Gators Survive Elimination, Face Do-or-Die Sunday in Conway Regional

All April and May, Florida Gator Baseball had been taking a page from Gator Basketball and got hot for a massive winning streak. But four innings into their elimination game against Fairfield, the phrase "Gator Boys Stay Hot" was going to need to be adjusted to mean crashing and burning out of the NCAA Tournament.

But eventually, the bats for Florida got going and Aidan King kept the ship steady the whole way through as Florida eventually cruised to a 17-2 victory over Fairfield to set up a scenario the Gators have become very familiar with.

Florida Gators to face East Carolina in an elimination game

Three innings in, Florida simply couldn't read any of the breaking stuff that Fairfield pitcher Bowen Baker was throwing. Even though Baker's fastball topped out at 88 MPH, he kept Florida hitters off balance and Florida was scoreless through three innings.

Blake Cyr broke through in the 4th inning with a solo home run, but Fairfield answered right back in the bottom of the 4th with a home run of their own.

Finally, in the 5th inning, the Gators started to get things going when Bobby Boser hit a two-run home run, followed by RBIs from Cyr and Hayden Yost.

By the time Brody Donay homered in the 6th to make it 7-1, it was finally time to breathe, and Florida turned the 8th inning into straight-up batting practice with eight runs scored to make it 17-1.

Aidan King pitches eight innings

There was debate online whether or not Kevin O'Sullivan should have used Aidan King against Fairfield or tried to save him.

The theory is that if Florida is going to escape Conway, they would have to win four games in a row, so while King gave Florida the best chance to beat Fairfield, the Gators will now be reliant on the backend of their rotation to try and navigate Sunday.

On the plus side, King went eight innings with just one earned run off four hits. King struck out seven as Fairfield had zero answers or ability to catch up to his fastball.

With King going eight innings, Florida has their full complement of pitchers out of the bullpen available to try and survive a potential doubleheader on Sunday.

First, the Gators will have a rematch against East Carolina in an elimination game at 12 PM. The winner will move on to face Coastal Carolina later in the day.

If Florida can win twice today, they would set up a winner-take-all Game Seven on Monday.

Florida has faced this exact scenario the past three years in Regionals and has forced a Game Seven all three times. As we noted in our preview of Regionals, Florida has been able to find someone from the backend of their pitching staff to pull a rabbit out of the hat.