With two outs and the bases loaded, Josh Tobias could hardly bear to waste the opportunity, especially with Florida’s power-hitter Harrison Bader injured.
The senior stepped up to the plate and singled up the middle, sending in two runs and extending his hitting streak to nine games.
With a .361 batting average, No. 2 Florida defeated Fairfield 8-7 Tuesday night, getting help from a two-run homer from JJ Schwarz and strong hitting from Tobias.
But the Gators almost let the game slip in the eighth inning, when they allowed five runs on four hits.
"They’re dangerous, and they’ve got pitching," coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of Fairfield. "Some things just kind of spiraled out of control in (the eighth), but that’s baseball. We’ve got to do a better job of handling tough situations."
The action began in the third inning, when Christian Hicks doubled to left field for the Gators’ first hit. The freshman scored two at-bats later after a Ryan Larson sacrifice fly to center field. After Tobias’ single put UF up 3-0, Fairfield answered in the fourth with a two-run homer to come within one.
Dalton Guthrie was the next to score in the fifth inning on a Richie Martin groundout. Then Schwarz tripled, sending Buddy Reed home and increasing UF’s lead to three.
The Gators didn’t score again until the seventh, when Reed sent Martin home after a double to right field.
Next, Schwarz homered deep to left field, scoring two and increasing UF’s lead to six. The home run was Schwarz’s fourth this season and his 19 RBIs are the second highest on the team.
"Honestly, I’m just glad we got the win," Schwarz said. "I could’ve gone 0-for-4 and I’d still be happy."
Florida used seven different pitchers on Wednesday, three of which were used in the eighth inning when Fairfield cut the deficit from six to one.
"Bottom line, their job is not difficult," Sullivan said of UF’s relief pitching. "You come in and get three outs. Just do what you do and be aggressive and compete and hand the ball over to somebody else in the ninth. I think at times they tend to overthink things."
Eric Hanhold (1-0), in his first start of the season, was Florida’s most reliable arm. The right-hander allowed no runs and one hit and ended the night with three strikeouts. But the junior was limited to 40 pitches in just three innings.
Florida will wrap up its two-game series against Fairfield tomorrow at 7 p.m.
"I hope this adversity helps, but I don’t think we handled it great," O’Sullivan said." Credit Fairfield, they played really well tonight, and they probably feel like they deserved the win."
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb
JJ Schwarz smiles as he runs toward home plate after hitting a two-run home run during Florida's 8-7 win against Fairfield on Tuesday at McKethan Stadium.
