Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: The Gators snuck past Georgia 7-6 en route to their seventh consecutive Friday night win.

The Gators trailed by one entering the final frame. Keenan Bell and Nick Horvath both singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Florida loaded the bases when Deacon Liput was hit attempting to bunt.

Nelson Maldonado drove in the tying run when he flew out to center, scoring pinch-runner Andrew Baker.

With runners at the corners, the Bulldogs elected to walk Jonathan India to load the bases.

Wil Dalton took the first four pitches of the at-bat before lifting the 3-1 offering to center fielder Tucker Maxwell. Maxwell dropped the ball as Horvath jogged home for the winning run. Maxwell was charged with an error and Dalton credited with a sacrifice fly RBI in the Gators' first walk-off win since a 3-2 win over Rhode Island on March 10.



JJ Schwarz and Maldonado each drove in three runs for the Gators. Schwarz's first of the game came via the long ball. The blast over the left-field wall was his 11th of the season and helped extend his hitting streak to seven games.

On the hill, Brady Singer pitched seven innings for the sixth consecutive start. Singer gave up just one earned run, striking out six Bulldog batters.

The Gators (40-11, 19-6) improved to 11-1 this season when their Friday night ace takes the mound and reached 40 wins for the fifth consecutive season.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: JJ Schwarz – He extended his seven-game hit streak with the fourth inning home run to left. He is batting 14-for-28 (.500) during the streak while driving in seven Gator runners. With three hits tonight, he passed Josh Adams (2008-11) for third in Florida history with 285 career hits.

FROM THE COACH:  Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on team's first walk-off win in two months: "With a walk-off win, I don't want to dampen the mood, but in the same token this team has a chance to do some things in the postseason and have a special season. If we make those same kind of mistakes, it will come back to haunt you. Sometimes when you win a game those mistakes can get lost. When you lose the mistakes get magnified. I thought tonight was a really good teaching moment. It was a really good teaching moment and great win for our team."
 
STANDOUT STAT: 1 – The Gators' magic number to win at least a share of their 15th SEC regular-season title in program history and sixth in the Kevin O'Sullivan era.

UP NEXT: Florida seeks to clinch its second consecutive regular-season title against No. 15 Georgia. First pitch Saturday afternoon is set for 1 p.m.