Hang around the game of baseball long enough and it'll show you something you've never seen before.
A 40-minute, belt-breaking, double-digit run-scoring sixth inning did just that during South Alabama's 19-1 win over the Gators, ending Florida's 2021 campaign.
Florida stater Hunter Barco recorded just one out before being lifted from the game in favor of Jack Leftwich, who pitched a scoreless 2.2 inning before giving way to Franco Alemán. The right-hander retired the side in his first frame but an error in the fifth inning led to two unearned runs in the fifth inning to give South Alabama a 4-1 lead.
The sixth inning is one they'll talk about in years to come in Mobile, Alabama.
Alemán rebounded from a leadoff walk to retire the next two batters he faced. Then, The Jags recorded 10-consecutive hits with two outs, six off of Alemán before Brandon Sproat took over, surrendering the next four. In total, the Jaguars sent 14 batters to the plate, scored 10 times on 10 hits and the inning also featured two wardrobe malfunctions. In the middle of the hit parade, Alemán looked down to find his belt had broken. Graduate assistant Paco Rodriguez needed to run out to the mound to trade with the pitcher, while at the same time Michael Sandel had a busted belt while on second and had to trade with his third base coach.
"It’s one of the strangest games I think I’ve ever been involved with, from getting off to a start like we did in the first and having to use our closer in the first. Giving up 10 consecutive hits," Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Lars [Davis] was doing the math in the rain delay and he’s probably the smartest person I’ve ever met, but I think he came up with like a 1 in 934,000 chance for 10 consecutive hits like that, considering their individual batting averages. Credit their hitters."
The 14-1 lead was more than enough to end the Gators' season but South Alabama added five for runs for good measure. It's the third-worst loss in Florida baseball history behind a 24-2 loss to Clemson in 1974 and a 20-2 loss at Mississippi State in 2000.
"Unfortunately, it’s the last game of the year for us. That’s something we got to live with. But, seven o’clock tomorrow, we have to move forward. I know the players are probably disappointed right now obviously because this is the last chance this group will have to be together. But, we have a lot to be proud of," O'Sullivan said. "We hosted another regional, even though we were doing some ups and downs during the season. We hung in there. I thought we played our best baseball in the second half of the year and we improved as the season went on. It’s just a sad way to end it this way.”
