Carter's Corner: Gators Show Why They Have Topped Polls All Season
Sunday, April 3, 2016 | Baseball, Scott Carter
Florida can sweep top-ranked Texas A&M with a win Sunday
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- There are more national polls in college baseball than presidential candidates still standing on the campaign trail.
For the first five weeks of the season all six polls agreed Florida was the nation's top-ranked team, which proves how dominant the Gators have been. And then Florida dropped two of three at Kentucky last weekend and four polls dropped the Gators from the top spot.
Texas A&M ascended to No. 1.
Regardless of what happens Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium, expect those rankings to shuffle. The Gators defeated the Aggies for the second consecutive night on Saturday. In the first two games of the three-game weekend series, Florida has outscored Texas A&M 14-6 and outhit the Aggies 24-17.
It's only early April, so rankings mean little with so much baseball left to play, but almost two months into the season, the Gators (26-3, 6-2 in SEC) have as strong a case as anyone they are the best team in the country.
The Gators downplayed any intention of making a statement this weekend, but they have quickly put last weekend's back-to-back losses at Kentucky in the rearview mirror with a win against Florida State on Tuesday and back-to-back victories over the Aggies.
"I think we've shown the ability to rise to another level when we play against teams like A&M,'' Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.
Following their 7-4 win on Friday night, the Gators beat Texas A&M 7-2 on Saturday evening behind a solid outing from starter Alex Faedo, who moved up a day in the starting rotation and kept his perfect record intact.
Faedo (6-0, 2.40 ERA) allowed a solo home run to Aggies leadoff hitter J.B. Moss that was initially ruled a double before umpires reviewed the play and correctly called Moss' shot over the wall in left-center field a home run.
The delay shook Faedo from his usual pace and he allowed two more hits, one run, hit a batter and walked one before his 35-pitch inning was over. However, the Gators responded in the bottom of the first against Aggies starter Kyle Simonds, who needed 45 pitches to get out of what was a 46-minute first inning.
"I didn't know it was that bad,'' Florida outfielder Jeremy Vasquez said. "I just know in the fourth inning it felt like the eighth inning already."
Unlike Simonds, who lasted only two innings, Faedo found his groove and limited Texas A&M to five hits and two runs over six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Reliever Dane Dunning closed out Florida's 26th consecutive home win with three scoreless innings.
O'Sullivan credited Faedo with hanging tough when the Gators needed him.
"That's about as good a performance pitching-wise that I think I can remember with everything that was thrown at him in the first inning,'' O'Sullivan said. "Not very often is he going to start the game with a home run. It was just a gutsy, competitive, pitch-with-your-heart performance. Alex showed a lot of grit."
The Gators rallied in the bottom of the first with three runs, two coming on a two-out single by catcher Mike Rivera that gave Florida a 3-2 lead. The Gators added a run in the second on Pete Alonso's RBI single and stretched the lead to 6-2 in the fourth with a pair of runs, the first coming on a mammoth home run to left by Alonso, who went 4-for-5 with a homer, three RBIs and three runs scored.
That was more than enough for Faedo once the sophomore right-hander from Tampa found his rhythm.
Faedo didn't hide his emotions when he struck out A&M's Joel Davis looking to end the sixth. As soon as home-plate umpire Nelson Graham signaled strike three, Faedo twirled and pumped his fists. He did another fist pump as he walked off the mound having thrown 105 pitches, 67 for strikes.
The finish to his night was much better than the start.
"You want to come to college and play the No. 1 team in the country and beat the No. 1 team in the country,'' Faedo said. "It just really got me pumped up."
Florida will try to sweep the Aggies on Sunday. Win or lose, the Gators have made their point. A pair of back-to-back road losses a week ago may have changed some pollsters' minds about the Gators, but they had more pressing issues to tend to, like the No. 1-ranked team in the country paying a visit.
