Florida Gators

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Freshman right-hander Jackson Kowar limited No. 8 Florida State to one run over five innings as No. 3 Florida notched a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. A crowd of 9,035 fans watched the Gators secure the regular-season series and emerge victorious for the ninth time in the last 11 meetings between the Sunshine State rivals. The teams will meet again on April 12 in Tallahassee.
 
Kowar (3-0) scattered five hits, registered four strikeouts and allowed one walk before freshman Brady Singer entered the game with a runner aboard in the sixth. The righty totaled three strikeouts, yielded two hits and an unearned run in three innings and junior Shaun Anderson picked up his fourth save with a perfect ninth in which he had a pair of strikeouts.
 
Freshman Cal Raleigh had given the Seminoles a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a two-out homer to right field.
 
Sophomore Mike Rivera moved the Gators in front, 2-1, the following inning with his team-leading sixth homer of the season. Freshman Deacon Liput had singled up the middle against sophomore Drew Carlton (4-1) and Rivera sent a 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence.  
 
After freshman Jonathan India drew a leadoff walk from freshman Cole Sands and stole second base with one down in the third, junior Buddy Reed (2-for-4) roped an RBI triple into the right-field corner for a 3-1 score. Junior Jim Voyles was summoned from the bullpen and struck out JJ Schwarz before issuing a free pass to junior Peter Alonso. The right-hander stranded the runners with a strikeout of Liput.
 
Florida State mounted a two-out rally in the fourth, as senior Jackson Lueck (2-for-4) singled to left field and sophomore Darren Miller (2-for-4) rifled a double into right field. However, the Gators cut down Lueck at the plate on a picture-perfect relay from sophomore right fielder Jeremy Vasquez to sophomore shortstop Dalton Guthrie to Schwarz.
 
Singer started the seventh with a strikeout before Miller doubled into left center. Although a grounder by junior Matt Henderson advanced Miller to third base, Singer left him there by striking out sophomore Taylor Walls.
 
Junior Quincy Nieporte pulled the Seminoles within 3-2 on a two-out RBI single into center field in the eighth. Senior John Sansone had reached on a leadoff error, advanced to second on a passed ball and went to third on a grounder by Raleigh. Singer struck out sophomore Dylan Busby and Nieporte blooped a base-hit to narrow FSU's deficit to a run.
 
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
"First of all, the crowd was great for both schools. It was packed and it is a really good venue to play in. I can't begin to explain how proud of our team I am to bounce back from a tough weekend. It's been a tough couple of days for us and I'm proud to coach this team with the way they responded tonight. I thought the focus was as good as it has been all year long. The ability to make pitch after pitch and we ran two freshmen (Jackson Kowar and Brady Singer) out there for the first eight innings of the ballgame. I thought Jackson grew up a lot tonight and I thought Brady bounced back from a tough game on Sunday and threw the ball really, really well. It was great to get Shaun (Anderson) back out there to close the ninth inning out. It was clean, crisp game and I don't think we gave away many at bats. I just love the fact that we were able to rebound from the weekend and play with a tremendous amount of grit and focus to win an important mid-week game."
                                                      
Postgame Notes

• Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 17-15 in his nine-year tenure against Florida State with the Gators' fourth straight win in the series.
• Florida improved to 6-1 in one-run games this year.
• Tonight was UF's 10th come-from-behind win of the season.
• Four of Mike Rivera's nine career homers have been two-run jobs.
• Deacon Liput has reached base in 26 of the Gators' 27 games this year.
• Buddy Reed's third triple of the year came in the third inning.
• The Gator pitching staff totaled nine strikeouts and issued one walk.

 
Up Next
Florida hosts No. 1 Texas A&M (22-3/4-2 SEC) in a three-game series starting on Friday at 7 p.m. Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the opener will be streamed on SEC Network+ through the Watch ESPN app.
 
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