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The Gator baseball team was tied 0-0 with Ole Miss on Friday night when Christian Hicks walked up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning with the bases loaded.
Hicks worked his way to a full count. And then kept fouling off pitches to stay alive. And he kept fouling away… and he kept fouling some more, doing so nine times, until he finally walked on the 16th pitch of the at bat to drive home Florida’s first run of the game.
From there, the flood gates opened.
The Gators went on to score seven runs in the fourth inning, combining with a near flawless start from starter Alex Faedo to propel the Gators (33-13, 14-8 SEC) to an 11-2 win over the Rebels (29-18, 11-11 SEC) at McKethan Stadium.
#GatorsWWWWWWWin 11-2
All tied up atop the SEC East! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/6b2soQc3uz
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 6, 2017
Faedo was in command from the start, striking out nine batters in 6.0 innings of work in which he gave up no runs, three walks, and just three hits. James McArthur (3-4) took the loss for Ole Miss after giving up seven earned runs and five hits in 3.2 innings.
The win for Faedo improves his record to 7-1 on the season, and gives the Gators their seventh consecutive victory. Florida has also won 13 out of their past 15 games since dropping the first two of the Tennessee series in early April.
The victory, combined with Georgia’s upset of Kentucky on Friday night, means the Gators have pulled into a tie for first atop the SEC East with the Wildcats. Florida hosts Kentucky in the last series of the regular season on May 18th.
Recap
After both teams went scoreless through three and a half innings, the fireworks started after Hicks’s two-out, bases loaded walk made it 1-0.
Ryan Larson stepped up to the plate after Hicks, and taking advantage of a presumably tired McArthur, belted a grand slam over the left field wall to make it 5-0 in favor of Florida. McArthur left a 1-2 breaking ball hanging over the middle of the plate, and Larson pounced on it for his fourth home run of the season.
ICYMI: the 💣 that broke this one open
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 6, 2017
The Gators weren’t done scoring in the inning though. Back-to-back RBI singles from Keenan Bell (2-for-4, RBI) and Jonathan India, back from an extended injury spell, meant it was 7-0 before the Rebels could get out of the inning.
In the following inning, Faedo added two strikeouts and the Gators added as many runs to their lead.
After Dalton Guthrie (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI) got a lead-off single, Austin Langworthy’s double to left center brought him home. A couple of at bats later, Langworthy scored on a RBI groundout by J.J. Schwarz that made it 9-0.
Florida tacked on another run in the seventh inning via Nelson Maldonado’s solo blast, his fourth home run of the season. The Gators finished their scoring in the following inning after a sacrifice fly from Guthrie scored Bell to make it 11-0.
Ole Miss got two consolation runs in the ninth off of freshman pitcher Cole Maye, but Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan let him finish out the inning. Maye, in just his third appearance of the season, limited them to those two runs, and Florida walked away with the 11-2 home victory.
Boy, a grand slam sure does make a highlight reel THAT much better. And, of course, #FaedoFriday!
Watch the highlights from Friday's win: pic.twitter.com/Yl6Y8KEsyM
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 6, 2017
Up Next
Florida will look to clinch the series when they send Brady Singer to the mound on Saturday. He’ll face off against Ryan Rolison for Ole Miss, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
