Baseball Set To Host Brown This Weekend
Thursday, March 6, 2008 | Baseball
After dominating Campbell in a two-game midweek series, winning by scores of 15-3 and 15-0, Florida (8-2) will host defending Ivy League champion Brown (2-2) for three games at McKethan Stadium. The Bears opened their schedule last weekend by splitting four games at UAB. This is the final weekend of non-conference play before the Gators start SEC action at home versus Auburn on March 14.
Sophomore Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (1-1, 2.61) will start Friday's opener at 6:30 p.m. against Brown sophomore right-hander Will Weidig (0-1, 7.71). Bullock has made four appearances out of the bullpen this year and has notched 11 strikeouts in 10.1 innings. He worked six innings in the season opener against Siena on Feb. 22 and picked up the win after permitting one run and three hits with six K.
Saturday's matchup at 2 p.m. will see UF junior righty Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (1-0, 0.96) oppose Brown senior RHP Alex Silverman (1-0, 2.57). In his most recent outing at eighth-ranked Miami (Fla.) last Saturday, Keating gave up six hits and just one earned run over four innings but was not involved in the decision.
Freshman RHP Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (1-0, 3.60) will start for the Gators on Sunday at 1 p.m. against one of Brown's freshman right-handers Josh Feit (0-0, 0.00) or Matthew Kimball (0-0, 1.80). Toledo has seven K and issued five walks in 10 innings pitched and has worked five innings apiece in starts against Siena and UM.
Although Florida spotted Campbell a 3-0 first-inning lead in Tuesday's opener, the squad's offense and pitching staff rebounded in a big way on its way to a sweep. The Orange and Blue racked up 30 runs on 31 hits (including nine doubles, four home runs and one triple), drew 12 walks and registered a batting average of .388 (31-for-80). The hurlers held the Fighting Camels scoreless over the final 17.1 innings of the series and allowed 15 hits in 18 innings.
Freshman Chris Freshcorn (Tampa, Fla.), who had yet to make an appearance at the plate following a facial injury suffered several days before the start of the season, made his first collegiate at bat one for the books. Pinch hitting for sophomore Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) with two down in the seventh inning on Wednesday, Freshcorn belted a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw from Campbell reliever Trevor Smith. The next inning, Freshcorn stroked a two-out RBI single up the middle to finish the day 2-for-2 with three runs driven in.
In his second start, freshman Travis Lawler (College Station, Texas) threw five scoreless innings (3 H, 1 BB) and combined with four Gator relievers on a 15-0 blanking of Campbell on Wednesday. The right-hander was followed on the mound by junior J.K. LaCoste (Jacksonville, Fla.) (1 H, 1 BB, 1 K), freshman Cody Barnes (San Mateo, Fla.) (2 H, 2 K), junior Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (1 K) and sophomore Kyle Mullaney (Jacksonville, Fla.) (1 H), who each threw one inning.
Currently tied with junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) for the team lead with a .438 batting average, sophomore right fielder Jonathan Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) enters the Brown series riding a 14-game hitting streak dating back to an 0-for-1 outing at LSU on May 11, 2007. He completed last season by hitting safely in his last five games and has at least one hit in the nine games he has batted this season. Pigott has a .453 (24-for-53) clip during the skein, which is the longest by a Gator since Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) had a 15-game string between March 12-April 22, 2005.
The Gators are hitting .314 as a team, with six starters batting over .300: left fielder Barnes (.438, 15 runs, six stolen bases), Pigott (.438, nine RBI, seven runs), sophomore shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) (.351, 18 RBI, 14 runs, seven stolen bases, four doubles), freshman outfielder/infielder Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.333, 14 RBI), second baseman Pisani (.324, 12 runs, seven RBI) and sophomore center fielder Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) (.310, 11 RBI, 11 runs). Florida has been successful on 26 of 27 stolen-base attempts.
Florida has scored in the first inning of its last six home games and is 6-1 when putting the first run on the board this season. UF has out-scored foes by a 16-4 margin in the first frame and 24-10 in the second stanza en route to a 103-44 disparity on the scoresheet.
Eight different Gator pitchers have been responsible for the club's eight wins. The starters have accounted for 42.0 innings with a 4-1 record and a 4.93 earned run average. Meanwhile, the relief contingent has worked 44.0 innings and boasts a 4-1 mark with a 1.23 ERA. Foes are hitting .333 against the starters and just .173 versus the bullpen.
-UF-
