GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- A day after only managing three base hits, the Florida Gator baseball team exploded at the plate.
Fueled by the hot bats of Austin Langworthy and Brady Smith, the Gators took the weekend series from visiting Kentucky, winning 12-8 on Sunday afternoon.
The offense’s dominated the entire way for both squads. The Gators (28-18, 9-12 SEC) and Wildcats (22-22, 5-16 SEC) combined for 25 hits and 20 runs in the series finale.
“Three different times during the game we scored and went back out there and gave up some runs,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Probably the most impressive thing is we didn’t make any errors.”
Langworthy and Smith were the catalysts for the Gator offense. The duo combined to drive in six runs, with Langworthy going 3-4 with a triple and Smith going 2-2 with a home run and two walks.
“I was seeing it good, I don’t really struggle left on left, I feel really comfortable with it,” Langworthy said about facing Kentucky starter Mason Hazelwood.
The Gators drew first blood. Austin Langworthy singled with one out in the bottom of the first, setting up Nelson Maldonado. The senior captain blasted his eighth home run of the season, sending a 2-2 pitch from Kentucky starter Mason Hazelwood over the left field bleachers.
“I was behind in the count, I was just looking for something up in the zone and I know they have been coming in with fastball late in the count so I was looking for a fastball that I can drive,” Maldonado said.
“I’ve had a pretty successful history off Kentucky,” Maldonado said. “I don’t know what it is maybe I just came ready to play this weekend.
Kentucky tied it at two half an inning later, plating a pair of runs on Dalton Reed’s two-run home run.
Florida immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning. After back-to-back walks drawn by Jud Fabian and Brady McConnell, Langworthy stepped to the plate. The junior outfielder, swinging one of the hottest bats in the lineup, smacked a triple to right-center field that scored Fabian and McConnell, making it 4-2 Gators.
Maldonado then drove in another run, hitting a single to center-field that brought Langworthy home to extend the lead to 5-2.
Two batters later, Brady Smith slapped a base hit into left field, bringing Maldonado home to pad the lead to 6-2.
“I think probably the position change had a little bit to do with him getting off to a slow start offensive because this is the first year he’s ever really caught,” O’Sullivan said, “It was impressive to see him get his offense back around.”
The Wildcats struck for two runs of their own in the top of the third, trimming the deficit to 6-4 when Coltyn Kessler snuck a hard ground ball down the right field line for a double, scoring a pair.
Smith continued to produce at the plate in the bottom of the fourth for the Gators. After Langworthy recorded his third base hit of the night with a single to center field, Smith belted a two-run home run that cleared everything in left field to extend the lead to 8-4.
It was Smith’s fifth home run of the season.
The Gator catcher has picked up the pace over the last 15 games, hitting .434 in that time period.
Kentucky wouldn’t go away though. The Wildcats tied the game at 8-8 in the top of the fifth.
Three straight singles from Elliot Curtis, Austin Schultz and Kessler plated a run and trimmed the lead to 8-5.
After Gator relief pitcher Justin Alintoff hit Breydon Daniel with a pitch to load the bases, Cam Hill made it a one run game, smacking a double into right field that scored two runs.
The Wildcats tied it up Reed’s sacrifice-fly to left field that brought home Daniel.
However, Florida quickly retook the lead.
Jacob Young was hit by a pitch to start the inning and then got to second on Fabian’s single to left field.
McConnell then knocked in his 36th RBI of the season, dribbling a base hit into left field that allowed Young to score and Fabian to take 3rd. McConnell ended up on 2nd after the throw into the infield and gave the Gators a 9-8 lead.
Langworthy then drove in his third RBI of the game, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field that brought Fabian home and made it 10-8.
Two more runs scored for the Gators in the bottom of the sixth inning. Smith drew a walk to begin the inning and Wil Dalton was hit by a pitch. The duo ended up on second and third when a wild pick off attempt from Carson Coleman went into center field.
Cory Acton then drove in his 21st RBI of the season, hitting a slow ground ball to second that allowed Smith to score and make it 11-8.
Young then came to the plate and belted a double to right-center field and brought Dalton home, extending the margin to 12-8.
The Wildcats though were stuck at eight runs for the remainder of the game. Christian Scott entered on the mound for the Gators in the bottom of the fifth with two outs and cooled down the Kentucky bats.
The Gator freshman retired the first seven batters he faced and worked out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard. Scott pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the 12-8 win.
“For him to bounce back and throw like that for the last four-plus innings was big for us,” O’Sullivan said.
“He did what he needed to do,” Maldonado said of Scott, “the last four innings they didn’t score a run and that’s huge.”
In toatl, five Gator batters had double digit hit totals in the game. McConnell went 2-4 with an RBI while Calilao and Maldonado had a pair of base hits, with Maldonado tallying a home run and a walk.
“We’ve been pretty consistent offensively. We were talking about this the other day but we’ve scored a lot more runs at this point than we did in 2017, I think we’ve actually scored more runs than we did last year at this point,” O’Sullivan said, “That has not been the issue we just haven’t had a chance to be productive on the mound.”
Florida will have the week off, getting a break from the midweek games due to exams. The Gators will return to action next weekend when the Gators head to Athens to battle Georgia.
