Top-Ranked Gator Baseball Hosts USF To Open Season
Thursday, February 17, 2011 | Baseball
Kevin O'Sullivan will begin his fourth season at the helm this weekend as No. 1 Florida opens its 2011 campaign by hosting in-state rival USF of the Big East Conference in a weekend series. Game times are at 7 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Friday's opener will be aired live on Sun Sports and all three contests will be carried on GatorVision Online at www.gatorvision.tv.
The Gators will be starting their 56-game regular season at McKethan Stadium for the 11th-consecutive season and the 23rd time in 25 years. This will be the 97th season of baseball at the University of Florida.
Sophomore left-hander Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) will oppose USF senior right-hander Randy Fontanez (5-7, 3.59 in 2010) to kick off the weekend. A third-team preseason All-American selection by Baseball America, he was a member of the 2010 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team that brought home a silver medal from the V FISU World University Championships in Toyko, Japan, last summer. Named as a Freshman All-American by Baseball America, Louisville Slugger, the NCBWA and Yahoo! Sports, Johnson earned spots on the SEC's All-Freshman Team as a starting pitcher and designated hitter. In 16 appearances on the mound, with 14 starts, the southpaw was 6-4 with a 4.03 earned run average and recorded 51 strikeouts in 73.2 innings. Johnson served as the Gators' designated hitter in 27 games and batted .405 (34-for-84) with 21 RBI, 13 runs, nine walks, five doubles, four homers and two grand slams. He was tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Gainesville Regional after going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate and twirling seven shutout innings in the championship game. Johnson batted .500 (14-for-28) in eight postseason games and was 9-for-19 (.474) during the NCAA Tourney.
Saturday's matchup will have sophomore right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) pitching for the hosts against Bulls' senior lefty Andrew Barbosa (8-2, 2.40 in 2010). Randall was named to the Baseball America, Louisville Slugger, NCBWA and Yahoo! Sports Freshman All-American teams last season and was a member of the SEC's All-Freshman squad. He led the Gators with 17 starts and turned in an 8-4 mark with a 3.24 ERA in 20 appearances covering 97.1 innings. Randall finished second on the club with 69 strikeouts, trailing junior Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (82). He led the SEC with a 2.63 ERA in conference games and was chosen Freshman of the Week twice, March 1 and April 12.
The series finale will pit UF freshman right-hander Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) against USF freshman southpaw Nick Gonzalez. Selected in the first round of last June's Major League Baseball Draft by the San Diego Padres with the ninth overall pick, Whitson was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America and was first-team all-state in Class 3A at Chipley High School after going 7-3 with a 0.62 ERA and a single-season school-record 123 strikeouts in 55 innings last season. He allowed just 16 hits and issued 15 walks.
UF went 47-17 overall last season and captured the SEC title for the first time since 2005 on its way to the program's sixth trip to Omaha, Neb., for the NCAA College World Series. In reaching the 40-win plateau for the 19th time in school history, the Gators swept through both the NCAA Regional and Super Regionals on its own turf in Gainesville to reach the final CWS held at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. Florida wound up seventh in Baseball America and eighth in both the Collegiate Baseball and USA Today/ESPN polls after falling to UCLA (11-3) and Florida State (8-5).
Florida made its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance and earned the third national seed, hosting two rounds of postseason action at McKethan Stadium, where the club registered a 33-3 (.917) mark. The Gators went 3-0 to sweep the Gainesville Regional, downing Bethune-Cookman (7-3) and Oregon State (10-2) and then overpowering Florida Atlantic (15-0) to advance to the NCAA Super Regional for the fourth time in school history, all in the past seven years. The following weekend, UF handled Miami (Fla.) twice (7-2, 4-3 in 10 innings) to punch its first ticket to Omaha since '05. It marked the second-straight time that the Gators had eliminated the Hurricanes from NCAA play.
The Orange and Blue is found among the top three of the four major collegiate baseball polls: 1st in Baseball America, 2nd in Collegiate Baseball and 3rd in both USA Today/ESPN Coaches' and the NCBWA. BA's ranking marked the first time in school history that the Gators were in the top spot in the preseason. This was the highest preseason ranking for the squad since 2006, when Florida began second in three of the four listings following its runner-up performance at the 2005 NCAA College World Series.
