No. 7 Baseball Travels To Kentucky For SEC East Clash
Thursday, April 15, 2010 | Baseball
No. 7 Florida (23-9/8-4 SEC) makes its second-straight weekend trip to face an East foe when it visits Kentucky (21-12/4-8 SEC) for three games. The first two games from Cliff Hagan Stadium will be carried on the Big Blue Sports Network and will be shown in Gainesville on Cox Channel 21 at 7 p.m., while Sunday's finale will begin at 1 p.m. In their last league outings, the Gators captured two of three games at Tennessee and the Wildcats downed No. 19 Alabama twice in three matchups at home.
Sophomore Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (6-1, 1.99) will meet fellow left-hander Logan Darnell (3-2, 4.62) in Friday's opener. Panteliodis has worked at least seven innings in four of his last five starts and leads UF in innings pitched (45.1) and strikeouts (36). In his three road starts, the lefty is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA and has 18 strikeouts in 21 innings.
Freshman right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (3-3, 3.98) will meet UK lefty Taylor Rogers (4-3, 4.86) in Saturday's game two. Right-handers are batting .200 against Randall and he will be making his team-leading eighth start. In his most recent outing, the rookie picked up the rubber-game victory at Tennessee by limiting the Vols to one run on four singles over a career-high eight innings. Neither team has announced a starter for Sunday's contest.
UF defeated Kentucky twice in three meetings at McKethan Stadium in the final regular-season series last May to capture its first SEC Eastern Division title since 2005. It was also the SEC-leading 19th divisional crown for the program. The Gators finished league play with a 19-11 record, one game behind co-champions LSU and Ole Miss, who were both 20-10.
Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) drove in six runs during the UK series to break the UF freshman record previously held by Brad Wilkerson (68, 1996). Four unearned runs in the seventh by the visitors paved the way to Saturday's 13-9 Florida victory. Mike Mooney snapped an 8-8 tie with a bases-loaded, two-out single and Tucker (2-for-5) followed with a two-run double to help the Gators take the rubber game of the series. Panteliodis notched the win with 1.1 scoreless innings and Tyler Thompson (Tequesta, Fla.) was a career-high 4-for-4, belted his first career homer and also contributed career bests in RBI (three) and runs (three). Thompson entered the game in the fourth inning after classmate Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) was injured sliding into third base.
An eight-run third inning keyed Kentucky to an 8-7 win in the second game. The Gators scored four runs in the ninth to pull within one and had the potential tying run on third base before Darnell recorded the final two outs. With UF trailing, 8-4, Tucker belted what looked to be a game-tying grand slam to deep left field that Chad Wright snared with a phenomenal catch at the wall.
On Thursday, left-hander Stephen Locke worked 7.1 innings for his fourth league win, Adams had two-run singles in both the fifth and sixth innings and Avery Barnes was 4-for-5 with three runs as UF clinched the East with a 10-3 triumph. Florida's bullpen finished the series with a 2.13 earned run average, giving up three earned runs over 12.2 innings.
In their last trip to Lexington, the Gators dropped two of three games between April 18 and 20, 2008. Florida overcame a 6-0 deficit and had a 7-6 lead in the eighth before Kentucky used a five-run spurt to collect an 11-7 win on Friday. Patrick Keating improved to 7-0 by notching Saturday's 13-7 victory over the Wildcats. The 'Cats used a bases-loaded walk in the 10th to seize a 3-2 win in the finale. Brandon McArthur returned to the lineup after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against North Florida on April 2 and was 5-for-9 (.556) at UK. Barnes went 5-for-6 in game two of the series, becoming the first Florida player since Jeff Corsaletti on March 22, 2005, versus UCF, to have a five-hit outing. Barnes contributed a 3-for-5 effort on Sunday and led the Orange and Blue with a .563 (9-for-16) clip. Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) hit a go-ahead two-run homer on Friday to give UF a 7-6 lead in the seventh and belted a game-tying two-run jack in the sixth in the finale. On the weekend, he was 4-for-10 (.400) and drove in seven runs. In his weekend starting debut, Locke set a career high with eight strikeouts over 6.2 innings on Sunday after being charged with Friday's defeat. The 3-2 loss in 10 innings dropped the Gators to 0-2 in extra frames at the time.
