No. 22 Baseball To Host B-CU Wednesday
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | Baseball
No. 22 Florida (28-18) will break from the stretch drive of the SEC race to host MEAC regular-season champion Bethune-Cookman (33-19) on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. The game will be shown live on Sun Sports. The Gators have eight games remaining, including conference series at Alabama this weekend and against Vanderbilt next Thursday-Saturday (May 15-17) at McKethan Stadium.
Sophomore Kyle Mullaney (Jacksonville, Fla.) (0-4, 6.75) is set to make his fifth start and 17th appearance of the season on the hill for the Gators. He suffered the loss in the finale at South Carolina, when he gave up three hits and two runs in the fifth inning. Mullaney's most recent start was at Florida State on April 15, when he scattered nine hits and three runs over five innings and was charged with the defeat. Over 30.2 innings, the righty has surrendered 55 hits and 30 runs (23 earned) with 19 strikeouts and 12 walks. Left-hander Chris Chapman (2-2, 4.85) will be on the mound for the Wildcats.
In the squads' last meeting, Austin Pride snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth with a two-run homer to lift Florida to a 5-3 victory on March 27, 2007, in Gainesville. The victory improved the Orange and Blue to an unblemished 20-0 versus its in-state rival. Matt LaPorta stroked a game-tying RBI single and belted a home run for the third-straight contest. The slugger had blasted four HR in the past three games and was tied for the league lead at the time with nine jacks. Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) threw 2.2 innings of scoreless and hitless relief to collect his first collegiate triumph and Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) nailed down the final five outs for his second save.
Last weekend, the Gators captured the opener at No. 12 South Carolina, 9-3, but then dropped the final two games of the series at Sarge Frye Field, 6-5 and 9-6. Junior left fielder Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) was 8-for-13 (.615) and scored five runs in Columbia, raising his overall average to .395. He was 3-for-3 on the basepaths and is now 22-for-24 on stolen-base opportunities this season. Barnes had three multiple-hit efforts against USC, giving him a team-high 20 on the campaign.
Sophomore shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) went 4-for-10 (.400) with five RBI and four runs versus the Gamecocks and is batting .341 overall and .340 in SEC play. Freshman right fielder Riley Cooper (Clearwater, Fla.) collected his first SEC hit with a two-run homer on Saturday and added another round-tripper on Sunday, when he was 2-for-4. He tied a school record by being hit three times in the opener and was 3-for-10 (.300) with four RBI on the weekend.
Sophomore right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (4-3, 4.13) matched a career high with seven strikeouts over 5.1 innings in relief to propel the Gators to the victory on Friday. Bullock notched his first win since March 28 against LSU by limiting the Gamecocks to two runs after taking over for freshman Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R) and was supported by a UF offense that registered five multiple-hit outings and totaled 12 hits.
A bases-loaded, two-run single by South Carolina junior James Darnell in the seventh inning lifted the Garnet and Black to a 6-5 victory on Saturday. Following five-straight games without a miscue, the Gators committed three errors and fell to 0-5 in one-run games in conference play. A four-run fifth inning helped USC overcome a 5-3 deficit on its way to a 9-6 triumph in Sunday's rubber game. Senior Bryson Barber (Pensacola, Fla.) was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a two-run homer, Barnes chipped in with three hits and Mullaney fell to 0-4 after allowing three hits and two runs in two-thirds of an inning. A bright spot was the performance of sophomore RHP Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.), who worked 2.2 innings of scoreless and hitless relief. Keating (8-0, 3.22) did not receive a decision after giving up seven hits and five runs in four innings.
UF has faced nationally-ranked opponents in its last 10 games, a stretch in which it went 4-6. After a 4-2 setback at No. 1 Florida State on April 15, the Gators dropped two of three games at No. 17 Kentucky. The Gators rebounded for a pivotal series triumph over No. 5 Georgia the following weekend before falling twice in three meetings at No. 12 South Carolina. Bethune-Cookman is ranked number one in the Black College Baseball poll.
After managing just a 17-17 showing at McKethan Stadium last year, Florida is 22-6 (.786) at home in 2008. The Gators were 7-8 (.467) against SEC foes in Gainesville last season and claimed two of its five league series by defeating Kentucky and Alabama. Florida has already defeated Auburn (3-0), LSU (2-1) and Georgia (2-1) and fallen to Arkansas (2-1) in home series.
Florida is tied for third in the nation with 58 double plays, trailing only Notre Dame (60) and UL-Monroe (59). The Gators are fourth with 1.26 DP turned per game, behind Notre Dame (1.30), Cleveland State (1.29) and Pepperdine (1.28).
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