COLUMBIA - Nolan Fontana's two-out triple in the top of the 9th inning scored two Florida runners and the Gators beat the South Carolina Gamecocks 5-4 Saturday in the rubber match of their SEC series.
Florida improves to 22-5 and 5-1 in the SEC while Carolina drops to 17-7 and 1-5 in league play.
Florida led 3-0 after three innings, thanks to a Mike Zunino sacrifice fly in the top of the 1st inning and back-to-back home runs by Daniel Pigott and Zunino in the 3rd.
The Gamecocks got two runs back in the bottom of the 4th, thanks to an RBI single by Grayson Greiner and an Erik Payne sacrifice fly. Joey Pankake's RBI single tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the 5th.
Fontana's winning hit came of reliever Matt Price, who pitched 2 1/3 innings. LB Dantzler crushed a solo home run in the bottom of the 9th, but USC would get no closer.
USC returns to action Tuesday night in Charleston, with a 7 p.m. first pitch against The Citadel.
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