No. 6 Baseball Faces Illinois State In Mid-Week Series
Monday, March 8, 2010 | Baseball
After splitting four games away from the friendly confines of McKethan Stadium last week, No. 6 Florida (7-2) begins a season-high 10-game stretch in Gainesville on Tuesday by hosting Illinois State (4-5) of the Missouri Valley Conference in the opener of a two-game series. First pitch on both nights will be at 6:35 p.m. and the games will be carried live on GatorVision Online.
In a matchup of freshman right-handers, Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (1-0, 2.89) will draw the start against Redbird Brad Sorkin (0-0, 7.20) in game one. Sophomore Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (0-1, 10.38) will start Wednesday's game against an ISU pitcher to be announced.
The Gators claimed two of three meetings at No. 10 Miami (Fla.) for the squad's first regular-season series triumph over the Hurricanes since 2007. Freshman Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) went 7-for-11 (.636) with four runs, two stolen bases and boasted a perfect fielding percentage in 11 chances at shortstop and was later named as the SEC Freshman of the Week. Sophomore first baseman Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) batted .500 (5-for-10) during the series with three walks, two doubles and scored twice, raising his average to .353.
Florida captured Friday's opener, 7-1, as sophomore Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) held UM hitless into the fifth and registered a career-high eight strikeouts. Making his initial start of the season, Panteliodis (3-0, 1.93) gave up two hits over 5.2 innings and was supported by an offense that plated four runs in the third and three in the eighth. Sophomore Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) collected his first career save with seven strikeouts over 3.1 hitless and scoreless innings. Junior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) and freshman Austin Maddox (Jacksonville , Fla.) (.333 during the series) opened the scoring with two-run singles in the fourth inning. Freshman Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) drove in a career-high two runs, courtesy of his eighth-inning single.
On Saturday, Miami scored three unearned runs in the fifth to turn a one-run deficit into a lead it would not relinquish on its way to a 9-6 win. Junior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) had his first homer at Florida with a three-run bomb in the seventh and his first theft in the second inning.
The duo of redshirt sophomore Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) and junior Kevin Chapman (Coral Springs, Fla.) limited Miami to four hits and Smith bashed a three-run homer to lift Florida to a 4-2 victory in the rubber game on Sunday. The Gators took a series in Coral Gables for just the fifth time since 1960. Toledo (2-0, 1.98), who missed last year while recovering from an injured shoulder, scattered three hits and gave up one earned run over five innings. In his third start and fourth appearance of the campaign, the righty totaled four strikeouts. Chapman recorded his second save with a career-long four-inning relief stint in which he gave up one hit with a pair of strikeouts. The southpaw had not surrendered any earned runs in five appearances. Smith (1-for-4) launched his second three-run homer in as many days in the fourth inning to move the Gators in front for good. UF hit .296 (32-for-108) in the series, out-scored the Hurricanes by a 17-12 count and was 7-for-9 on the basepaths.
Senior Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) raised his hitting streak to 18 games with a one-out single in the third inning on Sunday against Miami junior hurler Eric Erickson. The Gator center fielder batted .333 (5-for-15) against the Hurricanes and is 28-for-80 (.350) with 15 RBI and 13 runs during the skein. den Dekker leads UF in batting average (.409), hits (18), stolen bases (4-for-4) and is tied with Fontana for the top spot with nine runs.
Gator Bytes
*Florida is a perfect 5-0 at home this season and is 62-16 (.795) at home under Kevin O'Sullivan.
*In addition to den Dekker's 18-game hitting streak, the trio of Tucker (8), Fontana (7) and Maddox (6) also sport modest hitting streaks.
*Tuesday night's Gator starter, Randall, will be making his second start and fourth appearance of the season. The righty has given up 10 hits and three runs in 9.1 innings and has compiled a 2.89 earned run average. Randall threw five scoreless innings in his previous start against UCF on Feb. 24, allowing three hits with three strikeouts and a walk.
*Fontana has started all nine games at shortstop and has yet to commit an error in 43 chances.
*The Gators are now 12-for-17 on the basepaths so far this season after being successful on seven of nine attempts at Miami.
*Florida is hitting .339 (61-for-180) against right-handers and .299 (44-for-147) against left-handers.
*Sophomore Tyler Thompson (Tequesta, Fla.) is batting .545 (6-for-11) with runners on base and leads the Gators with six RBI with two outs.
*UF is 5-for-17 (.294) with 14 RBI when the bases are loaded this year.
*Twenty-nine of the squad's 61 RBI have come with two outs.
*Opposing lefties are 1-for-9 (.111) against Chapman and opponents are 1-for-9 (.111) with runners on base versus sophomore righty Justin Poovey (Granite Falls, N.C.).
-UF-