Gator Bytes
*The Gators have committed an SEC-low 25 errors in 32 games and boast a .980 fielding percentage that is the best in the league. UF has played flawless defense in 18 of 32 contests and sports a 15-3 (.833) mark in those games.
*Kevin O'Sullivan is 3-3 (.500) against Kentucky: 2-1 (.667) in Gainesville and 1-2 (.333) in Lexington.
*The Gators are looking for their first series victory at UK since posting a sweep in 2004, as they have dropped 2-1 decisions on their last two visits in 2006 and 2008.
*Sophomore Preston Tucker (.353, 24 RBI, 9 2B, 4 HR) enters the weekend on a team-high seven-game hitting streak in which he is 8-for-21 (.381) with four RBI and two runs.
*Junior Josh Adams ended a seven-game RBI drought with a three-run homer against UT last Sunday and is 7-for-38 (.184) with five RBI and five runs in his last 10 games.
*Versatile freshman Austin Maddox, who has started games at designated hitter (14), third base (10), first base (seven) and catcher (one), continues to pace UF's offense in RBI (37), multiple-hit games (15), multiple-RBI games (11), doubles (10), homers (nine), hit-by-pitches (five) and slugging percentage (.625). He is riding a five-game hitting streak in which he is 7-for-22 (.318) with four runs and three RBI.
*Opponents are 18-for-27 on stolen-base opportunities against the Gators, while freshman Mike Zunino has thrown out eight of 23 runners.
*UF is 49-of-68 on the basepaths and is fourth in the SEC in thefts. Senior Matt den Dekker is 10-for-14 but has been thrown out in his last three attempts.
*By being plunked twice in the finale at Tennessee, den Dekker climbed to eighth on the school's all-time list with 24 HBP. Current Cleveland Indians' first baseman Matt LaPorta (2004-07) holds the record of 51.
*Junior LHP Kevin Chapman, who made 11 appearances last year and 30 total in his career entering this season, is 1-0 with a team-low 1.16 earned average in 14 appearances covering 23.1 innings. He ranks third in the SEC with six saves.
*Led by 11 from Billy Bullock, Florida totaled 13 saves in its 42 victories in 2009. UF has 10 saves already this year from four players: Chapman (six), senior Jeff Barfield (two), as well as sophomores Greg Larson (one) and Nick Maronde (one).
*Not only did sophomore Jerico Weitzel make several sterling defensive plays at third base with six assists on Sunday, he notched his first multiple-hit game of the season by going 3-for-4 with three doubles and also scored twice.
*Tucker is batting .353 (24-for-68) and Maddox is hitting .350 (28-for-80) with runners on base, with Tucker at .389 (14-for-36) and Maddox at .333 (16-for-48) with RISP.
*den Dekker (.406) and sophomore Tyler Thompson (.387) are the most effective starters with two outs, while sophomore Ben McMahan is 6-for-8 (.750) with two down in an inning. Maddox leads the Gators with 17 two-out RBI and McMahan is 3-for-7 (.429) as a pinch-hitter.
*Freshman Kamm Washington, who started 18 games in right field and was hitting .308 with 15 runs, nine walks, eight stolen bases, six RBI and three doubles in 27 games, will be sidelined for the season due to a hamstring injury suffered in a collision with the right-field wall at Tennessee last Saturday.
*The Gators' starting third baseman, junior Bryson Smith, has been sidelined for the past 14 games after injuring his finger against Mississippi State on March 20 but is expected back for the Kentucky series.
*Freshman lefty Steven Rodriguez, who boasts an 0.87 ERA in eight appearances over 10.1 innings, looks to return from an injured finger since his most recent action on March 24 against Florida Gulf Coast.
*Sophomore Nick Maronde (2-0, 4.64) is a Lexington native who attended Lexington Catholic High School and helped the club to the 2006 Kentucky state championship.
*Scoring first, the Gators are 16-2 (.889) and their opponents are 7-7 (.500).
*UF is 16-2 (.889) when having more hits than its foe and 6-7 (.462) when out-hit.
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