The Gators traveled to Tallahassee on Wednesday, but Sami Fagan and Kelsey Horton went a little farther.
Fagan and Horton both homered in Florida’s second trip through the order, powering the Gators to a six-run third inning.
“It was big,” Horton said. “It always makes it easier for your pitcher to pitch when you’re up by five or six runs.”
Boosted by its early offensive outburst, No. 6 Florida defeated No. 21 Florida State 9-1, improving its nonconference record to 20-2.
Already up 1-0 in the top of the third inning, the Gators (32-4) got a leadoff single from Kasey Fagan followed by a bunt single from Michelle Moultrie.
Then, Sami Fagan sent Seminoles starting pitcher Monica Perry’s offering over the center-field wall for her first career home run.
“Normally, we’d probably be in a bunt situation there,” coach Tim Walton said. “But Sami got a nice hit against Georgia the other night with two outs, a two-RBI double, so it just felt good. I felt like she could deliver with that.”
After a Lauren Haeger strikeout and a Cheyenne Coyle double, Horton smacked her team-leading 10th homer of the season to make it a 6-0 contest.
Aided by her long ball, Horton knocked in three runs against FSU (33-7), resulting in her 10th multi-RBI game of the season, a mark that leads UF.
Horton’s 3-for-4 performance at the plate marked her 10th multi-hit game in 2012.
“She hit a bomb [Wednesday], just got a hold of it,” Walton said. “(Horton) really did a good job. She went left-center, she went up the middle, she went opposite field, so she was really just spraying the ball around well.”
Florida ultimately won by the run rule thanks to Horton’s efforts with the bat and on the base paths in the fifth and sixth innings.
After hitting a one-out single in the top of the fifth inning, Horton took two bases on a Jess Damico grounder because of an errant throw from FSU third baseman Briana Hamilton.
Horton scored the Gators’ eighth run when Hamilton mishandled a Katie Medina grounder with two outs.
In the sixth inning, Florida scored with two outs again thanks to a double off Horton’s bat, putting Florida up 9-1.
In addition to a solid night with the bats, UF was boosted by the efforts of starting pitcher Hannah Rogers (18-2).
Rogers tossed six innings for her fifteenth complete game, walking two and yielding one unearned run on four hits.
“She hits her spots really well every single game,” Fagan said. “We go against her in scrimmages and she’s tough to hit against then, so I have a lot of confidence in her. She did really good tonight.”
The nine runs UF pushed across on the road are its highest total since a 9-1 win against South Carolina on March 16.
The nine-spot also marks Florida’s highest tally away from home since an 11-0 win against Illinois State during the season’s opening weekend.
“Coming off a tough last four games, I think our offense just felt a lot of confidence [Wednesday],” Horton said. “We just need to take that confidence and momentum into Ole Miss this weekend and keep on hitting.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
