Barnes. Although the Gators never trailed, a 4-run fifth inning sparked by a 2-run double from Pisani put the game out of reach.
Hot bats and the dominance of the bullpen led to UF's first sweep of Alabama since 1994.
Some of those relievers could see themselves getting an opportunity soon because O'Sullivan said he was going to look into a change in the starting rotation.
"We'll sit down as a coaching staff and try to figure out (if changes need to be made)," he said.
