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Florida had no wiggle room after falling to East Carolina in Friday’s Conway Regional opener.
The Gators had to win on Saturday just to extend their season, and Florida responded with an offensive tour de force. The Gators shellacked Fairfield, 17-2, taking a 7-1 lead by the 6th inning and further punishing the Stags with an 8-run 8th that served notice that Florida was far from done in the NCAA Tournament.
Florida pounded out 16 hits in the onslaught and benefited from 5 Fairfield errors to earn the right to play on Sunday. The Gators could get a chance at payback against East Carolina. UF will face the loser of Saturday’s game between East Carolina and Coastal Carolina in another elimination game on Sunday at noon ET.
The Florida baseball social media account celebrated Saturday’s blowout win that kept the season alive with this tweet:
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UF first baseman Brendan Lawson led the offensive show on Saturday, going 5-for-7 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. Three other Gators had multiple hits, including Blake Cyr, who went 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 4 RBI, and Bobby Boser, who went 3-for-6 with 3 runs and 3 RBI. Cyr and Boser both homered in Saturday’s game to get the UF offense rolling, and the Gators never stopped.
Freshman Aidan King took care of things on the mound for Florida, going 8 innings while giving up just 1 earned run on 4 hits, with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
