No. 1 Florida Baseball Hosts Georgia Southern On Tuesday
Monday, March 7, 2011 | Baseball
Fresh off its first-ever three-game sweep of Miami (Fla.) at McKethan Stadium, No. 1 Florida (10-1) welcomes Georgia Southern (7-5) of the Southern Conference to town for a 7 p.m. matchup on Tuesday. In its most recent action, the Eagles dropped two of three outings at home to St. John's (4-3, 3-14, 3-7).
For the Gators, junior Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) (0-0, 3.86) will be making his first start since June 7, 2009, in the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional against Southern Miss (no-decision, 3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 K). The left-hander is tied for the team lead with five appearances this season and has registered five strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Maronde's most recent action was a 1.1-inning stint versus Florida State on March 1 in which he had a pair of K and did not allow any hits or runs. Sophomore right-hander Chris Beck (1-0, 2.12) will draw the assignment for GSU.
Florida will enter Tuesday's game against Georgia Southern riding a school-record home winning streak of 24 games. UF's last loss at McKethan Stadium came on April 23, 2010, an 8-3 setback to No. 4 Arkansas in the opener of the weekend series. The Gators have captured their last 12 regular-season weekend series in Gainesville since falling two out of three to No. 16 Ole Miss from April 17-19, 2009.
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan boasts a 99-19 (.839) record at McKethan Stadium at the helm of the Gators, including a 9-0 start this year. The 10-1 start by the Gators is their best since 2003. Through 11 games during O'Sullivan's four-year tenure, Florida started 8-3 in 2008, 7-4 in 2009 and 9-2 last season.
Florida rebounded from a 5-3 mid-week loss to No. 5 Florida State to notch its first-ever sweep of No. 24 Miami (Fla.) in Gainesville by scores of 8-3, 1-0 and 5-3. The Gators had never been perfect against the Hurricanes in a three-game set in Gainesville and took all three meetings from UM for only the second time in school history (Feb. 17-19, 2006). In addition, UF was undefeated in the regular-season series versus Miami for just the seventh time following 2-0 triumphs in 1948 (Gainesville), 1954 (Coral Gables), 1956 (Coral Gables), 1976 (Gainesville) and 1978 (Gainesville) and the 3-0 sweep in 2006 (Coral Gables). O'Sullivan's club has now taken nine of the last 10 encounters from the Hurricanes, including six in a row.
Junior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (3-for-4) broke a 2-2 tie on Sunday with a lead-off homer and junior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) (1-for-4) came through with a two-run double later in the sixth to provide added insurance in the 5-3 triumph to close the weekend. Junior Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (1-1, 3.00) retired all eight Hurricanes to earn his first win of the campaign, while junior Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.) (2-0, 0.00) recorded the final three outs after entering the ballgame with a pair of runners board and none out to collect his first career save.
Senior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.) came through with a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning to drive in senior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) with the game's only run as UF edged Miami, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon. The duo of sophomore Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) and DeSclafani combined to one-hit the Hurricanes and notched the Gators' first shutout of Miami since Feb. 13, 2004 (3-0 in Coral Gables).
Sophomore Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) threw five scoreless innings and the Gators raced out to an 8-0 lead through four innings on its way to an 8-3 victory over Miami on Friday night. Johnson (3-0) matched his career high of nine strikeouts and has yet to yield a run in 17 innings this season… The southpaw was supported by an offense that featured a season-best 3-for-3, three-RBI performance by Adams and a two-run homer by sophomore Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) (2-for-5). UF's pitching staff matched its season high of 13 K… Over the three games, the Gators batted .290 (27-for-93) and out-scored the Hurricanes, 14-6, while their pitching staff compiled an ERA of 2.00, with 28 strikeouts and six walks.
Third baseman Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.) was chosen as the SEC Freshman of the Week for the first time on Monday after going 4-for-10 (.400) over the Gators' four contests last week. All four of his hits were doubles and he scored twice. Over the weekend, Powers went 3-for-6 (.500) in the sweep of No. 24 Miami (Fla.). He had his first career multiple-hit effort in the finale, when he was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Powers opened the scoring on Sunday with his first career RBI, a second-inning double that plated sophomore Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) with the Orange and Blue going on to post a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes. The rookie also doubled and laid down his first career sacrifice bunt on Saturday, 1-0 thriller that UF captured on a pinch-hit, run-scoring single in the eighth inning by Smith. In 10 games played, including six starts on the hot corner, Powers is hitting .250 (5-for-20).
