No. 19 Gators Face No. 23 FSU In Jacksonville
Monday, March 30, 2009 | Baseball
No. 19 Florida (18-8) and No. 23 Florida State (16-8) will meet on Tuesday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville for the second of the Sunshine State rivals' three regular-season encounters. The game will air live on Sun Sports at 7 p.m. The Gators ended a three-game slide to the Seminoles with a 5-4 decision in Gainesville on March 17 and the teams will square off in Tallahassee on April 14.
Both squads have been on a roll since they saw one another two weeks ago. UF has captured nine of its last 10 outings, including consecutive SEC sweeps over Tennessee and Alabama, while the Seminoles enter Tuesday night's tilt riding a six-game winning streak. FSU took all three games at Maryland over the weekend by scores of 6-2, 10-2 and 21-5.
Senior left-hander Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (0-0, 0.00) will make his sixth career start against the Seminoles and is 2-2 with a 3.13 earned run average in 23.0 innings (28 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 11 K, 8 BB) versus Florida State. He will be opposed by Florida State sophomore RHP Geoff Parker (2-1, 6.33). The southpaw drew the start in the clubs' last meeting in Jacksonville and was on the hook for the defeat after going six innings and surrendering eight hits and three runs.
Locke earned the win against FSU on March 18 in Gainesville last season by tossing 5.1 scoreless frames with four hits, three strikeouts and two walks. In 2007, the lefty worked the first inning at Dick Howser Stadium on April 18, allowing three hits and a run. In Locke's first-ever road start on March 30, 2005, he held the 'Noles scoreless into the sixth inning and was charged with one run as the Gators cruised to a 9-2 triumph. The Tampa, Fla., native made his 2009 debut against UNF last Wednesday and worked two innings on a pitch count, with two strikeouts, one hit and an unearned run.
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 St. Patrick's Day. Munroe (3-for-5) had a career-high three hits and notched two RBI as Florida defeated FSU for the first time since a 6-1 decision on March 18, 2008. Junior Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) earned the win after inheriting a bases-loaded situation in the ninth and limiting the high-powered Seminoles to just a run.
After the visitors 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 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.
In the teams' most recent meeting in Jacksonville, Ryan Strauss worked seven strong innings and Florida State 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 on April 1, 2008. 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 Buster Posey (3-for-4) in the seventh before adding five more runs in the eighth.
Last weekend, the Orange and Blue had a .382 (42-for-110) batting average against Alabama and totaled 10 extra-base hits (five doubles, three triples and two homers). UF came from behind to collect victories on Friday and Saturday and completed its first sweep of UA since April 1-3, 1994 with a 10-7 win on Sunday. McArthur was 6-for-11 (.545) and the trio of freshman Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (7-for-14), Munroe (5-for-10) and Pigott (4-for-8) each hit .500 versus Alabama.
Florida's bullpen corps played a crucial role, notching all three victories, collecting two saves and registering a 1.69 ERA after allowing just three runs over 16.0 innings to the SEC's top hitting team. The Gators overcame a 4-0 deficit with 11 unanswered runs to take Friday's opener. The hosts plated three runs with two out in the seventh, keyed by a double from Munroe (3-for-4, three runs, two RBI) and a go-ahead two-run single by McArthur (2-for-4). UF then erupted for six more runs in the eighth, featuring a three-run double by Tucker (3-for-4). Junior Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.) (2-0, 2.45) threw four scoreless innings of one-hit ball before junior Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (0-1, 1.99) retired all six batters he faced to pick up the save. The righty entered the game in the eighth with two runners aboard and the Gators clinging to a 5-4 lead and later recorded two strikeouts when the Crimson Tide had a pair of men in scoring position.
Pigott's drag bunt single with two down in the bottom of the ninth scored classmate Jerico Weitzel (Ridgway, Pa.) from third base with the winning run as the Gators capped off a remarkable comeback to post a 9-8 triumph on Saturday. After trailing 7-0 in the seventh and 8-2 entering the final frame, UF sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs with two outs to clinch the series victory in dramatic fashion. Florida tallied seven runs on five hits and capitalized on three Tide errors in the decisive stanza. Tucker had two hits in the ninth and finished 3-for-5 with three RBI. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday afternoon.
All nine starters had at least one hit and six players turned in multiple-hit efforts in Sunday's 10-7 Gator victory. Freshman Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (2-0, 3.80) had a career-high 4.1-inning relief stint in which he retired the first eight Alabama hitters he faced and registered five strikeouts. Davis finished the eighth and recorded one out in the ninth before Bullock set down a pair of Crimson Tide batters to collect his sixth save. Pisani went 2-for-4 with three RBI and belted a go-ahead solo homer in the fourth. den Dekker extended his hitting streak to 11 games and is hitting .346 overall with 27 runs and 16 RBI.
The Gators committed just one error during the Alabama series and did not have any miscues during the first two games, the initial time this season the club went back-to-back games with perfect fielding. UF is an unblemished 6-0 when not committing any errors.
Gator Bytes
· Florida is 2-4 away from Gainesville and will play four of its five contests this week on the road.
· The Gators seek to end a three-game losing streak in Jacksonville dating back to a 16-7 win over Florida State on April 3, 2007. Since that triumph, the Orange and Blue has fallen to Jacksonville (8-5 on March 26, 2008), Florida State (10-2 on April 1, 2008) and UNF (3-0 on March 24, 2009).
· UF's starting pitchers have not received a decision in the last eight games since March 18 at UCF, when DeSclafani worked five innings (6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K) and collected the 7-3 victory.
· Over the same span, Florida's relievers are 7-1 with a 1.76 ERA in 41.0 innings, with 29 hits, 11 runs (eight earned), 29 strikeouts and just seven walks.
· McArthur has a .440 (11-for-40) clip over his last seven games and has hit in five-straight games. He leads the club in both multiple-hit (nine) and multiple-RBI (seven) games.
· Saturday's hero with his clutch bunt up the third-base line versus Alabama, freshman Daniel Pigott, is on career-high four-game hitting streak (.455, 5-for-11) that has raised his average from .214 to .282.
· The Gators were successful on two of three stolen-base attempts against Alabama and are now 21-of-37 on the campaign.
· DeSclafani had not allowed a run in 10-straight innings, covering parts of three appearances, before giving up a home run to the nation's leader, Kent Matthes of Alabama, in the eighth inning on Sunday.
· Bullock saved all three of his appearances last week without yielding a hit or a run in 3.2 innings. He totaled five strikeouts and issued one walk, lowering his ERA to a team-best 1.99. Bullock is two saves away from moving onto the school's top 10 single-season list (8 - Josh Fogg, 1997; Darren O'Day, 2006).
· The Gators lead the SEC with 13 triples, with four by senior Avery Barnes (High Springs , Fla.). Eight different players have chipped in with a three-bagger.
· UF is just 6-for-29 (.207) when pinch-hitting, with Daniel Pigott leading the way with four of them. Foes are 4-for-28 (.143) against the Gators.
· Sophomore Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.359) is batting .400 (16-for-40) against lefties, .327 (17-for-52) against right-handers and is 11-for-31 (.355) with runners in scoring position.
· Opposing lefties are batting .154 (2-for-13) against Davis.
-UF-