Florida was predicted to finish first in the SEC, as voted by the league's 12 baseball coaches in the 20th annual preseason SEC poll released on Tuesday. In addition to picking a preseason SEC Champion, the league's head coaches voted a predicted order of finish in the SEC Eastern and Western Divisions. After capturing back-to-back divisional flags, Florida was the favorite in the East with a total of 66 points. Vanderbilt was second with 55 points, while South Carolina, last season's NCAA National Champion, finished third with 48 points. In the West, LSU was the favorite with 63 of a possible 66 points. Arkansas came in second with 49 points and Auburn third with 46 points. The SEC schedule is set to begin the weekend of March 18-20, while the 2011 SEC Tournament will be held from May 25-29 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.
Florida returned 22 letterwinners off of last season's club, including 11 pitchers and eight players who saw the majority of time at their position. Florida boasts a solid nucleus that includes two-time, first-team All-SEC senior second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.224, 42 RBI, 12 2B), 2010 second-team All-SEC recipient junior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (.331, 49 RBI, 17 2B, 11 HR) and five sophomores who were Freshman All-Americans last season: shortstop Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) (.287, 56 R, 53 BB, 23 RBI, 11-16 SB), Johnson (6-4, 4.03, .405, 21 RBI), infielder Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) (.333, 72 RBI, 17 HR, 16 2B), Randall (8-4, 3.24) and catcher Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (.267, 41 RBI, 9 HR). Johnson, Maddox, Panteliodis (11-3, 3.51) and Tucker have been named to preseason All-America teams released by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA.
The Gators' incoming class was ranked as the fifth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and sixth by Baseball America. Ten of the squad's 11 newcomers hail from the talent-laden Sunshine State and the group features seven position players (INF Alex Freedman (Davie, Fla.), OF Connor Mitchell (Tampa, Fla.), INF Jeff Moyer (Winter Springs, Fla.), INF/OF Tyler Palmer (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), INF Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.), INF/OF Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) and INF Jacob Tillotson (Lake City, Fla.) and four pitchers (left-hander Daniel Gibson (Tampa, Fla.) and right-handers Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.), Keenan Kish (Worcester, Pa.) and Whitson.
For the first time in four years, the Gators will have a new starter in center field following the graduation of three-time All-SEC Defensive Team member Matt den Dekker and there are a pair of candidates vying for the position. Sophomore Kamm Washington (Boynton Beach, Fla.)(.308, 9 BB, 8-9 SB) started 18 games in right field last season and played in 27 contests before suffering a season-ending injury in the second game of the series at Tennessee. Senior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) (.255, 22 RBI), who was the ABCA Division I Player of the Year in the National Junior College Athletic Association playing for Young Harris College in 2009, made 31 starts (23 at third base, four in right field and four as the designated hitter) in his debut season at Florida.
Opening Weekend Trends
· USF's visit marks the second-consecutive season that UF has opened the year against the Bulls and the third year in a row the Gators have begun against an opponent from the Big East Conference, as Louisville visited Gainesville in 2009.
· Florida has started on the right foot with sweeps the past three seasons, downing Siena over the weekend of Feb. 22-24, 2008, by scores of 10-7, 4-0 and 13-6, No. 8 Louisville between Feb. 20-22, 2009 (6-3, 10-4, 3-2) and USF over Feb. 19-21, 2010 (6-2, 9-1, 7-6 (10)).
· Dating back to 2002, the Gators hold an 8-1 record in opening weekend series at home. Included in the total are victories over Charleston Southern (2-0 in 2002, 2-1 in 2005), Mercer (2-0 in 2003), Gardner-Webb (2-0 in 2004), Cincinnati (3-0 in 2006), Siena (3-0 in 2008), Louisville (3-0 in 2009) and USF (3-0 in 2010). UF dropped the first two games to VMI in 2007 before salvaging the finale, an ominous start to what turned out to be a 29-30 performance, the program's first losing season since 1990.
· Senior Josh Adams will be making his fourth-consecutive Opening Day start, second in a row at second base. In his collegiate debut to start '08, the Jacksonville native started in center field and was 2-for-5 with two RBI against Siena. In 2009, he drew the assignment on the hot corner in the win over Louisville and went 2-for-4 with a run. Last season, Adams powered the Gators to a 6-2 victory over the Bulls by going 3-for-3 with four RBI, a pair of home runs and a double. He became the first UF player with multiple homers in the season opener since Brad Wilkerson bashed three in a 19-4 romp over Mercer on Jan. 30, 1998.
· Johnson begins the weekend on a career-high 10-game hitting streak in which he is 16-for-34 (.471) with nine RBI and five extra-base hits (three doubles, one triple and one homer). He has not batted against USF in his career.
· With the number of Gator freshmen hoping for their first action versus USF, Maddox belted a two-run homer against the Bulls on his first swing as a collegian. It was sign of things to come, as he established a freshman record with 17 round-trippers and led the team with 72 RBI and a .587 slugging percentage.
