Baseball Heads To No. 1 FSU For Series Finale
Monday, April 14, 2008 | Baseball
No. 24 Florida (24-12) and top-ranked Florida State (31-3) will play the rubber game of their regular-season series on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in Tallahassee. After the Gators claimed the first meeting in Gainesville on March 18, 6-1, the Seminoles countered with a 10-2 triumph in Jacksonville on April 1. FSU is riding a nine-game winning streak following a road sweep of Boston College (8-6, 4-3, 17-2), while UF dropped two of three at home to Arkansas.
Sophomore Kyle Mullaney (Jacksonville, Fla.) (0-2, 7.25) will draw the start against Seminole right-hander Ryan Strauss (4-0, 4.91). It will be the righty's fourth start of the season and second mid-week assignment in a row. He recovered from a rocky second inning against North Florida on April 8, in which he gave up three runs and five hits, to work a season-high six frames but was not involved in the decision.
Mullaney began the season as the club's Friday night starter and has made 10 appearances out of the bullpen. As a starter, he is 0-1 with a 7.43 ERA in 13.1 innings and is 0-1 with a 7.00 ERA in 9.0 innings as a reliever. Mullaney leads the Gators with three saves, converting chances against Auburn, No. 3 Florida State and No. 8 Ole Miss.
Strauss worked seven strong innings and FSU plated seven runs in its last two at bats on its way to a 10-2 victory over the Gators in front of 7,215 fans at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville two weeks ago. The right-hander held UF to one run on four hits and the Seminoles broke open a 3-1 game with a two-run homer from junior Buster Posey (3-for-4) in the seventh before adding five more runs in the eighth. The victory snapped a three-game slide for the 'Noles against Florida.
In front of a McKethan Stadium record crowd of 5,719 fans on March 18, junior left-hander Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) kept the high-powered Seminole offense scoreless over 5.1 innings and Mullaney 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.
This past weekend, Florida was on the short end of its second-consecutive league series, falling twice to Arkansas. The Gators were limited to a .255 (24-for-94) average and committed eight errors over the three games, including a season-high six in the finale. One bright spot was the performance of freshman second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.), who was 6-for-11 (.545) in the series with six runs, three doubles and three RBI. He leads UF with an overall clip of .373, 40 RBI, 16 two-baggers, 16 multiple-hit games and six homers and is batting .436 with 17 RBI in SEC play.
Junior Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) improved to 6-0 on the campaign by working seven strong innings on Saturday and lowered his earned run average to 2.45. The right-hander scattered five hits, notched five strikeouts and yielded just a first-inning run in UF's 6-1 triumph. Adams went 3-for-4, sophomore Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) added a two-run shot in the eighth and Locke (2-1, 3.29) notched his second save. Arkansas had edged the Gators in Friday night's opener, 2-1, on a leadoff homer in the eighth. Over 6.1 innings, sophomore Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (3-2, 2.88) gave up six hits and a run, with four K and three walks.
Other offensive standouts for the Gators include junior left fielder Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) (.364, 40 runs, 17-for-19 stolen bases), sophomore shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) (.343, 38 RBI, 40 runs, 38 RBI, 13-for-15 stolen bases, 10 doubles) and sophomore center fielder Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) (.304, 30 RBI, 11-for-11 stolen bases). Senior Josh Edmondson (LaGrange, Ga.) (3-2, 2.70) and sophomore Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.) (3-2, 2.77) have each made 17 appearances out of the bullpen.
Florida State leads the all-time series, 113-93-1, including a 64-37-1 count in Tallahassee. However, the Gators have won their last two encounters at Dick Howser Stadium.
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