The only thing that stood between Florida and its first College World Series title last season was South Carolina — a team that has had the Gators’ number recently.
Entering the weekend, Florida had lost just four of its last 35 series, with two of those four coming at the hands of South Carolina. The Gamecocks took two out of three games last year in Gainesville and then swept the Gators in the CWS championship series.
After a 9-3 drubbing in Thursday’s series opener, it appeared No. 8 South Carolina still had No. 1 Florida’s number. That is, until the Gators (22-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) took the final two games to win their first SEC road series of the season.
“The big picture is it’s another series and every series counts the same,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Saturday. “But to go on the road and play in a hostile environment like we did and battle after losing the first game, I’m awfully proud.”
Florida easily took Friday’s game, 8-2, but “battle” was a fitting word to describe Saturday’s 5-4 rubber-match victory.
The Gators jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to a Mike Zunino sacrifice fly in the first inning and a pair of solo home runs from Daniel Pigott and Zunino in the third.
While Florida jumped out to an early lead, sophomore righty Jonathon Crawford held the Gamecocks (17-7, 1-5 SEC) hitless through three innings.
“Any time you play on the road, you got to 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.”
Things began to slip away from Florida in the fourth, when Crawford gave up a leadoff hit and then an error by Pigott in center field — the Gators’ third outfield error since losing senior Tyler Thompson to a torn ACL last week — helped start a South Carolina rally.
The Gamecocks tacked on two runs by the end of the frame, and then tied up the game the following inning.
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s bullpen dominated Florida’s lineup for the better part of six innings.
Lefty Tyler Webb gave up just two hits over 3.2 innings. He and closer Matt Price combined to retire 17 of the first 20 hitters they faced.
With Florida down to its final out, it looked like the Gators’ recent struggles against the Gamecocks were going to continue. But after Vickash Ramjit and Cody Dent reached with two outs in the ninth, junior Nolan Fontana — who embodied Florida’s strife against South Carolina by going 1 for 18 against the Gamecocks last season — drove in the winning runs with a two-RBI triple that helped prove UF can take a series from the team that stood in its way in Omaha, Neb.
“Every day is a new day and yesterday never comes back to you,” Fontana said. “Regardless of what happens that day, we love each other and work hard with each other each and every day to get to where we want to be at the end of the season.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
Junior shortstop Nolan Fontana drove in the game-winning runs with a two-out triple in the ninth inning of Saturday’s rubber match between No. 1 Florida and No. 8 South Carolina.
