Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior Nick King delivered an RBI single in the 12th inning to bring home junior Stephen Wrenn with the decisive run as Georgia defeated No. 2 Florida, 2-1, on Thursday night at McKethan Stadium. The Bulldogs (21-18/7-9 SEC) snapped the Gators' (34-6/11-5 SEC) five-game winning streak and notched their third SEC victory in a row.
 
Junior Frank Rubio (3-1) replaced junior Shaun Anderson (2.2 IP, 2 H) at the start of the 12th inning and surrendered back-to-back singles to Wrenn (3-for-5) and freshman LJ Talley. Sophomore Mitchell Webb sacrificed his teammates into scoring position with a bunt and freshman Brady Singer was summoned from the bullpen. King (3-for-6) greeted the reliever with a single up the middle to score Wrenn and took second on the relay throw home. With runners on second and third, Singer fielded a grounder by junior Skyler Weber and threw Talley out at third and sophomore JJ Schwarz caught Weber stealing to complete the frame.
 
Sophomore Mike Rivera opened the home part of the 12th by striking out but reached first on a wild pitch from senior Heath Holder (1-2). With freshman pinch runner Blake Reese aboard, Holder retired the next three Florida hitters to secure the victory for Georgia.
 
The series opener lived up to its billing as a pitching duel between highly-rated junior prospects, UF's A.J. Puk and UGA's Robert Tyler. Puk yielded one run over 6.2 innings, with 10 strikeouts, three hits and one walk, while Tyler worked 8.1 innings, gave up eight hits and one run and totaled nine strikeouts.  
 
Although Georgia put a pair of runners in scoring position in the first inning on a single, stolen base and a walk, Puk escaped the jam with an inning-ending strikeout.
 
Schwarz (3-for-5) came through with a two-out RBI single in the home part of the inning for a 1-0 Gator lead. Freshman Deacon Liput had doubled into right field with one down and Schwarz's base-hit through the right side broke the ice.
 
Freshman Nelson Maldonado drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and was sacrificed into scoring position on a bunt by sophomore Dalton Guthrie. Tyler responded by having Liput ground out and then struck out junior Buddy Reed.
 
Senior Daniel Nichols tied the game in the seventh with a two-out, ground-rule double to right field. Puk had retired 18 consecutive batters before yielding a leadoff double down the left-field line to junior Trevor Kieboom (2-for-4). The southpaw had sophomore Keegan McGovern pop up to second base and caught freshman Michael Curry looking on strikes. Nichols connected on a 2-2 pitch that bounced over the wall, scoring Kieboom. Junior Dane Dunning replaced Puk (6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 10 K, 1 BB) and permitted an infield single to Wrenn for runners on the corners. The righty then fanned Talley to strand the runners.
 
Schwarz began the Gators' seventh with a base-hit into center field before Tyler had junior Peter Alonso (2-for-5) and Jonathan India fly out. Rivera singled up the middle with two down and Tyler countered with an inning-ending strikeout of sophomore Jeremy Vasquez.
 
Kieboom started the ninth with his second double of the contest, bringing junior Kirby Snead in for Dunning (1.1 IP, 2 H). The left-hander struck out McGovern and was replaced by Anderson. The Gators' closer struck out Curry and had Nichols ground out to keep the game tied.
 
The Gators threatened in the ninth, as Schwarz collected his third hit with a one-out single into right field and Alonso followed with an infield single. Holder took over for Tyler (8.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 9 K, 1 BB) and struck out India and Rivera to provide the fans with free baseball.
 
Wrenn kicked off the 10th with an infield single and stole second with one down. Anderson had Webb line into a 9-6 double play to preserve the stalemate.
 
King started the 11th with a base-hit and Weber drew a walk before Kieboom sacrificed his teammates into scoring position with a bunt. McGovern was walked intentionally to load the bases with one down. Anderson jammed Curry on a foul pop-up and had Nichols fly out to strand the runners.
 
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On tonight's game:
"Obviously, both starting pitchers were very good. That's the best that A.J. Puk has thrown all year, so I was pleased with that. I think that's the best that Robert Tyler has thrown all year, as well. He [Tyler] was hitting all of his pitches. He had three pitches working, was hard to run on and was quick to the plate. I thought both guys deserved the chance to win the ballgame."
 
On the Gators' offense:
"We scored in the first and we got shut out for 11 straight innings. We've got to figure out another way to score a run. I'm disappointed, honestly. Credit to their pitchers, but if we want to advance in the postseason then we need to figure out a way to score another run. We had a lot of bad at bats. We've got to go back to the drawing board and get them ready for tomorrow. Offensively, we scored four runs over the last 21 innings. We've got to generate more offense, it's that simple."
 
Junior left-hander A.J. Puk 
On his two starts since facing Texas A&M on April 3:
 "I had about 10 days off in between starts. Because of my back, I wasn't really able to do my normal routine with my dry runs and normal throwing. This week, I was able to get back in my normal routine. It felt really good being out there today." 
 
Postgame Notes

• Florida dropped to 2-2 in extra-inning games this season and is now 9-1 in the opener of a weekend series.
• Tonight's 12-inning game matches the Gators' longest this season (versus Dartmouth on March 5).
• A.J. Puk's stretch of 18 straight batters retired was the second longest by a Gator this season, as Alex Faedo set down the first 19 hitters against Harvard on March 12.
• Puk's outing of 6.2 innings was one out shy of matching his career high of 7.0 innings done four times.
• Puk reached double-digits in strikeouts for the fifth time. His season high of 11 came against Missouri on March 19.
• With a base-hit in the ninth, Peter Alonso tied his career-high hitting streak of seven games.
• Kirby Snead made his 25th appearance this season and struck out the only batter he faced.
• Florida's pitching staff struck out 16 batters tonight, its most since striking out 18 against Missouri on March 18.

 
Up Next
The Gators and Bulldogs will meet tomorrow at 7 p.m., with junior right-hander Logan Shore (7-0, 2.50) opposing UGA junior left-hander Connor Jones (5-2, 5.08). Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be shown on the SEC Network with Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson and streamed through the Watch ESPN app.
 
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