No. 6 Baseball Hosts No. 4 FSU On Tuesday
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | Baseball
No. 4 Florida State (13-2) and No. 6 Florida (12-3) meet in the second of four regular-season meetings on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium. First pitch will be at 6:35 p.m. and the game will be carried live on FOX Sports Florida. The Seminoles drew first blood with a 10-5 victory at the inaugural Florida Four Tourney in Tampa on March 2. The Sunshine State rivals will also meet in Jacksonville on March 30 and in Tallahassee on April 13.
Freshman Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (2-0, 2.51) will be making his third start of the season for the Gators and will be facing FSU for the second time. In his most recent outing, the right-hander had a career-high five strikeouts and allowed one run in an 8-2 triumph over Illinois State on March 9. Randall was the first reliever out of the bullpen versus the Seminoles two weeks ago and gave up six hits and three runs over three innings.
Freshman RHP Robert Benincasa (1-0, 1.64) is set for his third start and fifth appearance of the year on Tuesday for the Seminoles. In his last start on March 10 against North Florida, he worked a career-high six innings and permitted only one run to earn his first collegiate win.
A seven-run first inning powered Florida State to a 10-5 win over Florida earlier this season. The Seminoles exploded out of the gates with seven runs on six hits and two hit batters in the first inning, chasing sophomore starter Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) before he recorded an out.
Freshman Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) belted his first career homer in third inning to put the Gators on the board and UF rallied in the ninth with four runs on six hits to reduce the deficit to five runs. FSU's Daniel Bennett had sophomore Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) pop up with the bases full to end the game. One positive was that Florida's bullpen totaled 10 strikeouts.
In the teams' last encounter in Gainesville, Buddy Munroe delivered a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Gators to a 5-4 triumph over Florida State at McKethan Stadium on St. Patrick's Day last spring. Munroe (3-for-5) had a career-high three hits and notched two RBI as Florida defeated FSU for the first time since a 6-1 decision on March 18, 2008. Tony Davis earned the win after inheriting a bases-loaded situation in the ninth and limiting the high-powered Seminoles to just a run.
After the visitors had tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the inning, Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led off with a walk from Jimmy Marshall and took second on a wild pitch. Brandon McArthur (2-for-5, two runs) legged out a bunt single for runners on the corners and Marshall struck out Riley Cooper. Daniel Pigott moved to second without drawing a throw and the Seminoles elected to walk Clayton Pisani intentionally to fill the sacks. Munroe sent a 2-2 offering from the right-hander into right field to bring home den Dekker with the decisive run.
DeSclafani (2-1) hurled a season-high 5.2 innings to earn his second-straight victory as Florida downed Army, 9-3, on Monday at McKethan Stadium. Sophomore Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) drove in three runs, highlighted by his first homer of the year, and freshman Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) was 2-for-5 and collected two RBI for the Gators. Senior Jeff Barfield (Perry, Ga.) allowed one run over the final 3.1 innings to notch his second save. den Dekker led off the bottom of the first inning with a homer, the Gators' first time beginning a game with a round-tripper since Avery Barnes accomplished the feat against South Carolina on April 25, 2009. Daniel Pigott (2-for-3) had two of UF's season-high five doubles and the hosts played error-free baseball for the eighth time in 15 games this year.
Gator Bytes
*Florida is a 10-1 (.909) at home this season and is 28-5 (.848) at home in the month of March under Kevin O'Sullivan.
*O'Sullivan has a 3-5 (.375) record against Florida State, 2-0 in Gainesville, 1-2 in Tallahassee and 0-3 at neutral sites (two in Jacksonville and one in Tampa).
*Maddox is off to a terrific start to his collegiate career, leading the Gators in the “Triple Crown” categories of batting average (.385), RBI (20) and home runs (four). He also paces the squad in slugging percentage (.646), multiple-RBI games (six) and doubles (five).
*Tucker has already drawn 12 walks in 15 games this year, including four intentional passes versus Illinois State. He walked 21 times in 62 games as a rookie.
*Although he drove in just one run during UF's first nine games, Tucker has tallied nine RBI in his last three contests. He had a season-high five in the 16-10 shootout against Charleston Southern on Saturday. Tucker needs four RBI to reach the century mark in his career.
*Freshman Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) has started all 15 games at shortstop and has yet to commit an error in 69 chances. Gator shortstops combined to make 21 errors in 2009.
*After ranking 11th in the SEC last season with a .966 fielding percentage, the Orange and Blue boasts a .981 fielding clip to rank second behind Alabama in the most recent league statistics. Florida has committed 11 errors this year and has gone six consecutive games without multiple miscues.
*UF's streak of 23-consecutive stolen bases dating back to March 5 at Miami (Fla.) was snapped in the first inning on Monday night by Army. UF is 29-of-35 on the basepaths.
*den Dekker is 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts this season and is 48-for-51 in his career. He needs five thefts to pass Mark Kiger (2000-02) for 10th on the school's all-time list.
*Florida is hitting .328 (64-for-195) against left-handers and .319 (106-for-332) against right-handers.
*The Gators have 28 doubles already and the five two-baggers versus the Black Knights were their most since five against Campbell on March 4, 2008. UF has doubled in five-straight outings and has 10 in the past three games.
*Maddox is batting .419 (18-for-43) with runners on base and occupies the top spot on the club with 11 RBI with two outs.
*The Gators have a .263 (5-for-19) average when pinch-hitting. Daniel Pigott has been called upon the most and is 1-for-5 (.200).
*UF is 11-for-29 (.379) with 32 RBI and one grand slam with the bases full this year.
*Fifty-one of the squad's 110 RBI have come with two outs, good for a .464 rate.
*Florida's six saves this year are from four different relievers: Barfield (two), junior Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) (two), sophomore Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) and sophomore Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.).
*Opposing left-handers are 1-for-9 (.111) against Chapman and righties are 3-for-20 (.150).
*The Gators are holding foes to a .232 (39-for-168) average with two outs.
*Sophomore Justin Poovey (Granite Falls, N.C.) has made five relief appearances and has six K in 8.0 innings to go along with a 1.12 ERA.
*Maronde rates second on the squad behind redshirt sophomore Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (19) with 17 strikeouts in 10.0 frames.
*Freshman Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) (0-0, 1.08 ERA) threw four scoreless innings on Sunday, the longest stint of his career.
*The Gators are 10-0 this season when scoring first and are 9-1 when out-hitting their opponent.
-UF-