DeSclafani played a pivotal role in UF's sweep of Miami (Fla.). Over two appearances in the series, the righty collected a win and had a save in three scoreless innings. The righty combined with Randall on a one-hit, 1-0 shutout of the Hurricanes to clinch the series on Saturday, when he was the winning pitcher by retiring all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings. DeSclafani preserved Sunday's 5-3 win after coming into the game with two runners aboard and none out for his first career save. In three games last week, he gave up one hit in 4.2 innings with six K, one walk and zero runs and is now 2-0 with a 0.00 earned run average, 10 strikeouts and one walk in 9.2 innings this season.
Tucker went 7-for-17 (.412) over Florida's four games last week, with a .706 slugging percentage and 12 total bases. The right fielder tallied three RBI, scored two runs and had three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer). He went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in the loss to No. 5 Florida State and batted .385 (5-for-13) in the three wins over Miami (Fla.). Tucker snapped a 2-2 tie in the finale with a lead-off homer in the sixth and went 3-for-4. He opened the series by going 2-for-5 with an RBI single as part of the Gators' four-run second inning. Tucker is batting .435 (20-for-46) with team-highs in RBI (12), multiple-hit games (7), doubles (5), multiple-RBI games (3) and homers (3).
Gator Bytes
*Florida's last non-conference loss at McKethan Stadium was to Charleston Southern, 6-3, on March 14, 2010.
*Senior second baseman Josh Adams was 4-for-8 (.500) against Miami (Fla.) and is hitting .353 with seven runs and five RBI.
*Sophomore LHP Brian Johnson is 3-0 and has not been scored upon in 17 innings this season, with 20 strikeouts and two walks.
*Sophomore RHP Hudson Randall is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA and has 15 K and zero walks in 18 innings and freshman RHP Karsten Whitson is 2-0 with a 1.76 ERA and has 18 K and three walks in 15.1 innings.
*Florida's starting pitchers are 7-1 with a 1.27 ERA and a 57:8 strikeout to walk ratio in 56.2 innings of work.
*The pitching staff's three saves all come from different players: junior Anthony DeSclafani, sophomore Steven Rodriguez and junior Tommy Toledo.
*Junior Daniel Pigott's current 10-game hitting streak is the longest by a UF player and brings him closer to his career best of 12 games from April 9-May 8, 2010. Pigott went 4-for-9 (.444) against Miami (Fla.) last weekend and he continues to lead the squad with a .514 (18-for-35) batting average.
*Sophomore Kamm Washington (.300, four RBI) enters the week on a career-high five-game hitting streak in which he is 5-for-12 (.417).
*UF has six homers in their 11 outings, three by junior Preston Tucker, two by sophmore Mike Zunino and one by sophomore Austin Maddox.
*The Gators are 8-for-13 on the basepaths, while opponents are 3-for-5.
*Florida has played error-free baseball in seven of 11 games this year.
*Florida is hitting .367 (51-for-139) against left-handers and .297 (66-for-222) against right-handers.
*Lead-off batters are 38-for-90 (.422) for the Gators, but just 25-for-99 (.253) for opponents.
*Gator pinch-hitters are 5-for-15 (.333) this year, as junior Ben McMahan and junior Jeff Moyer are 1-for-3 (.333) and Washington is 1-for-2 (.500). Senior Bryson Smith delivered the eventual game-winning single as a pinch hitter against Miami (Fla.) last Saturday.
*Opposing hitters are 11-for-80 (.138) with runners in scoring position, while Florida is 44-for-130 (.338).
*Florida has totaled 13 sacrifices, led by two sac flies apiece by Adams and Maddox. Adams has a team-high three sacrifice hits.
*The Gators have roped 25 doubles, led by five apiece from Pigott and Tucker.
*With three shutouts already this season, UF has matched its entire output in 64 games last year.
*Florida is 7-for-12 (.583) with the bases loaded, while its foes are 1-for-3 (.333).
*Led by eight from Pigott and four from Johnson, the Gators have 27 two-out RBI, compared to just five for opponents.
*Opponents are batting just .107 against Johnson - lefties are 1-for-11 (.091) and righties are 5-for-45 (.111). Foes are 0-for-16 with runners on base against him.
*After notching a school-record .978 fielding percentage last year, the Gators have picked up right where they left off by committing just six errors through their first 11 games for a .986 clip.
