Florida Gators

HOOVER, Ala. – Freshman Danny Reyes came through with a RBI double in the top of the eighth inning and Mike Rivera scored the game-winning run as Florida won 5-4 over Alabama on Thursday afternoon.
 
Reyes, making just his third start of the season, hit the first two doubles of his career on the afternoon and Rivera finished 3-for-4 on the afternoon.
 
Florida got on the board first with a run in the top of the first. The Gators took advantage of three walks in the inning and Buddy Reed scored on Jonathan India's RBI grounder to third for a 1-0 lead.
 
In the second inning, Alabama's bats got going with three runs on four hits. Back-to-back doubles from Daniel Cucjen and Hunter Webb did the major damage before Florida starter Brady Singer ended the threat.
 
The Gators responded immediately as the first five batters in the third reached base and UF plated three runs to take the lead. Reed and Dalton Guthrie drew back-to-back walks, then JJ Schwarz and India followed with RBI singles to tie the game at three.
 
Mike Rivera singled to right field to load the bases for Deacon Liput, who hit an RBI grounder to give the Gators a 4-3 lead.
 
After giving up three runs in the second inning, Singer settled in and only allowed two baserunners over the next four innings. He ran into trouble in the seventh after a leadoff walk and hit by pitch and head coach Kevin O'Sullivan made the call to the bullpen.

Alabama took advantage of the free passes and tied the game on Connor Short's RBI single to right field.
 
In the eighth, Rivera singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on Liput's sacrifice bunt. Rivera came around to score on Reyes' second double of the day.
 
Nick Horvath pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win and Shaun Anderson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save of the season.

Postgame Quotes

FLORIDA HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
Opening Statement … 
"Obviously that was a difficult game for us with the obvious short turn out from last night. I thought Brady (Singer) threw the ball really well. I thought Alabama did a nice job scoring three runs with two outs in the second inning. Brady continued to pitch and put up four zeros after, which gave us a lift. I think today was a really big step in the right direction for Brady. I think it's a big day for his development, especially on a stage like this. I thought the bullpen was fine. I think a few players had big games like JJ (Schwarz) had a couple hits and Danny Reyes. I thought Danny gave us a nice lift and got the big hit in the eighth inning. What can you say about Mike Rivera? He caught 14 innings last night and had some really well at-bats today. We are looking forward to tomorrow to whomever we play. It is important for us to get Alex Faedo back out there for starting for a regional and look forward to getting him back out there."
 
On approaching the tournament …
"You are certainly careful. Today we got a lot of guys on the mound. Brady got his first start of his career. You try to do whatever you can to win, but I do think you try and get some value out of it. You walk out of here today and Danny Reyes might get shot in the arm, then he got two hits. There are some things that you can take out of today. In the grand scheme of things does it matter? I don't know. We are here and we want to win. You don't want to tact your arms where it isn't going to effect yourself next week or get anyone injured for that matter. I thought today was a really great and positive day. There are some things we will take away from it but in the end we strapped it on offensively when we needed it."
 
DANNY REYES, RF
On how big were his first two doubles here …
"It was definitely big. I came out with a situation with two outs and a man on second. We really harp on two-out hits. Last night was definitely a long night, and we didn't get that hit, so I was glad I was able to come through today for the team."
 
BRADY SINGER, P 
On coming back after the emotion of last night 
"It was definitely hard. Last night was obviously a long night. Everybody got back to bed at 3:30 a.m., and had to wake up this morning, dig deep, fight back and get us a win so we can keep on in this tournament."

Postgame Notes

• UF started five true freshman on Thursday: 3B Jonathan India, 2B Deacon Liput, LF Nelson Maldonado, RF Danny Reyes and RHP Brady Singer
  • Nine of the 10 starters were underclassman, with junior CF Buddy Reed the only upperclassman
• Singer made his first career start
• An RBI single from JJ Schwarz ties Peter Alonso for the team lead on the season with 47 RBI; Schwarz now has a six-game hit streak
• Jonathan India had a single in the third inning and now has a seven-game hit streak

Up Next

Florida will face either Mississippi State or LSU on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network. Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert will have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network for all SEC Tournament games.

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