No. 17 Gators Host FAU on Wednesday
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | Baseball
After downing Stetson on Tuesday night in DeLand by a 5-2 score, Florida (6-3) returns home for a mid-week matchup against Sun Belt Conference member Florida Atlantic (7-1). First pitch from McKethan Stadium will be at 6:35 p.m. and the game will be carried live on GatorVision Online.
Freshman right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (0-0, 11.25) will make his third appearance of '09 and the second start of his career against FAU, who will start senior left-hander Adam Morrison (0-0, 0.00). In his last outing, DeSclafani gave up seven hits and five runs over three innings in the 17-6 win over Eastern Michigan on Feb. 25. He also registered a career-high four strikeouts. He has worked four innings this year and has a 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio.
The Owls edged Lehigh, 11-9, in Boca Raton on Tuesday to extend their winning streak to five games. FAU took two of three games from Fordham (8-6, 11-5, 16-18) to begin the year and then swept Stony Brook in a four-game series (6-1, 9-1, 10-2, 13-9).
The Gators and Owls have not met on the diamond since the 2003 NCAA Coral Gables Regional, when the clubs split a pair of meetings. FAU nipped Florida, 4-3, in the opening round, only to have its season come to an end in a wild 22-14 slugfest on May 31. The Orange and Blue carried the momentum from winning the elimination game to a 15-5 rout of host Miami, but the Hurricanes bounced back with a 13-10 triumph in the Regional title tilt.
Junior Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) (2-0) worked 6.2 innings in his first start as the Gators downed Stetson, 5-2, at Melching Field on Tuesday night in their first road outing of the campaign. The righty scattered five hits, totaled four strikeouts and permitted an unearned run to help the Gators snap a three-game slide. Rookie Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) belted his first homer and matched his career-best by driving in a pair of runs, while junior Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) picked up his second save by recording the final four outs. Both of the Hatters' runs were unearned, due in part to a season-high four UF errors.
Sophomore third baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) leads Florida with a .389 batting average, while senior first baseman Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) (.310) has driven in a team-high 11 runs. Senior left fielder Avery Barnes (High Springs , Fla.) is hitting .321 with nine runs, six RBI and three stolen bases. As a squad, the Gators are batting .290 and have a team earned run average of 3.56.
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