UF spent much of Saturday’s game looking like it was going to cruise to a victory in the series over rival Miami. The Hurricanes had other plans. A rally in the ninth inning facilitated seven unanswered runs for UM, and it stunned the Gators in the 13th inning 10-9.
Miami (1-1) ends a six-game losing streak to Florida, while UF will try to bounce back and take the series in Sunday’s rubber match.
After the first inning, though, it appeared the game could be heading toward a blowout. Gators starting pitcher Jack Leftwich threw a clean inning, while Miami’s Alejandro Rosario ran into trouble almost immediately.
Jacob Young reached base on a fielding error to lead off the game, and a single from Nathan Hickey two at-bats later brought him home. Florida wasn’t done in the inning, as a single from Jordan Butler with a fielding error that allowed him to reach second brought two more runs home. A double from Josh Rivera later in the inning scored Butler, and Sterlin Thompson brought Rivera home with a single the next at-bat. By the time Rosario retired the Gators, UM trailed 5-0.
Leftwich allowed a run off a pair of base hits in the second inning, but he calmed down after that, pitching hitless third and fourth innings. Rosario, meanwhile, managed to avoid further damage the rest of his outing.
Things began to go south for Leftwich in the fifth, allowing three hits and two RBI doubles, but he retired the Hurricanes while preserving a 5-3 lead, and he was replaced with Trey Van Der Weide after that.
Rosario was also replaced by Jordan Dubberly, who immediately let up two runs in the bottom of the fifth as Florida stretched its lead back to four runs. The Gators got some insurance in the sixth with a homer from Hickey.
Van Der Weide let up a run in the seventh, and he was replaced by Franco Aleman, who got the save on Friday night. Aleman allowed a run in the eighth after two singles, a walk and a wild pitch, but he maintained UF’s 8-5 lead heading into the ninth inning.
Aleman pitched through most of the ninth despite a rising pitch count, and he began to struggle. He loaded the bases with three walks and brought one home on a hit-by-pitch. Two more walks allowed Miami to tie the game before Aleman was pulled for Ben Specht, who finally retired the Hurricanes.
Extra innings were defense-heavy; both pitchers tossed clean innings in the 10th. Specht put two on in the 11th, and he was pulled for Jordan Butler, who averted the danger.
In the 13th, Butler was pulled for freshman Brandon Sproat after a walk and a hit-by-pitch, and he couldn’t keep the strong defensive play going. After striking out his first batter, he gave up an RBI single to give the Hurricanes the lead. A fielding error the next at-bat allowed another runner to score.
The Gators tried to rally in the bottom of the 13th to at least continue play, and they managed to score one from a Kirby McMullen RBI single. But with one on, Butler struck out and Kris Armstrong hit a deep fly ball that was easily fielded, handing the Gators their first loss of the season.
Florida will try to bounce back in Game 3 and take the series against the Hurricanes on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.
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