No. 22 Gators Head To Plains For Series At Auburn
Thursday, April 9, 2009 | Baseball
Fresh off mid-week victories over Bethune-Cookman (12-7) and UCF (16-3), No. 22 Florida (21-11) returns to Southeastern Conference action by traveling to Western Division rival Auburn (22-10) for three games. The Gators are 7-5 in league play, one game behind Georgia (8-4), after falling twice at Vanderbilt last weekend. Meanwhile, the Tigers are 6-6 and tied for fourth in the West with Alabama behind front-runner Arkansas (10-2). Auburn has claimed three of its four SEC series - with 2-1 triumphs over Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State - and was also swept by Arkansas.
Junior right-hander Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) (2-0, 2.84) will start Friday's opener at 7 p.m. against Tiger sophomore southpaw Grant Dayton (2-3, 3.66). Barfield will be making his fifth start and 10th appearance of the campaign. In his last outing, the righty went 5.2 innings and gave up four hits and three runs in the opener at Vanderbilt and registered four strikeouts. However, Barfield did not receive a decision as the Gators notched an 8-4 victory. Over 31.2 innings this year, he has totaled a team-high 26 K and limited opponents to a .266 average.
Either freshman lefty Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (1-1, 3.44) or senior Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (0-0, 2.89) will oppose AU redshirt freshman righty Jon Luke Jacobs (3-1, 5.59) in Saturday's second game at 4 p.m. Maronde went 5.1 strong innings at Vanderbilt last weekend, giving up four hits and one earned run, but was not involved in the decision. Although Locke threw a season-high five innings in the finale against the Commodores and notched six K, he did not factor in the decision won by VU. Neither Auburn or Florida has announced a starter for Sunday's contest, which will start at 2 p.m.
The Gators seek to put the brakes on a six-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 and twice at Vanderbilt last weekend.
Freshman Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) tied the SEC single-game record and established a school mark with 11 runs batted in to lift the Gators to a 16-3 romp over UCF on Wednesday night at McKethan Stadium. The rookie first baseman cranked grand slams in both the fifth (right field) and seventh (center field) innings, sandwiched around a three-run bomb in the sixth to left center. The Gator bullpen tossed 6.1 scoreless innings in which six relievers combined to permit three hits with two strikeouts and zero walks. Freshman Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (3-1) notched his second win over the Knights by working 2.1 frames.
With a 3-for-4 effort on Wednesday, Tucker is an eye-popping .833 (10-for-12) with 20 RBI and six homers over the past three games. Since being outfitted with new contacts prior to the Tennessee series that began on March 20, the slugger has a .490 (25-for-51) average with 48 total bases, 32 RBI, 11 runs, six homers, three doubles, a .941 slugging percentage and a .536 on-base percentage. Tucker has struck out just five times in that span and UF has won 10 of the 14 contests.
The Gators continued their recent success against Auburn to open the SEC schedule over March 14-16, 2008. Florida has swept the Tigers four times in the past five years. UF turned its first triple play since March 15, 1997, with a 1-4-6-3 sequence in the fourth stanza of game two. Ben Jones' hit ricocheted off pitcher Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) and was caught by second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.). The rookie flipped to shortstop Cole Figueroa covering second base for the second out and then over to Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) to catch Luke Grienke off first base for the third one. Florida's last triple play had occurred against Alabama, when the combination of current Major Leaguers Mark Ellis (3B), David Eckstein (2B) and Brad Wilkerson (1B) accomplished the feat.
Adams batted .727 (8-for-11) with six RBI and three doubles, had three multiple-hit efforts and reached base 10 times in 13 plate appearances. He was later tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week for the first time. Right-hander Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) improved to 3-0 by twirling six shutout innings in the finale and limiting AU to two hits. After collecting zero saves in their first 15 games, UF picked up a couple in the final two meetings with the Tigers behind Kyle Mullaney and Clint Franklin (Orlando, Fla.). Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) notched his first SEC victory by winning Friday's opener. Over a then-season-high 6.1 innings, the righty scattered five hits and permitted one run, with six K and one walk. UF batted .327, out-scored Auburn by a 25-11 margin and went 5-for-6 on the basepaths.
In the teams' last series at Auburn over March 23-25, 2007, UF posted a weekend sweep on the road to move over the .500 mark on the season and grab a share of the league lead. It marked the Gators' second-straight trip to Plainsman Park that yielded three wins. At the time, Florida had not claimed an SEC series away from Gainesville since sweeping Vanderbilt over May 20-22, 2005. UF batted .314 (38-for-121), out-scored the Tigers, 30-19, pounded 10 doubles, drew 19 walks and was plunked eight times.
