Brendan Lawson is now among a select company. In a Florida Gators lineup that has changed it’s offensive approach to be so small-ball oriented that it’s almost anti-power hitting, he was one of five Florida starters Saturday without a home run this season.
Lawson, deciding to rebel from the status quo, can now call himself the only Gator with a grand slam.
Florida (6-0) run-ruled Dayton (2-4) 11-1 to secure a series win and set up for a sweep tomorrow. The small-ball Gators plated its 11 runs on nine hits and stole four bases in the contest.
Florida starting pitcher Jake Clemente found himself with runners in scoring position early. Despite the jam, he struck out three batters to get through a scoreless first frame. The sophomore right-hander finished with seven strikeouts, two walks and zero earned runs in 4.0 innings pitched.
“I don’t know, he seemed a little off tonight,” said Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “Overall, a good night. We just gotta figure out the starting pitching thing.”
The Gators got on the board early thanks to the help of Blake Cyr, who’s been in solid form since Tuesday’s tilt against Jacksonville. The left fielder doubled up the foul line in the bottom of the first inning before advancing to third on a passed ball. He would eventually tag up and score thanks to a sacrifice fly out from Bobby Boser.
UF expanded the gap in the third. After loading up the bases, Lawson hit one into the home bullpen for a grand slam — the first long ball of his career — and put the Gators up 5-0.
“It feels good to get it out of the way,” said Lawson.
Clemente, in his fourth and final inning, found himself in another jam — this time with the bases loaded. He was able to come away without a run and logged his seventh strikeout of the night before being pulled for Frank Menendez ahead of the fifth.
The Gators added on some insurance in the bottom sixth on a two-run double from Shelton. Headed into the last third of the night, UF led 7-0.
Menendez would strikeout five batters and walk none through a scoreless three innings of work. Sophomore Matthew Jenkins took over for the lefty to start the eighth. He’d let up one run before getting out of the frame with a strikeout to boot.
“It’s definitely a huge confidence booster, to go in there after not pitching for a while and kind of dominate,” said Menendez.
UF cruised through the final frames, adding enough runs to enact the run-rule in the bottom eighth as Stripling walked it off on a two-run single.
Florida will seek the sweep tomorrow at noon. The game will stream on SEC ESPN+
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