GAINESVILLE — Santi Montiel homered and drove in five runs and South Alabama collected 21 hits in a 19-1 win over stunned Florida in an elimination game in the Gainesville Regional on Saturday.
The Jaguars handed Florida its second largest margin of defeat in program history. Mississippi State beat the Gators, 20-2 on May 5, 2000 in Starkville, Mississippi.
No. 15 Florida, the team that started the season as the consensus No. 1, had its season end with an embarrassingly fast exit from the NCAA Tournament. The Gators, who lost 5-3 to South Florida on Friday, went two games and out for the first time since 2014, when they also went 0-2 in Gainesville.
The 18-run margin of defeat was the largest for an SEC team in NCAA Tournament history, according to ESPN.
“It’s just one of those days," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Unfortunately, it’s the last game of the year for us. That’s something we got to live with.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, following a walk, a ground out on a sacrifice bunt and fly out, with two away, South Alabama proceeded to erupt for 10 straight hits, scored 10 runs and sent the next 11 batters to the plate.
For the Jaguars (34-21), Kaleb DeLaTorre batted 4 for 5 with three RBI, Cameron Tissue 3 for 6 with four RBI and Andrew Bates and Ethan Wilson each went 3 for 6. South Alabama finished .466 (21 of 45) at the plate.
Miles Smith gave up five hits in six innings to move his record to 7-1 for the Jaguars.
Josh Rivera went 2 for 3 for the Gators (38-22) and scored their lone run.
Florida came into the season ranked first in every poll after returning seven of eight position players and 16 of 18 pitchers. But the Gators were up and down all season, losing their opening series to Miami at home and finishing third in the SEC East behind Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
“I think he came up with like a 1 in 934,000 chance for 10 consecutive hits like that, considering their individual batting averages,” O'Sullivan said. "Credit their hitters. We didn’t walk anybody. We didn’t make any errors that inning. It’s just one of those crazy things about this game that makes it so good.”