Duquesne Visits No. 17 Gators For Weekend Series
Thursday, March 5, 2009 | Baseball
The No. 17 Gators (6-4) will host Duquesne (0-8) from the Atlantic 10 Conference in their final weekend series before the 30-game Southeastern Conference slate begins next Friday at Arkansas. Friday's opener from McKethan Stadium will be at 6:30 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday's games will be at noon.
Freshman left-hander Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (1-1, 3.09) will start the first meeting between the Gators and Dukes since 1995 against senior righty Gary Pierpont (0-2, 12.46). Rookie southpaw Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (0-1, 3.60) gets the nod in game two versus Duquesne senior RHP Ryan Juran (0-2, 7.50) and senior righty Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) will start Sunday's finale against the right-handed duo of either junior Paul Bugajski (0-1, 12.86) or redshirt sophomore Johnny Elms (0-0, 2.57)
An eighth-inning sacrifice fly by Florida Atlantic senior Nick Criaris snapped a 6-6 tie and lifted the Owls to a 7-6 victory over Florida on Wednesday. FAU used a six-run sixth to erase a 4-0 deficit and freshman Hugh Adams pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save after the Gators put their first two runners aboard in the final frame. Senior Chris Schmitt raised his mark to 3-0 as the Owls notched their sixth-straight triumph. Junior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) socked a three-run homer and the duo of senior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) and sophomore Riley Cooper (Clearwater, Fla.) were each 2-for-4 but UF stranded 10 runners.
Freshman right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) turned in a solid second career start, holding Florida Atlantic hitless over 5.1 innings. After walking the leadoff batter of the game, he retired the next 14 Owls and notched a career-high seven strikeouts. DeSclafani was not involved in the decision after giving up one hit over 5.1 innings and was charged with three runs.
The Dukes fell three times at South Carolina to begin the 2009 campaign (0-13, 4-8, 0-6) and were then on the short end of five-straight contests on their trip to Winter Haven, Fla., losing a pair to Rhode Island (6-10, 2-13) and Northeastern (9-10, 2-3) and a single matchup with Maine (3-10).
Gator Bytes
*Senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) (.303, 11 RBI) has reached base safely in 15 consecutive games dating back to last year.
*Pantelodis will be making the first Friday night start of his career after working the last two Saturdays against Louisville (W, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and Miami (Fla.) (L, 5,2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K).
*The earned run allowed by junior Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (0-0, 0.96 ERA, 2 saves) in the sixth against FAU was the first given up by the right-hander in 9.0 innings of work this year. It marked the first time since May 30, 2008, versus Tulane in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional where Bullock had surrendered an earned run (five appearances).
*Senior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) collected his first two-bagger of the season with a double down the left-field line in the sixth on Wednesday. Barnes has hit safely in eight of his first 10 games this season, is tied with sophomore Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) for the top spot with 10 runs and is second on the team with a .344 clip.
*Keating's relief appearance was his first since a two-inning performance against Vanderbilt on May 17, 2008. The earned run was the first by Keating in a relief appearance since giving up one versus North Florida on April 2 of last year. It was also his longest outing out of the bullpen since three innings versus the Ospreys on the same date.
*The Gators did not attempt any stolen bases against FAU and are 10-for-18 (.556) on the season. Barnes is 3-for-5, while juniors den Dekker and Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) are each 2-for-2.
*Five different players have accounted for UF's homers this year and four different players are responsible for the club's four triples.
*Opposing hitters are 1-for-19 (.053) against junior Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) with runners aboard and six of the seven hits he has allowed this season have come with the bases empty.
*UF's starting pitchers are 4-3 with a 3.57 earned run average this season and have 34 strikeouts and 12 walks in 53.0 innings. Opponents are hitting .255 against them.
*Florida last faced an Atlantic 10 foe on March 3-4, 2007, when it dominated George Washington by scores of 7-1, 24-4 and 20-3.
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