UF Baseball: #1 Florida Comes Back to Beat #5 South Carolina

The No. 1 Florida Gators (37-6, 14-5 in SEC play) used a pair of ninth inning home runs to come from behind and defeat the No. 5 South Carolina Gamecocks (33-9, 14-5 in SEC play) 5-4 in an exhilarating Game 1 of this weekend series.

This contest between these two SEC East rivals reached its apex in the ninth inning. With no outs and the Gators down 4-3, freshman Jonathan India drilled a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall to tie the game.

Two outs later, sophomore Nick Horvath strode to the plate for his first at-bat of the game. After taking the first pitch for ball one, Horvath crushed his first collegiate home run over the left field fence to give the Gators their first lead of the night!

Leading now 5-4, Florida called upon closer Shaun Anderson to shut the door and secure an improbable victory. After allowing a leadoff single to LT Tolbert, Anderson settled down and induced a ground ball for a much-needed double play.

After walking Gene Cone, Anderson gave up a deep shot to Dom Thompson-Williams that Nelson Maldonado tracked down at the wall for the game's final out. A foot so or more and South Carolina would have been the benefactors of a walk off home run. Instead, it was Anderson's tenth save of the season and a huge road victory for the Gators.

Before the dramatics of the ninth inning, this was a battle between two aces as Florida's Logan Shore (8-0, 2.39 ERA) and South Carolina's Clarke Schmidt (8-1, 2.04 ERA) dueled the night away. This would be Shore's second shortest outing of the season, as he tossed 86 pitches in 4.2 innings. He exited with a stat line of three earned runs allowed on five hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.

Schmidt fared slightly better in 6.1 frames. Throwing 104 pitches, he gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits, walked two, and struck out six in 6.1 frames.

Upon Shore's exit, Kirby Snead came in and threw 0.1 innings. He allowed one earned run on one hit while facing just two batters.

After Snead's departure, Dane Dunning came in and threw 50 pitches in three scoreless innings of relief. Yielding just two hits while striking out three, Dunning's durability would pay off as the late lead change would notch him his third win of the season.

The Gator lineup scattered eight hits, but three of those base knocks were long bombs. Before India and Horvath silenced the crowd at Founders Park, JJ Schwarz left the yard with two outs in the top of the sixth to cut the Gamecock lead to 3-2. It was a home run that never should have happened, as a two-out error allowed freshman Deacon Liput to reach first base and bring Schwarz to the plate.

After South Carolina pushed it to 4-2, Jeremy Vasquez delivered in the clutch with a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the seventh to trim the deficit to one. Horvath would replace him in the bottom of the same inning.

The only Gator with multiple hits was Nelson Maldonado, who went 2-4 with a pair of singles. The only extra base hit that was not a home run came off the bat of Dalton Guthrie, whose lone hit was a double in the ninth inning.

Final Takeaway:
The No. 2 Florida Gators have now tied the No. 5 South Carolina Gamecocks for first place in the SEC East standings. Before previewing Game 2, here are my final tidbits on a thrilling opening game:

• Florida handed South Carolina just their second loss at home, as the Gamecocks are now 25-2 at the friendly confines.
• South Carolina's leading hitter was Chris Cullen, who went 3-4 with two doubles, a home run, two RBI's, and a run scored.
• The Gators have now won seven straight games over the Gamecocks dating back to 2014.
• Jonathan India's home run was his second of his career, while JJ Schwarz's home run was his fifth of the season.
• Dalton Guthrie's ninth inning double was his 11th of the season and tied him with Peter Alonso for the team lead.
• Both Florida and South Carolina's pitching staffs struck out eight batters. In regards to walks, the Gators issued two free passes while the Gamecocks walked three.
• The Gators left six men on the base paths, with Deacon Liput stranding four of them.

With first place on the line, Florida will trot out lefty junior A.J. Puk (2-2, 3.07 ERA) as the Orange and Blue attempt to win the series against the Gamecocks for the fifth year in a row. South Carolina will counter with junior freshman Braden Webb (8-2, 2.38 ERA). 

Game time is again set for 7 p.m. It can be seen on the SEC Network and heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network.

*All stats accredited to FloridaGators.com