No. 1 Florida Hosts Harvard In Weekend Series

Friday, March 11

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

Harvard

Tickets

Buddy Reed enters the series on a 10-game hitting streak.

No. 1 Florida Hosts Harvard In Weekend Series

Thursday, March 10, 2016 | Baseball

The Gators and Crimson will be meeting for the first time since the 2006 season.

By: John Hines

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Boasting an eight-game winning streak after taking both ends of a home-and-home series with North Florida, No. 1 Florida (14-1) welcomes Harvard (2-2) to McKethan Stadium for its final non-conference weekend series.

Junior right-hander Logan Shore (3-0, 0.43) will face Crimson sophomore right-hander Ian Miller (0-1, 6.00) in Friday's opener at 7 p.m., junior left-hander A.J. Puk (0-1, 3.09) will oppose Harvard senior right-hander Sean Poppen (1-0, 1.29) in game two of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Gator sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo (3-0, 2.12) will meet junior right-hander Nick Gruener (1-0, 3.00) in Sunday's finale at 1 p.m.

All three games of the weekend series can be heard through FloridaGators.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell and the entire series will be streamed on SEC Network+ through the Watch ESPN app. Live stats for each game will be available on FloridaGators.com and fans can also follow updates of each game on @GatorsBB, the official Twitter account of the Gator baseball team.

QUICK HITS ABOUT THE GATORS

In its last eight outings, Florida has downed UCF twice (9-5, 4-0), swept a weekend series against Dartmouth (7-0, 4-3 (12), 8-6) and pocketed a pair of wins over North Florida (6-2, 5-4).
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan's club opened the campaign with six straight wins before falling to No. 6 Miami on Feb. 27, 5-3.
The Gators are 9-0 at home this season and are on a 16-game winning streak at McKethan Stadium since a 4-1 loss to Auburn on May 14, 2015.
Florida's trio of weekend starters, junior RHP Logan Shore (3-0, 0.43), junior LHP A.J. Puk (0-1, 3.09) and sophomore RHP Alex Faedo (3-0, 2.12), is a combined 6-1 with a 1.63 ERA through three weekends, with 60 strikeouts, 11 walks and a .175 batting average against.
UF's pitching staff has compiled an earned run average of 2.56 and is holding foes to a .196 average, while the squad boasts a fielding percentage of .983 that ranks third in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (.985) and Texas A&M (.984).
Junior outfielder Buddy Reed (.322, 16 runs) is currently on a 10-game hitting streak in which he is 14-for-40 (.350), with 11 runs, seven walks and six RBI. He has scored at least one run in the past 10 games and is 7-for-7 on the basepaths to rank fifth in the league.
The Gators have played error-free baseball in their past three contests and are 8-0 this year when not committing any miscues.
Eight of Florida's 12 homers this season have come from its stable of sophomore catchers: Mark Kolozsvary (2), Mike Rivera (3) and JJ Schwarz (3).
Sophomore shortstop Dalton Guthrie is 7-for-12 (.583) over the past three games and has taken over the squad's top spot with a .393 clip. He went 5-for-8 (.625) in the sweep of North Florida, with three runs and a couple of doubles, and leads UF with nine multiple-hit games.
Freshman second baseman Deacon Liput has reached base in all 15 of his collegiate games and is batting .388 with 12 RBI, 11 walks, six doubles and three triples.
The Gator pitching staff leads the SEC with 156 strikeouts in 137 innings, led by Faedo (23), junior RHP Dane Dunning (22) and Shore (22).
Junior RHP Shaun Anderson (2-0, 1.59) collected his first save of the campaign on Wednesday night by stranding the tying run on third base to end the game. The righty has registered 13 strikeouts without permitting any walks in 11.1 innings spanning seven appearances.
Junior LHP Kirby Snead struck out the lone batter he faced in the eighth inning against the Ospreys and sports a 0.79 ERA (1 earned run in 11.1 IP) in a team-leading eight appearances.
Florida has out-scored its opponents, 102-48, including a disparity of 27-1 between the sixth and the seventh innings. The Gators have been on the short end in the both the eighth (12-11) and ninth innings (8-3).
The Orange and Blue is 10-0 this season when its foe starts a right-hander and 4-1 when facing a lefty.

SERIES NUGGETS
The Gators captured all three games against the Crimson during the 2006 season in the only previous encounter on the diamond between the schools. During that season under Pat McMahon, Florida completed a three-game sweep of defending Ivy League champion Harvard at McKethan Stadium by scores of 12-6, 10-2 and 17-6.

On the weekend, UF's offense hit .373 (38-for-102), with 39 runs, 24 walks, 11 doubles and seven hit-by-pitches. The Orange and Blue reached double-digits in runs in every contest and three different players batted over .425 during the series: Brian Leclerc (.500, six RBI, four doubles), Stephen Barton (.455, six runs, four RBI) and Brandon McArthur (.429, 10 RBI). Brian Jeroloman was 3-for-8 (.375) with five walks, four RBI and four runs.

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Friday, March 11, 7 p.m.

Pepsi Family Night
Families can purchase 4 general admission tickets, 4 hot dogs, and 4 sodas for only $20.
Gator Booster Night
All Gator Booster members with valid ID receive 2-for-1 Reserved Bleacher seats.

Saturday, March 12, 4 p.m.

Seniors Night
Fans, 55 and older with valid ID, receive 2-for-1 Reserved Bleacher seats.
Military/First Responder Appreciation Nights
Military members, veterans, and first responders with valid ID receive 2-for-1 reserved bleacher seats.

Sunday, March 13, 1 p.m.

Family Sunday's
All general admission tickets are one dollar, dollar popcorn and dollar 12 ounce sodas.
Community National Anthem
Prior to the game, all kids 12 and under can run onto the field and stand with the Gator players during the National Anthem.
Academy Sports and Outdoors Circle the Bases
All kids, 12 and under, will be permitted to circle the bases with Albert immediately following the game!

Season and single-game tickets for the 2016 Gator Baseball season are on sale and can be purchased online through FloridaGators.com or by calling the Gator Ticket Office at 1-800-34-GATOR from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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