· Coach O'Sullivan holds a 6-0 mark against USF, 5-0 in Gainesville.
Florida used a seven-run first inning to set the tone for its 18-8 victory over USF in front an overflow record crowd of 2,517 fans at Red McEwen Field on April 21 last season. Zunino (2-for-3) belted a pair of solo shots as part of a regular-season-high four-homer barrage for the Gators, which claimed all four encounters with the Bulls last year. Florida tallied a season-high 18 runs and pounded out 17 hits in defeating USF for the eighth-straight time. Jonathan Pigott (2-for-7, three RBI) and Tucker (3-for-6, three runs) connected on back-to-back homers in the first inning and Tucker wound up a double shy of hitting for the cycle. Fontana notched career highs in walks (four) and runs scored (four), while Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) had three hits as part of a 3-for-4 outing. Making his first start since April 30, 2006, against Georgia, RHP Chas Spottswood yielded five hits and two runs over four innings. UF drew a season-best 11 walks, matched its high of two triples and did not commit any errors..
The Gators opened last spring with a dramatic sweep of USF between Feb. 19-21 at McKethan Stadium by scores of 6-2, 9-1 and 7-6 in 10 innings. UF's trio of starting pitchers, RHP Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.), Johnson and RHP Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) yielded zero earned runs in 13.1 innings and did not allow any extra-base hits. den Dekker notched three-consecutive multiple-hit outings and was 6-of-13 (.462) out of the leadoff spot against the Bulls.
UF's 33 wins at home last season were the most since the 1998 squad went 35-5 (.875) to set the program record for home victories. That Gator juggernaught used its home cooking en route to the SEC's Eastern Division and regular-season titles, the NCAA South I Regional crown and a berth in the College World Series. With a 33-3 (.917) mark at McKethan Stadium last year, the highest winning percentage in school history, O'Sullivan now sports a 90-19 (.826) record at home. The sweep of Miami (Fla.) in the Super Regional pushed the Gators to 25-4 (.862) in three-game series under his tutelage at McKethan Stadium.
Florida has compiled a 66-26 (.717) record against the 12 schools in the Big East and has never faced Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Rutgers or Seton Hall. The Gators hold a 49-23 (.681) advantage over their most frequent foe, USF, and have also posted winning marks against Cincinnati (3-0), Connecticut (2-0), Louisville (4-1), Notre Dame (4-1), St. John's (1-0), Villanova (2-1) and West Virginia (1-0).
UF sports a 55-40-1 (.578) record in its previous 96 opening day contests, including a 35-20-1 (.634) record at home. The Gators have claimed 22 of their last 28 lid-lifters and 16 of their last 19 season debuts in Gainesville. UF has started the year on its own turf in 12 of the past 13 seasons, with the lone exception a 12-6 victory at Hawaii on Jan. 20, 2000.
O'Sullivan is 3-0 as a head coach in season debuts. He enjoyed a successful start to his head coaching career on Feb. 22, 2008, with a 10-7 victory over Siena in front of 3,408 fans at McKethan Stadium. The Gators rallied from deficits of 5-0 and 6-5 and snapped a 6-6 tie in the sixth with a two-run triple by Brandon McArthur. Adams later added a two-out, two-RBI single in the frame as the hosts sent 10 batters to the plate. Making the first relief appearance of his career, righty Billy Bullock limited the Saints to one run and three hits over six innings and equaled his personal best of six strikeouts to pick up the win.
Behind a seven-inning stint and a career-high seven strikeouts by right-hander Patrick Keating, UF enjoyed a successful 2009 debut with a 6-3 victory over eighth-ranked Louisville on Feb. 20. Bullock closed the game with a pair of scoreless innings to notch his first career save. Holding a slim 4-3 lead in the seventh, the Gators tacked on two insurance runs to capture their opener for the sixth time in the past eight years. Adams went 2-for-4 with a run, while McArthur roped a two-run triple into right center field.
Last February, Adams powered Florida to a 6-2 victory over USF on Feb. 19 by going 3-for-3 with four RBI, a pair of home runs and a double. In his collegiate debut, Maddox went 2-for-4 and blasted a two-run homer on the first swing of his Gator career. Making his return to the lineup after missing the 2009 campaign, Toledo scattered three hits, registered four strikeouts and allowed an unearned run in 3.1 innings.
