No. 22 Gators & FGCU To Meet Tuesday
Monday, April 20, 2009 | Baseball
No. 22 Florida (26-14) will make the four-hour journey to Fort Myers on Tuesday night to meet FGCU (22-14) at Hammond Stadium, home of the Class A Advanced Fort Myers Miracle, an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The Miracle will face the Palm Beach Cardinals at 4:05 p.m. in the opener of a doubleheader at the facility. The contest will be the front end of a two-game series, as teams will battle at McKethan Stadium on May 6.
While the Gators dropped two of three at home to No. 16 Ole Miss, the Eagles boosted their winning streak to a season-high seven games by sweeping Atlantic Sun rival Lipscomb (7-1, 8-0, 10-9 (10)). At 13-5 in conference action, FGCU is just a half-game behind Kennesaw State (13-4) for first place. UF (10-8) is tied with Alabama for fifth in the SEC standings, with the top eight squads advancing to Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., for the postseason tourney.
In a matchup of right-handers, senior Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) (2-1, 3.23) will make the start against FGCU sophomore Craig Crumbly (3-2, 4.40). Barfield, who has made his last five starts in SEC action, will be making his second mid-week start of the year. At Stetson on March 3, he gave up one unearned run over 6.2 innings and recorded the 5-2 win over the Hatters.
The Gators and Eagles will be meeting for just the second time, as UF notched a 2-1 decision on March 11 last season in Gainesville. Cole Figueroa snapped a 1-1 tie with a sac fly in the eighth inning that scored Avery Barnes (High Springs , Fla.), who had poked a one-out triple. Right-hander Josh Edmondson threw three scoreless innings without giving up a hit for his second win, while lefty Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) worked a then-season-high six frames with five strikeouts and a run. Neither pitcher permitted a walk.
Following mid-week victories over No. 15 Florida State (10-2) and Stetson (15-4), Florida was on the short end of a 2-1 series against Ole Miss to fall to 10-8 in SEC play. Rebel sophomore left-hander Drew Pomeranz went the distance for his first career complete game and registered a season-high nine strikeouts with a four-hitter as UM claimed a 6-2 victory in Friday night's opener. The loss ended a 14-game home winning streak for the Gators, who had also captured their first six league outings on their own turf this year.
UF rebounded to even the series on Saturday behind Locke (2-0, 3.24), 8-4. Over 7.2 innings, the southpaw scattered eight hits, gave up four runs and registered five strikeouts to notch his second SEC win in a row. Junior Mike Mooney (Loxahatchee, Fla.) was 3-for-4 and scored twice and the Gators were able to convert four errors into five unearned runs.
Senior right-hander Scott Bittle recovered from a shaky start to lift the Rebels to a 5-3 win in Sunday's rubber game, which was shortened to eight innings due to travel plans. Two bright spots for the Orange and Blue were a 3-for-4, two-RBI performance by sophomore Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.357, 30 RBI) and 2.1 scoreless innings from freshman righty Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (4-1, 2.72) out of the bullpen. It was the first league series loss at home for UF since falling twice to Arkansas (1-2, 6-1, 4-10) over April 11-13, 2008.
The Gators were limited to a .237 (22-for-93) batting average over the three games by the Rebels and were 0-for-2 on the basepaths. However, they committed just one error and registered a .990 fielding percentage. On the weekend, Adams went 5-for-10 (.500) with three RBI and two runs and Mooney was 4-for-10 (.400). Freshman Preston Tucker's (Tampa, Fla.) career-high 10-game hitting streak ended on Sunday with an 0-for-3 performance. Over the skein, he batted .477 (21-for-44) with 31 RBI, 15 runs, seven homers and six walks.
With the triumph over Stetson on April 15, UF improved to 9-5 (.643) against in-state opponents this year, with wins over the Hatters (March 3 & April 15), Florida State (March 17 & April 14), UCF (March 18 & April 8), UNF (March 25) and B-CU (April 7) and setbacks to Miami (three over Feb. 27-March 1), Florida Atlantic (March 4), UNF (March 24) and FSU (March 31).
Gator Bytes
· Florida will be playing in a minor league park for the second time this season, as it met Florida State at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville on March 31, home of the Jacksonville Suns, the Double A affiliate of the Florida Marlins.
· Lefties are batting just .226 (14-for-62) against Barfield, while right-handers are 24-for-90 (.267). Opponents have a .194 (12-for-62) clip with runners on base against him.
· Senior Teddy Foster (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.324) has matched his career-best hitting streak of five games, a stretch in which is 5-for-11 (.455) with six RBI and two runs. In 37 career games entering the season, he had driven in three runs.
· Junior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) is mired in a 3-for-20 (.150) slump over the last five games that has dropped his average from .342 to .313. He was limited to an 0-for-11 showing by UM with five strikeouts.
· UF's defense has not committed multiple errors in its last eight games, easily the longest stretch of the season. The Gators did not have any miscues in the final two games versus Ole Miss and look to play error-free for the third-straight game for the first time this year.
· Barnes (.340) was just 3-for-12 (.250) over the weekend but boasts a four-game hitting streak and is tied with Adams for the team lead with 14 multiple-hit outings. Barnes has scored 13 runs in his last nine contests.
· In his last 10 appearances, DeSclafani has a sparkling 1.24 ERA, giving up just four earned runs in 29.0 innings.
· The Gators have been involved in two shortened games this season and dropped them both (3-2 to Florida State in five innings on March 31 due to rain; 5-3 to Ole Miss on Sunday in eight innings because of the travel curfew).
· In the most recent SEC statistics covering all games, Florida ranks seventh in batting average (.301), second in lowest earned run average (.3.75) and 11th in fielding percentage (.964). Through six league series, UF is third in hitting (.307), second in pitching (4.46) and ninth in fielding (.967).
· Led by Barnes' five, the Gators are first in the SEC with 16 triples. He now has 11 three-baggers in his career, placing him third on the school's all-time list behind Brian Duva (21, 1991-94) and Rob Teegarden (15, 1978-79).
· The Orange and Blue is 11-for-46 (.239) pinch-hitting, led by junior Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) (3-for-3) and freshman Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach , Fla.) (4-for-9, .444).
· With runners in scoring position, Tucker is batting .393 (22-for-56), Adams is at .386 (17-for-44) and senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) is at .385 (15-for-39).Twenty-seven of Tucker's 50 RBI this season have come with two out.
-UF-
