No. 3 Florida & No. 4 Vanderbilt Face Off For SEC Tourney Crown
Sunday, May 29, 2011 | Baseball
Third-seeded Florida (44-16) will face fourth-seeded Vanderbilt (47-9) in the title game of the SEC Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The game will be carried live on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. ET and can be heard on WRUF SportsRadio 850.
The Commodores have captured all three outings at the event, defeating fifth-seeded Georgia (10-0), top-seeded South Carolina (7-2) and second-seeded Arkansas (3-2). The Gators defeated sixth-seeded Mississippi State (7-5) and seventh-seeded Alabama (6-0) before falling to Georgia on Saturday afternoon, 4-3. UF rebounded to down the Bulldogs, 3-2, to advance to the final.
Junior Alex Panteliodis (Tampa, Fla.) (4-2, 4.65) will be making his ninth start and 15th appearance of the season and will match up against Vanderbilt senior righty Taylor Hill (4-0, 3.16). This will be Panteliodis' first starting assignment against an SEC opponent this year. Over 40.2 innings, the left-hander has 35 strikeouts and permitted eight walks. Panteliodis' last action came on May 17, when he gave up four hits and four runs, with three strikeouts and two walks, over 2.2 innings versus Jacksonville.
Florida is playing in the championship contest for the 11th time in school history and first time since suffering a 9-6 loss to LSU on May 21, 2000. The Gators have emerged victorious on five occasions (1981, 1982, 1984, 1998 and 1991) and been the runner-up five times (1977, 1979, 1992, 1996 and 2000).
Sunday's matchup will mark the eighth time that Florida has met Vanderbilt in the SEC Tourney. The Commodores have emerged victorious in six of the previous seven encounters and had claimed the first six meetings before UF ousted Vandy from last season's event, 5-2.
Florida collected three wins in Hoover this season for the first time since 2002, when it finished 3-2 (W, L, W, W, L). The Gators are seeking to win a fourth game at the SEC Tourney for the first time since going 4-0 in Baton Rouge, La., to win the 1991 event.
In the teams' regular-season series, Florida split the first two games with No. 2 Vanderbilt, taking the opener, 6-5, before suffering a 14-1 setback in game two. The Gators and Commodores battled into the 12th inning of the finale before UF prevailed, 6-3, to capture the series and forge a three-way tie on top of the SEC standings with the Commodores and South Carolina heading into the final series of the regular season. Sophomore Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) led the team with a .455 (5-for-11) average in Nashville but the squad was held to a .200 clip. