No. 24 Baseball Heads To No. 17 UK For Key Series
Friday, April 18, 2008 | Baseball
Locked in a three-way tie for second place in the Eastern Division with South Carolina and Tennessee, No. 24 Florida (24-13/9-6 SEC) visits Lexington for an important weekend set at No. 17 Kentucky (28-8/7-8 SEC). After capturing its first three league series, UF looks to get back on track following two consecutive 2-1 series defeats to Tennessee and Arkansas. Meanwhile, the Wildcats aim to rebound from a sweep at conference-leading Georgia (24-12/12-3 SEC).
Florida and Kentucky will be kicking off the second half of the league schedule this weekend. Through 15 SEC outings in '07, the Gators were 8-7 and wound up 15-15 as the sixth seed for the SEC Tournament. UF has other series remaining against Georgia (home), South Carolina (away), Alabama (away) and Vanderbilt (home).
Sophomore right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (3-2, 2.88) will start Friday's opener at 6:30 p.m. on the Big Blue Sports Network against UK lefty Chris Rusin (4-1, 2.49). Junior LHP Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (2-1, 3.20) makes his first weekend start of the campaign on Saturday at 7 p.m., live on Sun Sports, against Wildcat sophomore southpaw James Paxton (2-1, 2.76 ERA). Junior righty Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (6-0, 2.45) will pitch Sunday's finale at 1 p.m. on Cox Sports against senior Greg Dombrowski (4-0, 3.32).
Senior Ryan Strauss twirled his first career complete game to lift No. 1 Florida State to a 4-2 victory over the Gators in front of a Dick Howser Stadium record crowd of 6,737 fans on Tuesday night. The right-hander (5-0) scattered seven hits and registered six strikeouts in defeating UF for the second time this season. The Seminoles overcame a 2-0 deficit with four unanswered runs to capture the rubber match of the regular-season series.
Senior Bryson Barber (Pensacola, Fla.) had a season-high three hits in going 3-for-4, junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) went 2-for-4 and sophomore Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) clubbed his sixth homer with a solo shot in the first inning. Sophomore Kyle Mullaney (Jacksonville, Fla.) (0-3) allowed nine hits and three runs over five innings and UF's offense was held to seven hits - its fifth game in a row less than double-digits.
Figueroa (.343, 39 RBI, 10 doubles, six homers) and Barnes (.368, 17 stolen bases, 12 RBI, six doubles, two triples) continue to pace the Gator offense from the top of the lineup. Freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.361, 40 RBI, 16 doubles, six homers) and sophomore Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) (.295, 30 RBI, 11-for-11 stolen bases) have also boosted a UF contingent that is hitting .300. On the mound, the Gators have accumulated a 3.69 ERA, allowing opponents to hit for a .283 average.
Kentucky leads the SEC in eight offensive categories, including batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.557), on-base percentage (.437), runs scored (323), hits (413), RBI (292), sacrifice bunts (45, sacrifice flies (25) and hit by pitch (61). UK ranks second in the conference in ERA (3.40) and fielding percentage (.976).
The Gators rebounded from a 9-2 setback in its series opener with defending SEC co-champion Kentucky last season to take the final two games at McKethan Stadium, 10-7 and 5-4. After Rusin fired a complete game on Friday night, UF used a five-run fourth inning on Saturday to build an 8-2 lead. UK clawed back to within 10-7 in the ninth before falling short, a result that halted the Gators' five-game slide in SEC play. Third baseman Jon Townsend (London, Ky.) went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI and Bryan Augenstein evened his season ledger at 4-4 by working 5.2 innings. The righty gave up five hits and four runs and walked a career-high seven batters. David Hurst worked the final 3.1 frames to pick up his fifth save. Pinch hitter Chris Petrie snapped a 4-4 tie with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth to help UF to a 5-4 win on Sunday. The Wildcats had rallied with two runs in the top of the frame and the SEC's travel curfew meant that the contest would end after the completion of the inning. Lost in the shuffle was an outstanding pitching effort by Bullock, who limited Kentucky to five hits and one run over five innings.
Florida leads the all-time series with Kentucky, 122-51-1, including a 51-28-1 edge in Lexington. The Gators have claimed 11 of their last 13 series against the Wildcats, including five of the last seven in Lexington.
-UF-
