Down two starters, Florida was looking for some heroes Saturday at the NCAA regionals.
The Gators found plenty in a pulsating 5-4 victory over Miami.
“Every team deals with adversity,” said Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan. “Now is our time. We needed some guys to step up and they did just that.”
At the top of that list would be shortstop Nolan Fontana, whose line-drive, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave Florida the win.
“I talked to Sully before Cody Dent's at-bat and he talked about how it's all about the 15 steps to the plate,” Fontana said. “I was just looking for a pitch to drive. I was looking for a strike. It was exciting to say the least.”
Fontana, who also made two sparkling plays in the infield, hit his game-winner after Daniel Pigott reached on a one-out error by shortstop Stephen Perez. It was the fourth error of the game for Miami, which committed nine in two Super Regional games a year ago at McKethan Stadium.
“You gotta play catch,” said Miami coach Jim Morris. “We made too many errors. That cost us the game. I wish I had the answer.”
Morris had pulled reliever Sam Robinson, who retired seven straight Gators, after he struck out Tyler Thompson to start the inning.
“We didn't want to over-extend Sam if we needed him (Sunday),” Morris said. “And we've done it this way all year.”
Pigott advanced to second base on a balk by Travis Miller, who then walked Vickash Ramjit. Pigott and Ramjit then advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Cody Dent tried to safety squeeze the runners in, but eventually was walked by Miami closer Daniel Miranda.
“Huge at-bat,” said O'Sullivan.
With the bases full, Fontana lined a 1-1 pitch to left to end the game. As he rounded first, he extended his arms to the sides before being mobbed by his teammates.
Florida was playing without Brian Johnson, still not fully recovered from a concussion, and Austin Maddox, who suffered a sprained left foot Friday and was in a boot and on crutches Saturday. O'Sullivan didn't know whether either player would be available Sunday when the Gators face the winner of the noon game between Miami and Jacksonville at 4 p.m.
With Maddox out, Florida needed to find a new closer and turned to Tommy Toledo to start the ninth with the game tied at four.
Toledo gave up a leadoff double, just as he did in the ninth inning in Nashville against Vanderbilt three weeks ago. And just as he did then, he got out of the jam.
“Nolan came up to me at Vanderbilt and said, ‘You gotta believe,' “ Toledo said. “He told me the same thing today.”
Toledo got Rony Rodriguez to ground out and then struck out Harold Martinez. Pinch-hitter Chantz Mack then hit a chopper up the middle that deflected off Toledo's glove, causing a moment of anxiety.
“I kind of jumped up in the dugout,” O'Sullivan said. “The players know I can be pretty animated.”
Toledo caught the ball in the air and fired to first to end the inning and set up the bottom of the ninth.
“Fortunately I got under it,” Toledo said. “It was big momentum for us to go back out there in the ninth.”
Miami scored single runs in the third and fourth to take a 2-0 lead before Florida countered with two in the fourth on doubles by Preston Tucker, Mike Zunino and Thompson with Thompson's coming after third baseman Brad Fieger dropped a foul pop-up. Florida struck for two again in the fifth thanks to a pair of Miami errors and doubles by Ramjit and Tucker.
Miami tied the game with single runs in the sixth and seventh.
The Hurricanes face JU on Sunday and the winner must beat Florida twice to claim the regional. Florida needs only one win to advance to the Super Regionals for the third straight year.
JU beat Manhattan Saturday to stay alive when reliever Chris Kaminski struck out Manhattan's Kyle Murphy with the bases loaded in the ninth and the Dolphins up 5-4.