Chris Petrie was 6-for-8 (.750) with three runs and two walks on the Plains. Figueroa snapped a 7-7 tie with a two-out RBI single in the 10th to lift the Gators to an 8-7 victory over AU on Friday night. Keating retired all six Tigers he faced, with a then-career-high four strikeouts, in the Gators' first extra-inning affair of 2007. Florida used a seven-run, seventh-inning outburst to hand Auburn a 12-9 setback on Saturday afternoon. Trailing 6-5 entering that frame, UF had three hits, drew five walks and was hit once to take a 12-6 lead. Petrie was a career-high 4-for-4 with two runs, Brian Leclerc went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a couple of runs, while Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) snapped a 6-6 tie with a bases-loaded two-run single and notched three RBI. Josh Edmondson matched a career-high with 4.2 innings of relief, giving up five hits and one earned run. David Hurst recorded the final two outs to pick up his second save.
On Sunday, Matt LaPorta provided the Gators with a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning with a towering homer to left center and jacked a solo shot in the seventh. Hurst had a five-inning relief stint, scattering three hits and permitting one run, to collect his first victory of the campaign.
Auburn boasts a 16-6 (.727) record on its own turf this spring and is 2-4 (.333) against SEC foes. Since falling three times to Arkansas from March 20-22 (3-2, 10-6, 12-6) and dropping the series opener to Vanderbilt on March 27, 12-3, the Tigers have reeled off four consecutive wins at Plainsman Park. The Gators are 3-7 away from Gainesville and have claimed just one of six SEC road tilts (8-4 in the series opener at Vanderbilt).
After totaling 10 come-from-behind victories in its total of 34 wins last season, Florida has accumulated 14 triumphs when trailing this year in 32 games played. UF is 14-1 when leading after six innings, 4-5 when trailing and is 3-4 when tied after the frame.
Gator Bytes
· Florida has taken its last six encounters with Auburn, matching its longest run in a series that dates back to 1913. The Gators also enjoyed a six-game winning streak over the Tigers from May 16, 1991-March 27, 1993.
· UF has swept its last two visits to Auburn in 2005 and 2007 and has taken six-straight wins since a 4-3 loss on May 4, 2003.
· Over the last 12 games, Tucker is 23-for-43 (.535) and has raised his season average to .363, first on the club ahead of den Dekker (.353). Sixteen of his team-high 39 RBI have come during SEC play, where he his hitting .372.
· The Orange and Blue is 9-1 when it scores in the first inning and 10-4 scoring first.
· UF's starting pitchers have not received a decision in the last 14 games since March 18 at UCF, when DeSclafani worked five innings (6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K) and notched the 7-3 victory.
· Since moving to the leadoff spot on March 18, den Dekker is 22-for-58 (.379) with 25 runs, eight RBI and seven stolen bases. His string of 29 consecutive stolen bases was snapped on Wednesday when he was thrown out at third base in the first inning by UCF. den Dekker had last been caught stealing at the 2007 SEC Tournament by South Carolina and he had been 9-for-9 on the basepaths this year.
· Adams (.327) has reached base safely in 31 out of 32 games this season, with the five-inning rain-shortened game versus Florida State on March 31 being the only game the third baseman did not reach base.
· The Gators have scored 10 runs or more in 10 of their 22 home games and their most runs on the road came on April 5 in a 16-9 setback to Vanderbilt.
· Junior Mike Mooney (Loxahatchee, Fla.) (.288) made his first start since March 21 versus Tennessee and his first start at shortstop since March 13 at Arkansas when he returned to the lineup on Tuesday against Bethune-Cookman. Showing a little rust, he committed two errors to bring his total to nine on the campaign.
· With 26 RBI, senior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) (.339) is already one shy of his single-season high of 27 set during his sophomore season in 2007.
· Junior Tony Davis' (Cooper City, Fla.) (4-0, 2.30) four victories lead Florida; he had two wins on his resume entering the year.
· The Gators are 16-for-46 (.348) with the bases loaded and have tallied 51 RBI. Tucker (4-for-10, .400) paces the squad with 14 RBI and pair of grand slams, while McArthur (3-for-5, .600) has driven in nine runs.
· Freshman Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) is 4-for-9 (.444) as a pinch hitter this season and is 11-for-36 (.306) over his last 11 games.
· Since a perfect fielding night in the opener at Vanderbilt, the Gators have committed 10 errors over the past four outings. UF has an SEC-low fielding percentage of .958, with 52 miscues on the campaign.
· Freshman Ben McMahan (Windermere, Fla.) notched his first RBI with a solo homer against UCF.
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