'We Knew We Could Sweep Them': Missouri Baseball's Energy Behind the Historic Sweep of No. 6 Florida

As soon as the ball touched the ground, sophomore Jeric Curtis rounded first and just kept running. He ran all the way into the outfield.

His teammates, coaches and everyone else in the dugout took off for the outfield to swarm him. They needed to celebrate his only hit of the game — the game-winning hit that earned the Tigers the walk-off against a top-ten team. That walk-off secured the first ever series sweep against Florida in program history.

The team clearly wasn't the only ones cheering for Missouri's walk off. The largest crowd that Taylor Stadium has seen so far this season was on their feet, screaming for arguably the team's biggest win of the year.

Before the hit, the tension and excitement in the entire stadium could be felt. Missouri had already tagged on two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. They just needed one more to walk it off.

Almost nobody expected that an unranked Missouri team could beat, let alone sweep, the Florida Gators. They weren't supposed to win, but they were propelled to their historic sweep with energy and belief in themselves.

"You can feel it in the locker room and you can feel it when we get out on the fields," sophomore first baseman Jackson Lovich said. "We all have that combined mentality that nobody can beat us and if we keep that up, we're gonna be a team to mess with."

For the entire year, head coach Kerrick Jackson has stressed mindset. If the players didn't have the right mindset, things were not going to be as good. But if they believed in themselves and believe in their team, get into the winning mindset, they could be the team he knew they could be.

"Honestly, coach [Jackson] has been saying it to us all year, with all SEC games, we are right there," junior catcher Jedier Hernandez said. "Against these top ranked teams, we are right there."

Jackson knew that they had it in them. He knew that when things started to click, they could beat anyone. It didn't matter if they were a top team in the country, he knew they had a chance.

"If [we] just go out and play the way we're capable of playing, we can beat anybody," Jackson said.

All they needed was a chance. They got their chance.

The fire was lit underneath the stove of Missouri when all the players truly began to buy in with Jackson and the Missouri program. Sophomore Brock Daniels bat flip after a home run in game two against UT Martin was the first visible spark of the energy in the Tiger's recent winning stretch and showed something changing.

"I mean [Daniels] took his confidence to a whole other level with the bat flip," Jackson said. "Obviously felt good about himself when you do that... He can do a lot of different things, it's just about where his mind is at. Hopefully moving forward, he goes into a place where it's confidence, not cockiness."

Missouri rode the confidence from their high-scoring series sweep of UT Martin into their series against Florida. The boost in energy came with the confidence, they believed that the could keep the win streak going.

"[As for confidence,] with wins like this, it's not 'Okay, we have this now.'" Game one starting pitcher Logan Lunceford said. "It's reassurance that it's always been there. It's starting to click now, as we move forward."

Each and every one of them were there for a reason, and things started to click in game one against the Gators. As the game progressed, the energy built. Even a usually stoic and quiet Logan Lunceford was screaming when walking off the mound. The sophomore starter had thrown six innings of one hit ball and sent eight Gators crawling back to their dugouts from Ks.

"It's good to have the support behind me and know they're always there," Lunceford said. "Like I said, it's been a tough year for both pitchers and hitters trying to just come out and prove their value, especially in this type of series where it's a long series, it's good to have that support and a family behind us, as well."

The savior of the game was the birthday boy himself, known as Yadi to his teammates. Hernandez had the two-out base hit that won the first game for the Tigers in walk off fashion and the game-tying run in the second.

"[I had the mindset of] 'listen, their dawgs, but I'm a dawg, too" junior catcher Jedier Hernandez said. "I'm gonna fight."

Hernandez continually got it done all weekend with a smile on his face. While he may not display as much of his contagious energy when he's behind the plate, Hernandez may well be the hype man for the team.

"Honestly, our confidence from pitch one was crazy," Hernandez said. "I told them when I went in after that first inning 'hey, this is the standard. This is how it should be every time, it doesn't matter who you're playing."

Their first win reminded them that they were still "dawgs", to put it in Hernandez's words. They could compete against anyone. They could get the series win against a top ranked team with the confidence they gained from game one.

"We'd been fighting all day," Hernandez said following game one. "It was a tough game from the beginning to the end. Hopefully we just keep going, keep rolling off this one."

The energy carried over into their second game of the series, the one that would tie history. The one that would back up their confidence and belief that they could not be beaten. The one that would prove that they deserved the wins.

"It's just a mindset and I'm still working on it, but the more you just stay consistent and it will all fall into place," Hernandez said.

The only other time they had taken a series against Florida was in 2015. This Florida team had not lost a series this year. Missouri had not won a SEC series this year.

Until the Tigers did win.

"I'm just so proud of our kids for being able to fight and battle all weekend," Jackson said. "To find a bunch of different ways to come out on top of these games."

Disbelief spread after the second win. They, in fact, did keep rolling all the way to a series win. As they kept rolling, the energy in Taylor Stadium kept building. The belief that they could sweep was palpable to most everyone there.

Game two was the only one that didn't end in a walk off, but they didn't need the walk off, They just needed to hold the lead. Graduate Ryan Magdic held the Gators to just one hit and no walks to secure the win with one of his best outings of the year. He was fired up, as was the rest of his team greeting him as he left the mound.

Their energy could be seen, their confidence was growing and the players lined up outside the dugout to greet each of their teammates after they left the field, screaming and cheering between each inning.

Missouri had actually done it — twice. Now they needed to do it one more time to get the sweep.

"In this league, you don't get a chance to sweep very often," Jackson said. "When you do, you better take full advantage."

Game three ended up being the most dramatic one. It took all the fans on an emotional rollercoaster, regardless of which team they were there to support. Missouri would end up winning in walk off fashion once more.

The Tigers had brought home four in the first inning off projected first-round pick two-way player Jac Caglianone, with each player celebrating a little more as they crossed the plate. Their energy and success drove a Florida player to take his frustrations out on a table in the away dugout, destroying it as they did their pitching.

The energy stayed very high as the Tigers tagged Caglianone Florida for a career-tying high in runs. They built a 7-1 lead over the Gators by the second inning, their highest lead of the series. It was at this point some believed Missouri had secured the series win.

But the bats fell quiet and the Gators overcame the deficit to take the lead. Missouri had just a couple innings left to try to flip things once more and get on top again.

The energy may have dulled a bit in game three after the major comeback, but the fans stayed and the teams energy continued to propel them. After all, they had scored eight, what was a couple more?

"You have 40 guys behind you while you're in the box, so it's kind of hard to get out there and not have confidence," Curtis said.

Curtis stepped into the batters box with two outs in the ninth and a runner on third. A wild pitch and a double from Daniels had made it a tie game. Despite being 0-5 on the day at the time, he knew that he had the full support and the energy of all the men in the dugout behind him. That's when he did the improbable.

"We constantly talk about how what happened in the past doesn't matter," Jackson said. "Your next at bat is going to be the most important at bat you're going to have."

It just took a little faith and a long ninth inning for the Tigers to take the lead for the final time of the weekend.

"We knew that we could sweep them," Curtis said. "We had the confidence going into that, we didn't care where they were ranked, to be honest. Because baseball is baseball and we play good baseball."

Missouri gave two players ice baths over the weekend. They rushed the field to celebrate their historic wins. They wore huge smiles knowing they had taken down a top opponent in all of college baseball.

"The mindset is so huge and once we understand as a team, we will get to the next level," Hernandez said.