With the series win already clinched, the No. 1 Gators decided to get greedy. LSU led by three after the third inning, but the Florida offense woke up to post a five-run fourth inning that allowed them to cruise to a 7-3 victory over No. 5 LSU. It was the first time the Tigers have been swept at home to start conference play since 1984.
The five-run inning for the Gators seemed to break the spirit of LSU, which was trying to salvage the final game of the series.
Preston Tucker, Austin Maddox and Brian Johnson started the inning with singles to load the bases with no outs. Mike Zunino followed with a single down the left field line, scoring Tucker and Maddox to bring the Gators within one run.
Kamm Washington executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third base. After Josh Adams grounded out to first base to hold the runners, Jeff Moyer came to the plate as a pinch hitter for Cody Dent. The junior lined a two-strike pitch up the middle to score both runs, giving Florida a 4-3 advantage.
It didn’t stop there, though.
Nolan Fontana then drove a triple off the right field wall to score Moyer, and the Gators erased all of the momentum that LSU had. The five-run inning took the crowd out of the game.
The three-game attendance total was 28,215, which served as the highest series attendance in Alex Box Stadium history. Friday night’s crowd of 10,220 set the record for the biggest single game crowd in stadium history.
Adams and Moyer added solo home runs late in the game to add on to the Florida lead. Moyer went 3-for-3 off the bench, making the nine-hole of the Florida order 4-for-4 on the day, including a bunt single by Dent in the third inning.
The Florida pitching gave up base runners, but the damage was limited. Karsten Whitson started on the mound and lasted 4.2 innings, giving up six hits, three runs (two earned), four walks and recording four strikeouts. The freshman’s command was the worst of the season, but he battled through it to keep his team in the game. He fell one batter short of picking up his fourth win of the season.
After Whitson walked Grant Dozar to give LSU two runners on in the fifth inning, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan went to the bullpen to bring in Maddox. Instead of working out of only the jam, Maddox (1-0) pitched the rest of the game.
He went 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and one hit batter. Maddox recorded three strikeouts and pounded the strike zone, never giving the Tigers’ hitters a chance to settle in.
For the weekend, the Tigers left 27 batters on base. The Florida pitchers only allowed seven runs on the weekend, while only five of those runs were earned.
The Gators are now 7-1 against teams ranked in the top 25, and they are 4-1 against teams ranked in the top five. They also stand atop the SEC standings alone after the first weekend after the Gators were the only team to sweep their opponent.
Florida returns home for a two-game series with Winthrop on Tuesday and Wednesday. First pitch for both games is set for 7 p.m.
