With one ninth-inning at-bat, Nolan Fontana made everyone forget about his, and the Gators’, struggles against the Gamecocks — at least for the moment.
No. 1 Florida continued to have misadventures in the outfield without senior Tyler Thompson roaming center field, closer Austin Maddox still didn’t quite look like himself on the mound against South Carolina and an early lead evaporated as it appeared No. 6 South Carolina still had Florida’s number.
But then Fontana, who stepped to the plate just 2 for 37 in his career against the two-time defending College World Series champions, hit a two-out triple in the top of the ninth inning to clear the bases – and Florida’s troubles – en route to a 5-4 win that gave Florida (22-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) the weekend series against South Carolina (17-7, 1-5 SEC).
“He’s 3 for 38 now,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan joked after the game. “That third hit’s a huge hit … and to be honest with you, the only thing people are going to remember is that third hit. It was a big hit for us and it certainly put us over the top this weekend.”
Fontana’s late-inning heroics were necessary after the Gators quickly built an early three-run lead, only to see it dissipate just as fast.
Florida’s All-American shortstop led off the game with a single and then later scored on a Mike Zunino sacrifice fly to get the scoring started. The Gators added two more runs off Gamecocks righty Colby Holmes thanks to a pair of third-inning solo homers from Daniel Pigott and Zunino, their second and ninth round-trippers of the season, respectively.
While Florida got an early lead on offense, starter Jonathon Crawford was cruising early, commanding the strike zone and holding South Carolina hitless through three innings.
“Any time you play on the road, you gotta play defense, get a good start on the mound and obviously score first,” O’Sullivan said. “If you fall behind early on the road, or you don’t pitch early in the game, sometimes things can spiral out of control. I thought Jonathon did a great job; he battled, he threw strikes.”
Despite the hot start, things still began to spiral for Florida.
Crawford gave up a leadoff walk in the fourth, and then Pigott misplayed a fly ball in center field — the Gators’ third outfield error since Thompson tore his ACL last week against Vanderbilt — that proved to be a catalyst for a South Carolina rally.
The Gamecocks strung together two runs in the inning, and then added another in the fifth to tie the game. From there, South Carolina’s bullpen took command. Lefty Tyler Webb and righty Matt Price shut down Florida’s bats for the better part of six innings. The duo retired 17 of 20 Florida batters, taking the Gators down to their final out in the ninth.
That’s when Vickash Ramjit drew a two-out walk and Cody Dent followed suit by reaching on a hit-by-pitch, setting the stage for Fontana, who earned himself a shaving cream pie to the face after the game.
“Often times you see that,” O’Sullivan said. “Two outs, nobody on and a two-out walk, and it ends up coming back to haunt you a little bit.”
Although Fontana’s hit proved to be the game-winner, South Carolina didn’t give up. After closer Austin Maddox was shaky in Thursday’s loss, surrendering three runs in .2 innings, the righty again struggled out of the bullpen in Columbia, S.C. He walked the first batter he faced after his first pitch of relief sailed over the hitter’s head, and then another wild pitch put runners on second and third for the Gamecocks.
Maddox bounced back with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat, but he then gave up his first home run of the season to cut Florida’s lead to 5-4 before retiring the final two batters to earn his second win of the season.
“He’s tough as nails,” O’Sullivan said. “I’m awfully proud of the way he pitched. There’s no tougher environment than this, and he handled it like a champ. Obviously, Thursday wasn’t his best outing, but we learn and get better from our mistakes.”
Etc: O’Sullivan said freshman third baseman Josh Tobias will be out three to four weeks after fracturing the hamate bone in his hand during Saturday’s win.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
