Florida freshman right-hander Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (4-0) limited eighth-ranked Ole Miss (15-8/3-3 SEC) to one run over a career-high seven innings and the Gator offense used a four-run second inning and a three-run homer by freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) in the fifth to post a 10-2 victory on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of the weekend series at Oxford-University Stadium at Swayze Field. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad bounced back from a heartbreaking 5-4 setback on Friday night to take the final two contests from UM.

Florida (17-4/5-1 SEC) had not won a series in Oxford since taking two of three games over March 28-30, 1997, and has now captured its first two SEC series for the first time since 2004 and just the third time since the 1994 campaign. Toledo permitted six hits in working at least five innings for the fifth-straight start and lowered his earned run average to 1.93. The Orange and Blue banged out 14 hits, as senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) went 3-for-4 and scored twice and the quartet of Adams, sophomore Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.), sophomore Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) and senior Jon Townsend (London, Ky.) chipped in with two hits apiece.

For the third-straight day, the Gators opened the scoring by sending 10 batters to the plate and reaching UM sophomore Nathan Baker (1-3) for four runs on two hits and an error in the second inning. Adams drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a fielding error by sophomore second baseman Zach Miller. With runners on second and third after the play, Townsend legged out a bunt that brought across Adams. McArthur rifled a double down the right-field line to drive in Bamberg and give UF runners on second and third. Sophomore Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) had an RBI grounder and Munroe followed with a sacrifice fly to center for a 4-0 margin.   

Ole Miss tallied a run in the fourth against Toledo courtesy of redshirt freshman Matt Smith’s single through the left side that scored junior Logan Power. Power had opened the frame with a double to left and Smith drove him in with his 14th RBI. Toledo retired the next three hitters on pop ups to keep the Gators ahead by three runs.

Adams launched a three-run homer in the fifth to expand the Gators’ lead to 7-1 and end the afternoon for Baker (4.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER). Junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) raised his hitting streak to 13 games with an infield single and Figueroa had a single before a double steal put Florida in prime position. Adams then sent Baker’s 2-2 pitch into the bullpen for his team-leading fifth round-tripper.  

Munroe belted his first dinger with two down in the sixth off freshman Drew Pomeranz for an 8-1 cushion. The Gators later tacked on two more runs on three hits and another Ole Miss error in the eighth to build a 10-1 margin. McArthur and den Dekker had consecutive one-out singles and each moved into scoring position on a balk by Pomeranz. Munroe added an RBI single to score McArthur, while den Dekker was gunned down at the plate trying to score. Munroe took second on the relay throw, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on a fielding error on Barnes’ grounder.

Overbeck collected his seventh homer with one down in the eighth off junior Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) to finalize the 10-2 score. The solo shot came one at bat after Overbeck had extended his hitting streak to 23 games, second-longest in UM history. The Gators return to McKethan Stadium on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., when they host Jacksonville (13-7/7-5 Atlantic Sun) in the opener of a home and home series.

-UF-