Junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) delivered a
tie-breaking, two-out, two-run triple in the ninth to lift No. 1 Florida
(22-2/5-1 SEC) to a 5-4 victory over No. 6 South Carolina (17-7/1-5 SEC) before
another sellout crowd of 8,242 fans at Carolina Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Fontana (2-for-5) had entered the contest 1-for-33 in his career against the
Gamecocks and came through with the decisive hit. It was the third time that
the Gators have emerged victorious in their final at bat this season and
enabled head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s club to capture the series.
With the game tied at two runs apiece entering the ninth, junior Vickash
Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) drew a two-out walk from USC junior Matt Price (3-2) and
junior Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.) was hit in the back by a 3-2
pitch. Fontana picked an opportune time for his first triple of the season,
ripping a 1-2 pitch from Price to the gap in right center to give the Gators a
5-3 advantage. Price stranded Fontana on third by having senior Daniel
Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) (2-for-5) fly out to right field.
In the home part of the inning, junior LB Dantzler brought South
Carolina within 5-4 with a one-out homer to left center field, his fourth of
the year and the first allowed by junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville,
Fla.) this season. The right-hander (2-0) had senior Adam Matthews foul out to
freshman first baseman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) for the second
out and induced a game-ending fly ball to right field by sophomore pinch hitter
Brison Celek as the Gators claimed their second-straight series in Columbia.
