Florida Gators

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 1 Florida (36-6, 13-5 SEC) is on the road again this weekend for a key Southeastern Conference Eastern Division matchup with No. 5 South Carolina (33-8, 14-4 SEC) at Founders Park. The Gamecocks have a one-game lead over the Gators in the SEC East with 12 league games remaining.
 
Game one is slated for Friday night at 7 p.m. live on the SEC Network with Dave Neal and Ben McDonald on the call. Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday's (1:30 p.m.) games will be live on SEC Network+.
 
Junior right-hander Logan Shore (8-0, 2.14) will face South Carolina junior right-hander Clarke Schmidt (8-1, 2.04) in Friday's opener. On Saturday, junior left-hander A.J. Puk (2-2, 3.07) matches up against USC freshman right-hander Braden Webb (8-2, 3.28). In the series finale, sophomore righty Alex Faedo (8-1, 3.32) will take on Gamecocks freshman right-hander Adam Hill (6-0, 2.57) on Sunday.
 
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. 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

• Florida is back at No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll after a 3-1 week and 2-1 series win against Georgia. They remain No. 1 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). The Orange and Blue has the most victories (36) in the country and is off to the best start in school history.
• The Gators lead the nation in strikeouts (448) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.5). UF is second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.48) and fielding percentage (.984).
• The Gators are 4-2 (.667) in SEC series, with sweeps of Missouri, No. 1 Texas A&M and Arkansas and a 2-1 win over Georgia (L, W, W). UF lost a pair of series 2-1 at Kentucky (W, L, L) and to No. 4 Mississippi State (W, L, L).
• UF's weekend starters, junior RHP Logan Shore (8-0, 2.14), junior LHP A.J. Puk (2-2, 3.07) and sophomore RHP Alex Faedo (8-1, 3.32) had a dominant weekend against Georgia, allowing just seven hits and one run in 21.1 innings with 22 strikeouts and four walks.
• Shore earned his 13th-straight win last Friday night with a two-hit complete game shutout against Georgia. The win broke Russ Kibler's school record of 12 straight wins. The Gators have claimed Shore's last 15 starts dating back to last season.
• Puk started the opener against Georgia and pitched 6.2 innings and striking out 10. He allowed one run and three hits in the no decision.
• Faedo picked up his eighth win of the year with 5.2 scoreless innings in the rubber game with six strikeouts and two hits allowed.
• The middle of the Gators order paced Florida's offense against UGA, as sophomore DH/C JJ Schwarz had a .417 average (5-for-12) and junior 1B Peter Alonso had a .364 average (4-for-11) over the weekend. This season, Alonso leads the team with a .347 average and  41 RBI.
• In conference play, freshman 3B Jonathan India leads the team with a .358 average, 17 RBI and five doubles.
• With 26 appearances this year, junior LHP Kirby Snead (3-0, 0.93) is now tied for eighth in that category on Florida's career list.
• Junior RHP Shaun Anderson (3-0, 1.21) picked up his ninth save with a scoreless ninth on Saturday against Georgia.
• Junior CF Buddy Reed is 19-for-21 (.905) on the basepaths. Freshman 2B Deacon Liput had one against UGA and is 10-for-10 on the year.

SERIES NUGGETS
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan is 19-11 (.633) against South Carolina and has led the Gators to six-straight wins in the series. In Columbia, USC leads the series against UF 23-15 (.605) but Florida is 7-5 under O'Sullivan against the Gamecocks on their home field.
 
The Gators have won four-straight regular season series against the Gamecocks (2015: 3-0 in Gainesville; 2014: 2-1 in Columbia; 2013: 3-0 in Gainesville; 2012: 2-1 in Columbia) and have won six of eight regular season series against USC under O'Sullivan.
 
Florida has not been swept in a three-game series against USC since 2006 in Columbia. South Carolina last won a series against Florida in 2011 -- taking the regular season series 2-1 in Gainesville and eventually beating UF 2-0 in the College World Series Championship Series to win the national title.
 
LAST SERIES BETWEEN THE GATORS & GAMECOCKS
In Game One in 2015, Florida and South Carolina were tied 3-3 in the fifth inning before the Gators exploded for six runs on their way to a 14-3 win. UF never looked back as they swept the series 3-0 by a combined score of 38-10.
 
A trio of home runs from Harrison Bader, Christian Hicks and JJ Schwarz propelled the Gators' offense in the opener as UF totaled 17 hits -- including seven for extra bases (4 doubles, 3 HR). Bader totaled four RBI on three hits while Buddy Reed also had three hits on the night. Bobby Poyner picked up the win with three scoreless innings in relief of starter Logan Shore (4.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER).
 
In game two, Richie Martin set a career-high with six RBI on the day, including a two-run single that broke a 2-2 tie in the second inning. He added a three-run home run in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth. Bader contributed a pair of doubles in the game. A.J. Puk (3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER) picked up the win in relief of starter Dane Dunning (4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER).
 
A four-run second inning and a solid start from Alex Faedo (5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER) finished off a weekend sweep of South Carolina, 12-2. It was the Gators fifth sweep of the Gamecocks in a regular-season series in school history and the third time under O'Sullivan.
 
Faedo retired the first 14 batters of the contest before surrendering a fifth-inning double and set career bests in strikeouts (6) and innings pitched (5.2 IP). Schwarz launched two more homers on the afternoon, giving him seven for the week (had four against Stetson on Tuesday, one against USC on Friday).
 
Florida batted .400 (44-for-110) over the three games with eight doubles and seven homers.
 
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