Florida Gators

VIDEO
Recap from the SEC Network crew of Nick Belmonte & Jeff Cardozo
Highlights from the Gators' 2-1 victory over the Owls
 
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gator bullpen delivered 4.2 scoreless innings as No. 1 Florida downed No. 19 Florida Atlantic, 2-1 on Tuesday night. The Gators (22-1) extended their winning streak to 16 games and matched their school-record stretch of 24 victories at McKethan Stadium with the triumph over the Owls (15-4).
 
Junior Frank Rubio (1-0) notched his first victory of the year by working 1.1 innings, while freshman Brady Singer retired both batters he faced in the ninth inning to pick up his first save. UF's six pitchers on the night accounted for 11 strikeouts.
 
FAU junior Stephen Kerr opened the game with a homer into the left-field bleachers off of freshman Jackson Kowar, his third of the season.
 
The Gators grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second inning against sophomore David McKay (2-2) when freshman Nelson Maldonado delivered an RBI triple to drive in freshman Deacon Liput and also scored on the play. Liput had delivered a one-out double and Maldonado followed his second triple in as many games to bring across his teammate. A throwing error on the relay by junior CJ Chatham enabled Maldonado to come home.
 
In the fifth, freshman Tyler Frank drew a one-out walk and sophomore J. Bonilla Traverso was hit by a pitch, prompting a pitching change. Rubio replaced Kowar (4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 6 K, 2 BB) and induced an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play from Kerr.
 
Rubio recorded the first two outs of the sixth before walking senior Christian Dicks and yielding an infield single to junior Esteban Puerta. Sophomore Scott Moss took over for Rubio (1.1 IP, 1 H) and came through with a strikeout of junior Sean Labsan to end the threat.
 
The Gators loaded the bases with two down in the home part of the inning against senior Robbie Coursel but came away empty-handed. Sophomore Dalton Guthrie (2-for-4) led off with a single through the left side and the right-hander retired the next two hitters before junior Peter Alonso was hit by a pitch and Liput walked. Coursel had Maldonado ground out to keep the contest at 2-1.
 
Moss gave up a one-out single to Frank in the seventh and junior Dane Dunning was summoned from the bullpen. The righty set down Bonilla and caught Kerr looking on strikes. The ninth inning was worked by junior Kirby Snead and Singer. Snead struck out the first batter and Singer induced a pair of groundouts to preserve the win.
                                                      
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"It was a really good effort on the mound tonight. It was important for us to get all those guys some work to get ready for the weekend. Offensively, we were held to just four hits. We weren't very aggressive with the fastball tonight. It is my responsibility to get these guys ready to play and we just have to do a better job. We were very fortunate to win the ballgame. FAU's pitchers did a nice job and we need to learn from it and get ready to play. We have some things to work on." 
 
Freshman left fielder Nelson Maldonado 
On his triple that turned into a run: 
"I got a fastball up and out and I jumped on it. I got to third (base) and I saw the ball behind me and I took off for home. I was tired, you could see I was running kind of slow to home but I made it. Part of me was like, 'Man, I'm tired', but I really wanted to score." 
 
On tonight's game:
"I want to give props to the FAU team, they came out to compete tonight and we were fortunate enough to win. They played really good defense and they swung the bat well. We did the same thing, we came out and we played good defense. Our offense might have been a bit slow but we came out with the win."
 
Junior right-hander Frank Rubio
On the mind-set of the pitching staff:
"We were actually talking about that before the game in the bullpen, just talking about doing your job, picking up the next guy who pitched before you and we try not to cash each other's runs in. It happens, but everybody takes pride in the bullpen for not cashing each other's runs in. Especially with the starters, being that they worked really hard."
 
Postgame Notes

• With the 2-1 victory, Florida increased its winning streak to 16 games and has now won 24 straight games at McKethan Stadium dating back to last season to match the school record.
• The club tied the stretch of 24 wins from April 24, 2010 to March 8, 2011.
• Florida is now 23-7 against Florida Atlantic, while head coach Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 8-2 versus the Owls.
• UF boosted its record to 5-0 in one-run games this season.
• Nelson Maldonado had his first career triple on Sunday against Missouri and delivered his second three-bagger to put the Gators on the scoreboard.
• The Gators' 16-game winning streak is the second-longest in school history, two games shy of an 18-game run during the 2012 campaign.
• Jackson Kowar's total of six strikeouts was two shy of his career high set against UCF on March 2.
• Jonathan India's hitting streak was snapped at a career-high six games, while Peter Alonso's run of seven consecutive games with a hit came to an end.
• Florida gave up its first leadoff homer since the 2013 series against Missouri.
• UF is a perfect 16-0 when the opposing starting pitcher is right-handed. FAU's RHP David McKay went five innings, giving up two runs on three Gators' hits.
• In the second inning, Deacon Liput hit his seventh double of the season. The Gator freshman is now tied with Dalton Guthrie for second on the team in doubles this season, behind Alonso's nine two-baggers.
• Florida scored twice in the second inning to take the lead. The Gators are 16-0 when leading after the second inning of games this season.
• Guthrie stole his fifth base of the season in the third inning and is now tied for second of the team in stolen bases, second only to Buddy Reed with nine.
• Guthrie recorded his team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the season. He now has eight two-hit games in 2016.
• The Florida pitching staff has struck out at least 10 batters in six straight games and seven of their last eight. The streak of 10+ strikeouts is the most in the O'Sullivan Era. 
• With two strikeouts tonight, Dane Dunning has now recorded a strikeout in 40 of his 41 career appearances in the Gator uniform. The last time Dunning pitched without recording a strikeout was on Feb. 22, 2014, at Miami. In addition, the Gator junior has registered 117 career strikeouts in 107.2 innings of work.

 
Up Next
Florida heads to Eastern Division rival Kentucky (15-5/2-1 SEC) for a series over Easter Weekend that begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the entire series will be streamed on SEC Network+ through the WatchESPN app.
 
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