GatorS Sweep Dayton by Run Rule
The Gators faced the Dayton Flyers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On all three days, the Orange and Blue won by run rule. They won on each day by 13-1, 11-1, and 12-2. The boys from Gainesville were forces of nature at the plate, absolutely lethal any time they stepped up. There was nothing Dayton could do to slow the now 7-0 Gators.
In the first game of the series, which you can read more about here, the Gators crushed Dayton. Every starting player got a hit as the Gators sluggers ran wild. Games 2 and 3 of the series were repeats, which now means the Gators have won the majority of their games by run rule. Not a single Gator underperformed, with good pitching, defense, and (of course) slugging.
The pitching performance was outstanding by the Gators. Liam Peterson, Jake Clemente, and Pierce Coppola were the three boys starting on the mound. They put in a combined 13 innings, allowing only six hits and two runs between them. These three also started last weekend against Air Force and seem poised to be the weekend starters as the season goes on.
Photo from @GatorsBB on Twitter/X
Relief pitching was also a point of note. Freshman Christian Rodriguez (or C-Rod) made his first ever career appearance on Friday after spending his true freshman season recovering from Tommy John surgery. True freshman Aidan King made an appearance towing the rubber on Sunday, coming in to secure the final 3 outs of the sweep, striking one out and getting Dayton Designated Hitter Ryan MacDougall to ground into a double play.
To quote Aaron Boone, the Gators were “savages in the box”. This was especially true for true freshman Brendan Lawson, who sent a ball yard with the bases loaded. Lawson, who’s batted .333 since the start of the season, hit a grand slam on Saturday to propel the Gators to let everyone get home just a little bit earlier. On Sunday’s game, it was a team effort by the boys, with 8 different players scoring runs in the 12-2 win. There were a few standouts over the weekend, but it’s important to emphasize just how much of a team effort this performance was.
The amount of records the Gators have set and equaled is far too long to fit into this article, so I’ll just leave it at saying that the Gators have scored at least ten runs in each of their last six games, are 7-0, and they’ve won four of those by run rule. The Gators have a midweek trip to Stetson tomorrow in a two hour trip to the Atlantic Sun Conference team. They then host North Florida on Wednesday before Miami comes up to play a weekend series. Barring an upset, the Gators should be 9-0 going against a currently 7-1 Miami team, who lost their only game in beautiful Boca Raton to the Florida Atlantic Owls.
