Visit To Vanderbilt Awaits No. 19 Baseball
Thursday, April 2, 2009 | Baseball
Eastern Division rivals No. 19 Florida (18-9) and Vanderbilt (17-11) will engage in a three-game series at Charles Hawkins Field in Nashville this weekend. The Gators are 6-3 in Southeastern Conference play after sweeping Alabama at home last weekend, while the Commodores dropped two of three on the road at Auburn (12-3, 3-5, 10-11) to fall to 3-6 in SEC action.
Junior righty Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) (2-0, 2.42) will draw the start in Friday's opener at 7 p.m., live on FSN Florida, and oppose Vanderbilt junior left-hander Mike Minor (2-2, 3.26). Freshman LHP Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (1-1, 3.77) will face Commodore sophomore right-hander Caleb Cotham (3-1, 3.10) on Saturday at 4 p.m., live on FSN Florida as the SEC-TV Game of the Week. The pitchers have not been announced for Sunday's finale, which will be shown at 2 p.m. on Cox Sports.
Ten of the last 12 series between Florida and Vanderbilt series have resulted in sweeps. The Gators have collected seven wins and the Commodores have three during that span. UF swept in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2008 and VU claimed all three games in 1997, 2003 and 2007. Each team has posted a 2-1 margin over the last dozen encounters, Florida in 2000 and Vandy in 2006.
Florida has played six weekend series this season and all have finished as sweeps - four for the Gators (Louisville, Duquesne, Tennessee, Alabama) and two for opponents (Miami and Arkansas).
UF seeks to put the brakes on a five-series road losing skid in SEC play. Since a 2-1 weekend win over Ole Miss between March 21-23 last year, Florida was on the short end of 2-1 margins to league foes Tennessee (April 5-6), Kentucky (April 18-20), South Carolina (May 2-4) and Alabama (May 9-11) before losing all three at Arkansas over March 13-15 to start the SEC grind this year.
After totaling 10 come-from-behind victories in its total of 34 wins last season, Florida has accumulated 11 triumphs when trailing this year in 27 games played. UF is 12-0 when leading after six innings, 3-5 when trailing and is 3-3 when tied after the frame.
In the squads' last meeting, sixth-seeded Vanderbilt dealt third-seeded Florida a 7-3 setback on the first day of the 2008 SEC Tournament on May 21 at Regions Park. The victory avenged a three-game sweep the Commodores suffered at McKethan Stadium on the final weekend of the regular season. UF fell to 0-6 all-time in the SEC Tourney against the 'Dores.
Minor went five innings for the win, while Russell Brewer collected his sixth save by registering the final out with a pair of Gators on base. The Commodores totaled 14 hits, all singles, as Andrew Giobbi and Steven Liddle were each 3-for-5. Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) and Jon Townsend had two hits apiece for UF, which left 14 runners on base and had its four-game winning streak halted.
Locked in a four-way tie for fourth place with Alabama, Kentucky and Ole Miss entering their final regular-season series last May, the Gators came through with three dramatic victories to secure a third-place finish in the SEC standings. Trailing 6-4 in the eighth inning on Thursday, Florida used a pair of two-out, two-run homers to post an 8-6 win. After pinch hitter Bryson Barber had tied the game by sending a four-bagger off the foul pole in right field, Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) singled into right field. McArthur followed with a two-run jack to left center to provide the winning margin.
On Friday, UF trailed 3-0 in the fourth before Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) ripped a two-run double. Cole Figueroa clubbed a three-run homer in the fifth and Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) struck out All-American Pedro Alvarez with the tying run at second base to preserve the 5-4 victory.
In a roller-coaster finale on Saturday that featured a combined 31 hits, 25 runs, eight doubles, seven homers and five stolen bases, the Gators used a walk-off single with two down in the 11th by Townsend to collect a 13-12 win. Florida trailed by scores of 5-0 and 7-1 before taking an 8-7 lead in the sixth on a solo homer by Hampton Tignor (Sarasota, Fla.). Vanderbilt countered with a four-run eighth to grab an 11-8 advantage before the Orange and Blue answered with four runs of its own in the home part of the inning to regain a one-run margin. The Commodores sent the game to extra innings with an unearned run in the ninth.
Gator Bytes
· Florida is 2-5 away from Gainesville and is on the road for its next two SEC series at Vanderbilt and Auburn.
· The Gators are seeking their first win in Nashville since May 22, 2005, when they used a 6-3 triumph to clinch their first SEC regular-season crown since 1998. UF has lost three in a row on the Commodores' home field.
· The Orange and Blue is 8-0 when it scores in the first inning and 9-2 scoring first.
· UF's starting pitchers have not received a decision in the last nine games since March 18 at UCF, when freshman Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) 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 7-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 43.2 innings, with 31 hits, 12 runs (nine earned), 31 strikeouts and just 10 walks.
· McArthur has a .429 (9-for-21) clip over his last seven games and had a five-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday night in which he was 9-for-17 (.529). 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 (Ormond Beach, Fla.) is on career-high five-game hitting streak (.429, 6-for-14) that has raised his average from .214 to .286.
· 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.
· Junior Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) 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 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 Barnes. 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-29 (.138) against the Gators.
· Sophomore Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.351) is batting .400 (16-for-40) against lefties, .315 (17-for-54) against right-handers and is 11-for-32 (.344) with runners in scoring position.
· Opposing lefties are batting .154 (2-for-13) and leadoff batters are 0-for-6 against junior southpaw Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.).
· Junior righty Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.), who had never won an SEC game in 16 appearances entering this year, has picked up relief wins over Tennessee and Alabama. He has held lefties to a 1-for-15 (.067) effort and has limited opponents to a .105 (2-for-19) average with runners aboard.
· Since moving to the leadoff spot at UCF on March 18, junior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) is 14-for-39 (.359) with 14 runs, six RBI and three stolen bases.
· Over the last 10 games, freshman Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) is 13-for-34 (.382) and has tallied 10 of his 16 RBI on the year in that stretch.
-UF-
