No. 25 Gators Visit UCF On Wednesday
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | Baseball
Fresh off a thrilling 5-4 victory over No. 17 Florida State on Tuesday night, No. 25 Florida (10-7) travels to Orlando for a mid-week matchup at UCF (7-11). The Knights fell to Army on Tuesday, 8-1, and will be completing a seven-game homestand at Jay Bergman Field. The squads will also meet in Gainesville on April 8.
Freshman Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (0-0, 7.71) will be making his fifth appearance and third start of the season against UCF freshman right-hander Bryan Brown (0-2, 11.57). Over 9.1 innings, DeSclafani has allowed nine hits and eight runs (all earned), with 11 strikeouts and four walks. In his last outing against Arkansas on Sunday, he walked the only batter he faced. The righty has started against Eastern Michigan (Feb. 25, 3.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 4 K) and Florida Atlantic (March 4, 5.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 K). Opponents are hitting .257 versus the righty.
Junior Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) delivered a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Gators to a 5-4 triumph over Florida State in front of 3,369 fans at McKethan Stadium on Tuesday night. Munroe (3-for-5) had a career-high three hits and notched two RBI as Florida ended a three-game slide. Junior Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) (1-0) earned the win after inheriting a bases-loaded situation in the ninth and limiting the high-powered Seminoles to just a run.
After FSU had tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the inning, junior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led off with a walk from senior Jimmy Marshall (1-1) and took second on a wild pitch. Senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) (2-for-5, two runs) legged out a bunt single for runners on the corners and Marshall struck out sophomore Riley Cooper (Clearwater, Fla.). Freshman pinch runner Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) moved to second without drawing a throw and the Seminoles elected to walk junior Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) intentionally to fill the sacks. Munroe sent a 2-2 offering from the right-hander into right field to bring home den Dekker with the decisive run as UF captured the first of three meetings between the Sunshine State rivals. The Gators and Seminoles will tangle in Jacksonville on March 31 and in Tallahassee on April 14.
In the squads' most recent meeting, right-hander Kyle Sweat tossed eight shutout innings as UCF upended the Gators, 6-2, on April 10, 2007, at McKethan Stadium. Sweat retired the final 10 Gators he faced and did not surrender a hit after the fourth inning in matching the longest outing of his career at the time. His teammates backed him with a 14-hit offensive attack, led by Dwayne Bailey (3-for-4).
UF plated two runs in the ninth on a double by Matt LaPorta and a base-hit by Cole Figueroa and had the potential tying run at the plate to close the contest. The hosts matched a season low with five hits, although three were doubles. Southpaw Stephen Locke was tagged for six hits and three runs in 2.1 innings to suffer the loss.
Gator Bytes
*Florida seeks to end a three-game road losing streak and is 1-3 away from Gainesville this season.
*The Gators are 2-4 against in-state opponents this year, with wins over Stetson (March 3) and Florida State (March 17) and setbacks to Miami (three over Feb. 27-March 1) and Florida Atlantic (March 4)
*After swiping 109 stolen bases last spring, good for eighth on the school's single-season chart, Florida is just 14-for-25 on the basepaths.
*The Gators rank 12th in the SEC in batting average (.276), fifth in earned run average (3.90) and 12th in fielding percentage (.958).
*Junior RHP Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) is tied for first in the SEC in both runs allowed (third) and earned runs allowed (one), second with a 0.55 earned run average and seventh in opposing batting average (.200).
*The Gators have played error-free baseball just four times in 17 games (Louisville, Feb. 21; Eastern Michigan, Feb. 24; Duquesne, March 8; Florida State, March 17).
*Florida is batting .263 (56-for-213) against left-handers and .284 (101-for-356) versus right-handers. Cooper is 9-for-22 (.409) versus southpaws and Munroe is 9-for-20 (.450) against righties.
*Twenty-seven of the Orange and Blue's 94 RBI this year have come with two out, led by Barnes (five), sophomore Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (four), Cooper (four) and McArthur (four).
*The Gators are 4-for-19 (.211) pinch hitting, with freshman Daniel Pigott 2-for-6 (.333).
*Right-handed hitters are 1-for-14 (.071) against sophomore LHP Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) and 6-for-37 (.162) against junior RHP Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.).
-UF-