Gator Bytes
· The Gators' eight-game winning streak against the Bulls is longest in the series and began with a 6-5 triumph in Gainesville on March 29, 2006. USF swept both ends of a home-and-home series in 2005 on May 10 (8-7 in Gainesville) and May 11 (11-5 in Tampa), lighting a fire under the Orange and Blue that resulted in a stretch of six wins in its final seven regular-season games and a three-game sweep at Vanderbilt that sealed the SEC title.
· Florida's 47 wins last year were its highest victory total since the 2005 College World Series runner-up squad finished 48-23.
· Maddox, who started games at third base (29), designated hitter (19), first base (14) and catcher (one), led the Gators in RBI (72), multiple-RBI games (21), homers (17) and sacrifice flies (five) and was named the 2010 SEC Freshman of the Year. Tucker set the single-season school record of 85 RBI in 2009 when he claimed the team's Triple Crown with a .364 batting average, 85 RBI and 15 home runs.
· Johnson hit a team-high .500 (14-for-28) over Florida's 11 postseason games, with nine RBI, four runs and four extra-base hits (two doubles, one homer, one triple).
· UF was second in the SEC with 94 thefts in 129 chances. den Dekker was 23-for-30 to lead the team and finished tied with Jim Watkins (1978-79) for fifth on the school's career list with 65 SB.
· Led by 11 from Bullock, Florida totaled 13 saves in its 42 victories in 2009. UF had 18 saves last year from five players: Kevin Chapman (11), Jeff Barfield (two), Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (three), Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (one) and Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) (one).
· Rodriguez notched the decisive win against Miami (Fla.) on June 12 in the NCAA Super Regional with one inning of work and picked up his first career save by tossing two scoreless innings and allowing one hit in the elimination game against Vanderbilt on May 28. Leadoff batters were 4-for-25 (.160) versus the southpaw last year.
· UF's 18 saves equaled the team's single-season best set in 1991 and were its most since 2005 (17).
· Florida's bullpen was 17-2 with 18 saves and a 4.35 ERA in 254.1 innings, its starters were 30-15 with a 3.94 ERA in 310.2 innings.
· The Gators had a .297 batting average against left-handed pitchers and also a .297 clip against right-handers.
· Thirty-seven of Maddox's 72 RBI came with two out, while 24 of den Dekker's career-high 49 RBI came with two down.
· Florida was 31-for-83 (.373) with the bases loaded with 91 RBI and three grand slams. Two came from Johnson, who was 4-for-6 (.667) and tallied 12 RBI with the sacks full. The dual threat was 5-for-9 (.556) at the SEC Tourney and became the first player from Florida with two doubles in a game during the tourney since Matt LaPorta accomplished the feat in 2005.
· The Gators' season totals of 110 doubles and 83 homers were their most since 113 two-baggers and 85 round-trippers in 2005.
· Ben McMahan (Windermere, Fla.) (.325, 11 RBI) was called on to pinch hit most frequently and was 5-for-15 (.333). He was 11-for-24 (.458) when hitting with two outs.
· After sitting out the finale at South Carolina and UF's four SEC Tourney games with a thumb injury, Zunino returned to the lineup and batted .364 (4-for-11) during Regionals. He opened the weekend by going 1-for-3 with an RBI single against Bethune-Cookman, had a two-run double in the win over Oregon State and went 2-for-4 and scored twice against FAU. Zunino later came through with a two-run single in game one against Miami (Fla.) during Super Regionals to expand the Gators' lead to 3-0.
· 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, was sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a hamstring injury suffered in a collision with the right-field wall at Tennessee on April 10.
· The Orange and Blue enjoyed a 439-290 scoring advantage, led by a 64-25 disparity in the third inning and a 60-32 cushion in the fifth frame. UF held the advantage in each inning except the second, when foes had a 48-40 edge.
· The Gators were 36-5 (.878) scoring first and 11-12 (.478) when their opponents did. UF was 34-3 (.919) when having more hits than its foe and 10-114 (.417) when out-hit.
· Florida was 10-3 (.769) in one-run games last season after going 8-7 (.533) in 2009 and 6-8 (.429) in 2008.
· The Gators were 41-0 leading after six innings, 44-0 leading after seven innings and 43-0 last year when leading after eight innings. UF was 1-17 (.056) trailing after six, 2-16 (.111) when down after seven and 3-16 (.158) when behind after eight innings.
· The Gators committed a league-low 54 errors in 64 games and boasted a school-record .978 fielding percentage that led the SEC and was seventh nationally. UF played flawless defense in 30 of 64 contests and sported a 25-5 (.833) mark in those games. The Orange and Blue ranked 11th in the SEC with a .966 clip in 2009 and the school's previous top fielding percentage of .968 was set in 1997.
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