No. 1 Florida had been held to just two runs in 16 innings against No. 16 Ole Miss in a weekend series that was looking like it could produce the Gators' first series loss of the 2012 season. And then the Gators' bats woke up in the eighth inning of Saturday's game, powering Florida to a 9-4 win that evened the series in Oxford.
Florida batted around in the eighth, getting five runs on six hits before recording its first out and adding the sixth run on a Taylor Gushue sacrifice fly. Vickash Ramjit had the inning's biggest hit, a three-run homer on the first pitch of his at-bat that gave the Gators the lead for good, and Casey Turgeon and Preston Tucker each notched an RBI in the frame.
Ramjit went 3-for-5 on the day, and tied Daniel Pigott, newly installed as Florida's leadoff man, for the team lead in runs with two. Gushue had two RBI, breaking out of an extended slump, and Brian Johnson rapped an RBI single in the first inning before being lifted as a hitter for Gushue in the third.
Johnson also started and threw four innings for Florida, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits. Steven Rodriguez, Greg Larson, Daniel Gibson, winning pitcher Johnny Magliozzi, and Austin Maddox combined for the other five, and scattered six hits and a run over them.
Florida concluded its series at Ole Miss this Sunday at 1:30 p.m.; the broadcast won't be on TV, but you can catch it on the Gator Radio Network.