Florida Gators

Postgame Highlights/Interviews
Highlights
SEC Network+ Recap with Nick Belmonte & Jeff Cardozo

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Jackson Kowar, freshman Brady Singer and junior Shaun Anderson combined for 13 strikeouts, zero walks and a five-hit shutout as No. 1 Florida completed a midweek sweep of UCF, 4-0, on Wednesday at McKethan Stadium. The Gators (9-1) had claimed a 9-5 victory over the Knights (6-4) in Orlando on Tuesday.
 
Making his collegiate starting debut, Kowar (1-0) notched eight strikeouts and yielded three singles over five innings. The right-hander faced two batters above the minimum and struck out the side in the fourth inning. Singer tossed two scoreless frames with three strikeouts and Anderson finished the game with two strikeouts in two innings of work. Although the Gators were held to a season-low three hits, two of them were home runs by sophomores Dalton Guthrie and Mike Rivera.  
 
After Kowar stranded a pair of UCF runners on base to start the game, Guthrie led off with a homer to left field. His first homer of the year came on a 1-1 pitch from junior Trent Thompson (0-1) and raised his hitting streak to eight games, matching his career high. The most recent Gator to open a contest with a big fly was Harrison Bader in the SEC Tournament Championship against Vanderbilt on May 24, 2015.
 
Florida tacked on three runs on two hits and two errors in the fourth for a 4-0 lead. Thompson had retired nine in a row before junior Buddy Reed legged out an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error. A balk moved Reed to third and he came home on an RBI grounder by junior Peter Alonso, who reached on an error. With two down, Rivera collected his second homer of the year with a two-run shot over the wall in left center.
                                                      
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"We kind of got lucky a little bit with these two guys who threw tonight (freshmen Jackson Kowar and Brady Singer). That's about as good a pitching performance from freshmen that we've ever had here. It's really, really impressive. They commanded the strike zone and their secondary pitches were on point. It was really good to get Shaun (Anderson) back out there, he was really clean. We needed a performance like that, to be honest with you. It was one of those nights offensively that we didn't have too much to show for it. We ran into a couple balls that were home runs: Mike (Rivera) hit one and (Dalton) Guthrie led off the game with a home run. It was just one of those games. We played clean defense, and sometimes these games are going to go like this. It's early in the year, and we've got some things to work on. The most important thing is that we're winning, and we're winning in different ways."
 
Sophomore shortstop Dalton Guthrie
On hitting his first homer of the season:
"It's a nice feeling. I don't get many of those. For me, it's never for sure that it's out, so I still sprint around the bases until I know it's for sure gone."
 
On tonight's game:
We swung the bats well yesterday, but it didn't really carry into today. Credit (UCF), they pitched well tonight. We need to clean up a couple of things going into the weekend."
 
Freshman right-hander Jackson Kowar
On his first career start:
"It's nice to get the first start. I'm glad my first appearance (against FGCU) wasn't my first start; I had a couple of outings under my belt. Once I was able to get into a flow, I felt good. It's nice to get a win."
 
Freshman right-hander Brady Singer
 On the Gators' chemistry:
"We play as a team. It's one of the best teams that I've ever been on, camaraderie-wise. If the pitching staff is going down, the hitters are going to help us. If the hitting staff is going down, the pitching staff is going to step up."
                                                                                                                               
Postgame Notes

• Florida leads the series with UCF, 27-16, including 18-10 In Gainesville.
• The Gators improved to 5-0 at McKethan Stadium and have claimed 12 straight wins at home dating back to last season.
• UF's posted its second shutout of the campaign (5-0 at No. 6 Miami on Feb. 26).
• Dalton Guthrie's previous two career homers came against Stetson on April 7, 2015, otherwise known as the night that JJ Schwarz belted a school-record four homers.
• Mike Rivera's last homer before tonight came on Opening Night against FGCU.
• Deacon Liput's nine-game hitting streak was halted with a 0-for-2 performance and he drew a walk.
• Jackson Kowar's starting debut resulted in eight strikeouts over five innings and he faced 17 batters.
• Peter Alonso matched Liput for the team lead with his 12th RBI.
• Tonight marked the second time this year that the Gators had multiple homers (Feb. 26 at Miami).
• Florida's pitching staff recorded double-digits in strikeouts for the seventh time in 10 games.

 
Up Next
The Gators open a three-game series with Dartmouth (0-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. The entire series can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
 
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