With one third-inning swing, Preston Tucker made things right again for the Gators.
Florida was down 2-0 to rival Florida State and was fresh off the top of an inning that saw the Gators walk two and surrender two runs on a hit-error combination.
Tucker then turned a 1-1 Scott Sitz pitch into a three-run shot to right field, giving UF a lead it would never hand back.
“We did a great job of damage control,” Tucker said. “We only gave up two and that’s the only two runs we gave up the whole game. Even when we scored, we didn’t give up any rebound runs.”
No. 1 Florida (16-1) went on to defeat No. 7 FSU (14-2) 9-2 in a contest that was dominated by the nation’s best team after Tucker’s sixth long ball of the season.
For the Gators, it all started with freshman Bobby Poyner on the mound. In his second career start, the left-hander worked fairly clean through the first two innings before falling into a pit in the third. When Seminoles second baseman Devon Travis hit a ground ball to Josh Tobias at third, the throw was off the mark to first baseman Taylor Gushue, ending in an error that gave FSU the lead. Two batters later, Poyner was out of the game in favor of senior Greg Larson and the Gators were entering cruise control.
“The bullpen did great,” junior reliever Steven Rodriguez said. “Everybody came out and threw strikes. We pounded the ball into the zone and we got outs. That’s what matters.”
Florida had a stretch in which it retired 12 straight batters and held a three-run lead before the Seminoles registered their next hit in the seventh inning.
In the meantime, Florida’s offense did what it does best: swing with power and efficiency.
After not hitting a home run in four games against the Seminoles last season, the Gators hit two on Tuesday and now lead the nation with 27 team homers on the season.
Junior shortstop Nolan Fontana added the Gators’ other burst of power, a solo blast on a 3-2 count in the sixth.
“I don’t really try to hit home runs,” he said. “Sometimes the right fielder just turns his back and I get a little excited.”
Tucker’s night took a less familiar turn later in the game when he registered his first triple of the season.
The Gators tagged on three more runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Daniel Pigott and Mike Zunino, but it was once again the bullpen that kept things in check.
Rodriguez, Larson, Daniel Gibson and Austin Maddox combined to go 6.1 innings, allowing just two hits in the process and striking out four. Both hits were given up by Gibson, while Rodriguez did the heavy lifting with a three-inning appearance.
“I like doing everything, whatever Sully asks of me I always want to get it done,” Rodriguez said. “For me it’s just coming out, pitching and having fun.”
The victory came in front of 6,005 fans — the largest crowd in McKethan Stadium history and also tied the UF record for consecutive wins with 14.
Former Florida baseball player Preston Tucker hits a three-run home run in a 9-2 win against Florida State on March 13, 2012. Tucker will join the Houston Astros on Thursday.
