GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A sense of ill will hung in the air Saturday night at McKethan Stadium.
That is usually the case when the Hurricanes swing into town to play the hometown Gators. Still, this was different. Had been since the top of the fourth inning ended with Miami's Raymond Gil grounding into a double play to shortstop. On the play, Miami first baseman Alex Toral, who entered the series leading the nation in home runs, broke from first base and was out at second.
Toral exchanged words with Gators second baseman
Blake Reese after the play, and running to the dugout from his position in right field,
Wil Dalton added a heavy dose of salt to the conversation.
"My mom wouldn't be proud,'' Dalton told reporters afterward. "You can print that. I did it for my teammates."
The chirping between the teams escalated and before calmness was restored, both teams had emptied onto the field. No one came close to blows, but the tone for the rest of the game was established. If the schools' matchup on the football field in seven months is as intense as Florida's 9-3 win Saturday, watch out.
Considering two of the major players in the brouhaha, the drama that played out over the next five innings seemed to arrive via express mail from Hollywood. In the bottom of the fourth, Dalton led off with a double to left in a scoreless game. He unleashed a fist pump worthy of an Oscar to fire up his teammates and the crowd.
However, as has been the case over the past week, Florida's offense was unable to cash in and Dalton was stranded on base. In the sixth, Gators starter
Tommy Mace struck out the first two batters before running into trouble, hitting Adrian Del Castillo on the foot and walking Toral. Up stepped Gil, who launched a 1-2 cut fastball high into the night sky. When the ball finally landed over the left-field wall, Miami led 3-0 and appeared on the verge of their first series win over the Gators since 2014.
The Hurricanes rushed from their dugout to greet the 6-foot, 220-pound Gil, who stormed through the greeting line like a linebacker ready to break a quarterback in half.
"Both teams just want to win so much and this is a big rivalry,'' Mace said. "Stuff happens."
The Gators were just getting started. They responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth on
Nelson Maldonado's RBI triple and then loaded the bases after two were out in the seventh. Dalton said he envisioned the scenario playing out before he stepped into the batter's box against Hurricanes reliever JP Gates.
"It's kind of funny. I got chills walking to the plate because I had told some of the guys that they were going to load the bases,'' he said. "Somehow, some way the bases are going to be loaded here and I'm splitting the game wide open. I basically put my pride on the line. I gave it all for those guys. It's been a rough past week."
Dalton's premonition proved true. He ripped a fly ball toward right-center that escaped the reach of Hurricanes center fielder Tony Jenkins to clear the bases, giving the Gators their first lead in their last four games.
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A sellout crowd of 6,206, the third-largest in school history, roared as the Gators bounced from their dugout welcoming baserunners
Brady Smith,
Brady McConnell and
Austin Langworthy home. Fans had little to cheer about in Miami's 5-2 win on Friday night that left the Gators with a collective .195 batting average through six games.
"It's not easy to play behind,'' Gators head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We needed it. It's early in the year and I know everybody has been talking about our offense. Everybody goes through a tough spell and for whatever reason it hit us the first five or six games. We needed to play with more intensity and that was the first game I think we played with a little bit of fire and intent. It could have been easy for us to hang our heads."
Instead, the Gators woke up for a potential wake-up win.
"Every pitch seemed like it was an important one,'' O'Sullivan said.
They scored nine unanswered runs following Gil's homer. They pounded 11 hits, five for extra bases, and most importantly, earned their biggest win of the infant season in a way that can build confidence for a young team with 15 newcomers.
Once Miami starter Chris McMahon (6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 SO) exited, the Gators teed off on three Hurricanes relievers for their best offensive performance of the season.
What does it mean? For starters, a chance to win the series on Sunday, which in Dalton's mind would be a huge growth spurt for such a young team.
"I'm just going to answer this question for everybody, because I'm sure people have questions about this past week,'' Dalton said. "We're calm. We're not panicking. Us older guys have tried to keep things smoothed over. We needed one little spark. [This] game did that.
"Yesterday's loss was like getting punched in the face millions of times and losing all your teeth."
With adrenaline still coursing through his veins after the game, Dalton said to expect a similar atmosphere on Sunday in the series finale. These teams don't like each other, which is not exactly breaking news, but Friday's loss inspired a new slogan for the Gators.
Burn the Boats.
Dalton explained: "There's no turning back. We're going to take everything we see from now on."
That Gators have apparently turned into Pirates. Whatever you want to call them, the home fans went home happy on Saturday. So did the coach.
The victory ensured the Gators (4-3) did not drop below .500 on the season, a rare occurrence under O'Sullivan. For the Hurricanes, it was their first loss after a 5-0 start.
It's baseball, so anything can happen Sunday. A win won't guarantee the Gators a return to Omaha. A loss won't spoil the season. But on an unseasonably warm Saturday night at the ballpark, the Gators showed some moxie that had been missing.
"It's just one game but it was good to see us have some intensity and some fight,'' O'Sullivan said. "There were a lot of positives."
None bigger than Dalton's game-winning swing.
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