No. 13 Baseball To Face No. 2 FSU In Jacksonville
Monday, March 31, 2008 | Baseball
Sunshine State rivals No. 13 Florida (20-6) and No. 2 Florida State (23-3) will meet at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night in the second of three encounters at three different venues this season. The Gators claimed a 6-1 victory on March 18 at McKethan Stadium and the squads will tangle again on April 15 in Tallahassee.
The Gators (7-2) maintained their first-place standing in the SEC race by taking two of three games at home versus Western Division foe LSU. UF clinched the series with a pair of victories, 8-5 and 7-1, before the Tigers averted the sweep with a 6-3 triumph on Sunday. Leading the ACC's Atlantic Division by five games, the Seminoles (11-1) split the first two games at Wake Forest, rolling to a 21-2 rout before falling, 4-2. FSU worked 11 innings to claim the rubber match, 3-2.
Junior Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (2-0, 4.07) will make his fifth career start against the Seminoles and is 2-1 with a 2.81 earned average in 16.0 innings (18 H, 6 R, 9 K, 6 BB) versus Florida State. Senior right-hander Ryan Strauss (2-0, 6.93) will get the starting nod for FSU.
Locke earned the win in the clubs' last matchup by tossing 5.1 scoreless frames with four hits, three strikeouts and two walks. Over nine appearances this season, spanning 24.1 innings and four starts, the southpaw is 2-0 with a 4.07 ERA and has 19 K and six walks. In his last outing, Locke worked three innings at Jacksonville on March 26 but was not involved in the decision after giving up three hits and two runs, with three K and a couple of walks.
In front of a McKethan Stadium record crowd of 5,719 fans on March 18, Locke kept the high-powered Seminole offense scoreless over 5.1 innings and sophomore Kyle Mullaney (Jacksonville, Fla.) entered the game with the bases loaded in the eighth and recorded the final four outs to collect his second save. Kevin O'Sullivan became the first Gator head coach to win his initial encounter with FSU since Joe Arnold accomplished the feat in 1984.
The Gators worked out of several jams versus the 'Noles, as the visitors loaded the bases in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and stranded 11 runners on the night. UF's pitchers held the top four hitters in Florida State's lineup to a combined 1-for-15 (.067). Senior Dustin Bamberg (Winter Haven, Fla.) belted his first homer with a solo shot in the second, classmate Jon Townsend (London, Ky.) drove in two runs and junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) went 3-for-4 with an RBI single and a stolen base.
Over the weekend, the Gators captured their third-consecutive league series by taking two of three from LSU. The triumph marked the first time in school history that Florida has defeated the Tigers three series in a row. Sophomores Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) (6-for-12, four runs, three homers, three stolen bases) and Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) (5-for-10, three runs, two homers) each batted .500 on the weekend. UF overcame a 4-2 deficit with a six-run seventh inning to take an 8-5 win in the opener. After the Gators had tied the game with four-straight hits, sophomore Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) launched a three-run homer to left field to put the hosts on top. UF matched a season high by sending 11 batters to the plate in the seventh and totaled seven hits. Sophomore right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (3-2, 3.11) allowed 10 hits and four runs (two earned) over seven innings to collect the win, while senior Josh Edmondson (LaGrange, Ga.) (2-0, 1.17) notched his first save by striking out Leon Landry with a pair of Tigers aboard to end the game.
Named the SEC Pitcher of the Week on Monday, junior right-hander Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (4-0, 2.41) registered a complete game and all nine starters had at least one hit as Florida posted a 7-1 win on Saturday. Townsend and senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) were each 3-for-4 as part of a 14-hit output for the Orange and Blue. LSU prevented the series sweep with a 6-3 victory on Sunday and the squads combined for seven homers. Although Figueroa (3-for-4) had a couple of solo shots for the Gators, freshman RHP Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (4-1, 2.70) suffered his first loss by yielding five hits (three homers) over 5.1 innings.
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