Baseball Visits Tennessee For Three-Game Set
Thursday, April 3, 2008 | Baseball
Leading the Southeastern Conference by a game over Georgia and South Carolina, No. 13 Florida (20-8/7-2) travels to Eastern Division rival Tennessee (17-10/5-4) for three games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols have claimed the last four regular-season series between the programs by 2-1 margins. The series also features the league's two newest coaches: Kevin O'Sullivan of UF and Todd Raleigh from UT.
Similar to last season, the Gators have captured seven of their first nine SEC outings. Last April, UF dropped its fourth series at home to South Carolina en route to a 15-15 finish and a third-place showing in the East. The Orange and Blue has played three West squads so far - Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU - and faces its Eastern counterparts over four of the next five weekends.
Sophomore right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (3-2, 3.11) will start Friday's opener at 7 p.m., live on Sun Sports, against left-hander Nick Hernandez (0-1, 4.09). Since returning to the rotation, Bullock is 2-1 with a 3.29 earned run average and leads the Gators with 28 strikeouts in 37.2 innings this year. In his last outing, the righty gutted out a seven-inning win over LSU when the Orange and Blue rallied from a 4-2 deficit with six runs to notch an 8-5 victory.
Freshman Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (4-1, 2.70) will make his initial Saturday start at 4 p.m. against Vol southpaw Bryan Morgado (3-2, 2.54). The contest will be broadcast on Sun Sports and is SEC-TV's Game of the Week. Over his first six collegiate starts, the right-hander has worked at least five innings each time out and has limited opponents to a .211 batting average. Toledo suffered his first loss last Sunday to LSU, when he permitted five hits (three homers) over 5.1 innings.
The most recent SEC Pitcher of the Week, junior RHP Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (4-0, 2.45), will draw the assignment in Sunday's finale at 1 p.m. versus Tennessee right-hander Steve Crnkovich (4-2, 4.42). Keating fired a complete game to defeat LSU last Saturday and tossed three innings out of the bullpen on Wednesday versus North Florida.
UNF plated the tying run in the ninth and used a game-winning single in the 10th by senior Chad Knight (5-for-6) to hand the Gators an 11-10 setback at McKethan Stadium in front of a crowd of 2,943 fans. Junior Ty Pryor (3-3) worked three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to earn the win, while junior Tyler Stohr collected his seventh save. The teams combined for 32 hits and 21 runs, as five different Gators had multiple-hit efforts. It was the first time UF was involved in “free baseball” this season. Sophomore Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) was 2-for-4 and drove in four runs with a three-run homer in the second and a his first triple of the year in the fourth inning.
In their final regular-season series of 2007, the Gators dropped two of three to UT. The Vols squeaked out a 6-5 victory in the opener, despite Matt LaPorta matching his own school record with five walks (all intentional) in the contest. Florida exploded for a 20-2 romp on Friday night, powered by an SEC and school-record-tying 10 RBI by Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.). The second baseman entered the contest with one career homer and had tallied 15 RBI on the campaign. Barnes cranked a grand slam in the second inning and a three-run shot in the eighth. Lost in the shuffle was another outstanding performance by shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.), who blasted his first grand slam in third and launched a solo shot in the sixth for a career-high five RBI. Bryan Augenstein overcame a two-run first inning to work eight innings for his third-straight win. UT claimed the series on Saturday with an 18-hit, four-homer barrage on its way to an 11-7 triumph. den Dekker as a bright spot for the Gators by going 3-for-4 with his seventh homer.
During their most recent visit to Knoxville, the Gators dropped their first two games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, 4-2 and 2-1, then exploded for a season-high 20 hits during a 15-4 victory over the Vols on April 16, 2006. Seven players had multiple hits, with the quartet of Chris Petrie (3-for-5, four RBI, three runs), Brian Jeroloman (3-for-5, two runs, one RBI), LaPorta (3-for-5, two runs, one RBI) and Bryson Barber (Pensacola, Fla.) (3-for-5, one RBI) chipping in with three apiece. Florida's run total was its highest since a 17-6 rout of Harvard on March 12 and represented its biggest output in a league outing since an 18-9 win over Tennessee on April 30, 2005.
Starting first baseman senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) suffered a sprained right knee in the fifth inning against North Florida and underwent an MRI on Thursday morning. Sporting a .314 batting average, fourth on the club with 24 RBI and among the league leaders with three triples, he did not make the trip to the Volunteer State. McArthur had singled to raise his hitting streak to nine games and was rounding first when he collided with the Ospreys' first baseman.
Figueroa continues to lead the Gators with a .374 average and occupies the top spot in RBI (34) and Barnes (.361) has scored a team-high 33 runs. Each player is 13-for-15 on the basepaths. Freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) is at .361 with 31 RBI, nine doubles and five homers, while den Dekker is hitting .316 with 27 RBI, eight stolen bases and five round-trippers. Florida has a .307 team batting average and is 55-for-66 on stolen-base opportunities. Senior Josh Edmondson (LaGrange, Ga.) is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA and one save in 13 appearances from the bullpen and sophomore Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.) has a 3-2 ledger with a 2.95 ERA in 21.1 innings.
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