Following a subpar performance against East Carolina on Friday, Florida baseball jumped right back onto the diamond against the Fairfield Stags in the loser’s bracket.
After a 10 strikeout performance from ECU pitcher Ethan Norby that shut down the Gators’ high-power offense, Florida entered its win-or-go-home game against the Stags itching to come out swinging. Despite two first inning singles against Fairfield, the Gators failed to break onto the scoreboard until the fourth inning.
The Stags didn’t hit well in their first loss either. Fairfield fell to Coastal Carolina 10-2 and only logged three hits against the Chanticleer's sophomore righty Cameron Flukey in a game that was postponed for over four hours due to weather conditions.
Despite a slow start and a 1-1 game after four, Fairfield (39-19) was met with struggles in the bullpen and Florida (39-21) found its groove at the plate, dominating the Stags 17-2.
Fairfield turned to Bowen Baker on the mound, a lefty graduate student with a 8-1 record through 76 innings pitched this season. Baker started off hot, collecting four strikeouts through the first two innings. His lower velocity and shifty offspeed kept Florida on its toes as he collected seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work, but he was ultimately met with nine Gator hits that left Fairfield trailing 5-1 after five frames.
Freshman right-hander Aidan King took to the hill for Florida, entering his first ever NCAA Tournament appearance boasting a 6-2 record and 2.76 ERA. After seven Florida pitchers made appearances against East Carolina on Friday, King produced a stellar performance, tossing an eight inning gem that featured seven strikeouts, two walks and four hits on only 98 pitches. On the opposite end of the field, Florida forced Fairfield to use eight pitchers during the blowout.
With one out in the top of the fourth inning, junior left fielder Blake Cyr launched a 364 foot solo home run to left, giving Florida its first lead of the NCAA Tournament. However, Fairfield junior first baseman Matthew Bucciero answered right back with a 440-foot blast over the 20-foot wall in center field in the bottom half of the inning.
It didn’t take long for UF to jump back ahead with a two-run home run belted to left by senior shortstop Bobby Boser, his 18th of the season.
Freshman first baseman Brendan Lawson hit a single before Baker walked senior designated hitter Ty Evans to put two runners aboard. From there, an RBI single off the bat of Cyr brought the score to 4-1. Sophomore center fielder Hayden Yost added a run on a fielder’s choice that brought Evan home. When junior second baseman Justin Nadeau struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end the top of the fifth inning, Florida held a 5-1 lead and Baker’s day on the mound had been cut short after just 4.1 frames.
The Gators got right back to work in the sixth, plating two more runs courtesy of junior catcher Body Donay’s 18th home run of the season, a deep two-run shot off the roof of the hitting facility behind left center field that followed a Lawson double and brought the score to 7–1.
Fairfield’s struggles carried into the eighth inning as an error and two walks loaded the bases with only one out. The Stags completely fell apart from there as sophomore third baseman Landon Stripling hit a sacrifice fly to score Cyr, and Nadeau was immediately hit by a pitch to reload the bases.
From there, Boser walked on six pitches to bring in Florida’s ninth run and Lawson notched UF’s first hit of the inning, a two-RBI single. Evans walked to reload the bases and Donay followed with an RBI walk that brought the score to 12-1.
Despite already having scored five in the eighth, the Gators didn’t let up. A Cyr two-RBI single was followed by an RBI knock off the bat of Yost, leaving Fairfield trailing 15-1.
Two more runs were plated in the ninth thanks to a Lawson RBI single, his fourth hit of the game, and an RBI fielder’s choice courtesy of freshman Caden McDonald who hit for Evans.
Florida freshman Felix Ong closed the game in the ninth inning and recorded two strikeouts on 37 pitches. However, the righty allowed one run on one hit and three walks to produce a final score of 17-2.
Fairfield is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament with the loss and Florida will advance to face the loser of Coastal Carolina and East Carolina at noon Sunday in an elimination game.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
