Mike Rivera was hitless when he walked up to the plate in the ninth inning of a 1-1 ball game. The freshman had walked twice and struck out once and was now facing a hard throwing left-hander in Jesse Stallings, who hadn’t allowed a home run all season.
Rivera fell behind in the count 1-2 but connected with a fastball, sending it high into left-center and over the wall. The first home run the Gators have hit this week in Hoover, Alabama — and just the third of the season for Rivera — gave Florida (43-16) a 2-1 lead in the final frame and proved to be the winning run over LSU (48-10).