Jason Forjet’s 100th pitch proved to be too much for Florida Gulf Coast to overcome.
With a 1-2 count, the senior right-hander gave Taylor Gushue a slider low in the zone, but Florida’s freshman phenom got under it enough to deposit a souvenir over the right-field wall. The seventh-inning homer gave No. 1 UF a 3-2 lead that would hold as the final score.
“I just wanted to put it in play,” Gushue said. “It ended up going out, so I was happy about that.”
The blast was one of just four hits on the day for the Gators, who couldn’t muster a hit against Forjet through 4.1 innings before Gushue opened things up with a double. His first hit of the day was immediately followed by a 2-2 long ball from freshman second baseman Casey Turgeon.
Before the back-to-back freshmen hits, Forjet had worked UF over with a steady changeup-slider-fastball mix that kept hitters off balance. Gushue said the Gators weren’t pressing and he knew the big hits would eventually come, but early on UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he was very impressed by the Eagles’ mound presence.
“I can’t remember the last time we got no-hit through four innings and it didn’t look promising early on,” he said. “[Forjet] was commanding his pitches, he was executing, he looked very comfortable.”
After giving up Gushue’s homer in the seventh, Forjet was pulled and relievers R.J. Brown and Danny Patrick finished the game with 1.2 hitless innings. However, none of that mattered as the Gators were working bullpen magic of their own.
Sophomore lefty Daniel Gibson needed just 30 pitches to work 2.1 hitless innings, striking out a career-high four batters and picking up his first win since Feb. 25 of last season. Three of Gibson’s strikeouts came looking, a trend on the day for the Eagles, who struck out looking six times.
“I threw yesterday and I knew that I was still hot today,” Gibson said. “When I got the call, I kind of knew that I had to come in and do a good job. I feel like I threw well.”
Junior right-hander Austin Maddox handled the ninth in six pitches — all strikes — and sat FGCU third baseman Zack Tillery down looking on three pitches to end the game.
Sophomore Jonathon Crawford got his third start of the season for the Gators and worked 5.2 innings in 73 pitches. He allowed five hits and two runs, the second an Andrew Valencia RBI double in the sixth that negated the 2-1 lead Turgeon’s home run had nabbed and effectively chased Crawford from the game.
“It was great to get Crawford back out there,” O’Sullivan said. “Each time he goes out there, he seems like he’s getting better and better.”
For Florida, the win meant a weekend sweep of FGCU and the extension of a winning streak that now stands at 13 games, one away from tying the school record. At 15-1, this is the best 16-game start for the Gators in school history, beating out the 1952 team that started 14-1-1.
Junior catcher Mike Zunino carried the Gators offense on Friday night, notching two home runs in a 4-2 victory. Saturday night’s game was all about top-of-the order offense as junior shortstop Nolan Fontana, Zunino and Gushue combined for five RBI in an 8-3 victory.
“It was a great, great weekend for us,” O’Sullivan said. “But it was a well-played weekend for both teams and hopefully this will make us a better club.”
Gushue's go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning Sunday helped UF wrap up a three-game sweep of FGCU.
