Florida Gators

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 1 Florida (39-7, 15-6 SEC) used a balanced offensive attack and another strong start from Logan Shore to beat Tennessee (24-22, 6-16 SEC) 7-2 on Friday night in Knoxville at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Shore extended his school record with a win in his 14th-straight decision.
 
Florida's offense got started early, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first. Dalton Guthrie led off with a walk and Schwarz lined a single to left to give the Gators a pair of runners on for Peter Alonso, who blasted a double off the right-center field wall. Guthrie scored easily on the play and Schwarz came home after the outfielder bobbled the ball.
 
In the third inning, Tennessee took advantage of a rare UF error to get a run back. Derek Lance led off with a single and advanced to second after an error allowed Nick Senzel to reach first. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, then Lance came home to score on an infield single from Vincent Jackson.
 
The Gators got the run back immediately, as Jonathan India led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to left field. It was India's second home run in the past four games and his third of the season.
 
Florida added a run in the fifth on a RBI single from Deacon Liput. Alonso, who reached on an error, scored the run. The following inning, Mike Rivera hit his seventh home run of the season to give the Gators a 5-1 lead.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Tyler Schultz hit a two-out double to the wall to score Jordan Rodgers from first and cut into the Gators lead.
 
It didn't take long for Florida to respond and extend its lead. Alonso singled for his second hit of the night, then Liput laid down a perfect bunt for an infield single to give the Gators a pair of runners with one out. India drew a walk to load the bases, then Rivera lined a single to right to bring home Alonso. Liput followed shortly after on a wild pitch to give Florida a 7-2 lead.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Vols threatened after a double, walk and single loaded the bases with one out. Reliever Dane Dunning induced a grounder back to the mound from Jackson and Dunning started a rare 1-2-3 double play to escape the jam.
 
Dunning finished off Tennessee with three scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out four.
 
Shore finished the night allowing two runs (one earned) and seven hits in six innings of work. Florida has now won 17-consecutive games in which Shore has started.
 

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On tonight's game:
"I thought Logan battled. It may not have been the best stuff he's had this year, but he's had a tough week. He had a wisdom tooth removed on Monday and could only throw a short bullpen on Wednesday. It was a tough week for him. He really battled and he wanted the ball tonight. We had an opportunity to maybe flip him and A.J., but Logan being the Friday night guy that he is he wanted the ball and he pitched his heart out. He made some really big pitches when he needed to. Dane came in and did a really nice job.
 
"It was one of those nights offensively, we scored in five of the nine innings, we tacked on a run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth and two in the seventh to pull away a little bit."
 
On gaining momentum from scoring early:
"Yeah, it did. We looked at the ERA's from our returning pitchers over the last two-and-a-half years on the road and ERA on the road and at home is about a run-and-a-half difference. Typically if you play a game on the road, you're down a run-and-a-half before the first pitch is thrown. With the two runs in the first we jumped out and gave us a good feeling in the dugout and gave Logan the confidence moving forward. It was good that we could score first, especially on the road."
 
On the Gators defense:
"I thought Dalton played outstanding defense. He's really, really done a great job the whole year, but the last couple of weeks he's made some really nice plays. I thought India made a nice play to start one of those innings, he had a tough hop. Buddy made a nice play going over his head, Nelson made a nice play in left field. We've been playing really good defense and that's been one of the main things all year that we've been able to do. We haven't walked many, we've been fairly consistent on the mound and we play great defense."
 
On the Gators offense:
"Offensively it was a good night, but we left three runs on the board. We had runners on third with less than two outs in three situations and didn't score. I talked to the guys at the end about it. It's exciting that we won 7-2, but when you get into the postseason and you leave runs on the board or on the field with runners at third with less than two outs it's going to come back to bite you. This was one of those games I was hoping we could pull away a little bit more and not have to use Dane for three innings but it got to the point where he got to 26 (pitches) and after two innings, he kept his pitch count down, but you'd like to be able to score those three runs that were left out on the field, make it a 10-2 game and maybe get some other guys in there to pitch. We weren't able to do that and Dane finished up the game."

Postgame Notes

• The Gators improve to 148-81 all-time against Tennessee, including 63-44 in Knoxville.
• Florida has now won the opener in Knoxville four times in a row. The previous three series in Knoxville, UF has won the series by a 2-1 score.
• UF improved to 19-1 when scoring in the opening frame, and 26-3 when scoring first.
• The Gators are now 37-0 when trailing after eight innings.
• Florida has recorded 10 hits in back-to-back games (11 tonight, 10 vs. Bethune-Cookman) after going a stretch of seven games without reaching 10 hits.
• Logan Shore earned a win for the 14th-straight decision. Florida has now won 17 games in a row in which Shore has started.
• Mike Rivera, with a solo home run and RBI single, recorded his 10th multi-RBI game of the season – most on the team.

Up Next

The Gators and Vols will meet again on Saturday with a 4 p.m. start time. Junior left-hander A.J. Puk (2-2, 2.87) will square off against Tennessee sophomore left-hander Zach Warren (5-4, 3.14). Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be shown live on SEC Network .

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