No. 22 Gators & Wildcats Tussle On Tuesday
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | Baseball
No. 22 Florida (19-11) returns home to McKethan Stadium after a four-game road swing to host Bethune-Cookman (15-15) on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. The Gators dropped two out of three games at Vanderbilt over the weekend, while the Wildcats swept a road series at North Carolina A&T (9-3, 4-0, 11-1) to improve to 5-1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The tentative pitching matchup between right-handers features senior Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (2-3, 6.44) against Wildcat junior Felix Machado (4-1, 3.71). Keating will be making his sixth start of the campaign and his 10th appearance, while his 29.1 innings rank fourth on UF.
In the teams' last meeting, Florida righty Kyle Mullaney threw five scoreless innings to notch his first victory and the Gators withstood a five-run ninth inning for an 11-10 win on May 7, 2008 at McKethan Stadium. Trailing 11-1, the Wildcats scored three runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and used a grand slam by Osvaldo Torres in the ninth to pull to within a run. The triumph matched UF's win total from the 2007 campaign, when the squad finished 29-30, and improved the Orange and Blue to 21-0 all-time against Bethune-Cookman. Four Florida players tallied two hits, Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.), Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.), Hampton Tignor (Sarasota, Fla.) and Jon Townsend. A six-run sixth had increased the hosts' lead to 11-1.
The Gators' current 11-game home winning streak is their longest since taking 14 straight decisions from Feb. 21-March 14, 2004. UF claimed its first five outings at McKethan Stadium this season before being swept by No. 10 Miami (Fla.) between Feb. 27-March 1 and falling short in a mid-week matchup with Florida Atlantic on March 4.
Junior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) has been successful on his last 29 stolen-base attempts since being thrown out in the Gators' final game of the 2007 season against South Carolina at the SEC Tournament. He was 20-for-20 last year and swiped four bases at Vanderbilt to improve to a team-best 9-for-9 this season.
The Gators' bid to end a five-series SEC road losing skid came up agonizingly short by falling in Sunday's rubber game at Vanderbilt. The Orange and Blue extended its league winning streak to seven games with a come-from-behind 8-4 victory in the opener before the Commodores claimed the series with 4-3 and 16-9 triumphs. With Florida trailing by a 4-3 score in the seventh on Friday, freshman Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (3-for-5, three RBI) smacked a two-out, two-run double off Mike Minor to seize the advantage. UF added three more insurance runs and junior southpaw Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) (3-0) did not allow a hit over 3.1 scoreless innings with a career-high four strikeouts to earn the decision. The top six batters in the UF lineup contributed multiple-hit outings as Kevin O'Sullivan's club matched a season high with 18 hits.
Vanderbilt evened the series on Saturday with a 4-3 triumph in front of a capacity crowd of 3,700 fans at Hawkins Field. The Commodores capitalized on all three Gator errors in the contest and broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh with an RBI fielder's choice by Steven Liddle that brought across Alex Hilliard, who had reached on a leadoff miscue. Freshman LHP Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (1-1, 3.44) pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and one earned run.
The hosts overcame a 9-2 deficit with 14 consecutive runs to win the series on Sunday, 16-9. Tucker notched career-highs in RBI (five), runs (three) and homers (two) on his way to a 3-for-4 outing. Senior LHP Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (0-0, 2.89) worked a season-high five innings and registered six strikeouts but was not involved in the decision.
Tucker was 6-for-13 (.462) on the weekend with eight RBI, senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) was 5-for-11 (.455) and the duo of senior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) and den Dekker were each 5-for-13 (.385). The Gators batted .313 in the series and were 11-of-13 on the basepaths, including a 4-for-4 showing by den Dekker and a 3-for-3 effort by Barnes. After being perfect in the field on Friday, Florida committed six errors in the final two games and surrendered 10 unearned runs in game three.
Gator Bytes
· At 7-5 in SEC action, Florida is one game behind East front-runner Georgia (8-4). The squads will meet in Athens on the first weekend in May.
· The Gators have not played at home since sweeping Alabama between March 27-29, as the club went 1-3 last week (lost to Florida State in Jacksonville and twice at Vanderbilt).
· Florida had 21 stolen bases on the campaign before swiping 11 in 13 attempts against the Commodores.
· The Orange and Blue is 8-1 when it scores in the first inning and has a 10-4 mark when scoring first.
· McArthur has a .462 (12-for-26) clip over his last eight games and is tied with den Dekker for the top spot with a .344 average. He occupies the team lead in multiple-RBI games with seven and joins Barnes and Adams with a team-high 10 multiple-hit efforts.
· Since moving to the leadoff spot at UCF on March 18, den Dekker is 19-for-52 (.365) with 19 runs, eight RBI and seven stolen bases.
· The Gator bullpen was involved in all three decisions in Nashville and was tagged for 14 hits and 16 runs (six earned) in nine innings, with eight walks and six strikeouts.
· In comparison, the trio of UF starters, junior Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) (Friday), Maronde (Saturday) and Locke (Sunday), allowed 13 hits and eight runs (five earned) in 16 innings, with 11 K and three walks. Those hurlers limited the Commodores to a .213 clip.
· Sunday's win by Vanderbilt was the first time all season that Florida lost when ahead after the sixth inning. UF is 16-0 leading after seven and 17-0 when in front after eight innings.
· With 21 RBI, Barnes is rapidly approaching his single-season high of 27 set during his sophomore season in 2007.
· Davis' three victories lead Florida; he had two wins on his resume entering the year.
· Senior Teddy Foster (Jacksonville, Fla.) registered the first two-hit outing of his career on Sunday, when he was 2-for-3. The catcher from Jacksonville notched his first RBI of the year with an RBI single in the fifth inning.
· The Gators are 12-for-40 (.300) with the bases loaded and have tallied 38 RBI. McArthur (3-for-5, .600) paces the squad with nine RBI, while Tucker has driven in six.
· Freshman Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) is 4-for-9 (.444) as a pinch hitter this season and is 10-for-30 (.333) over his last nine games.
-UF-
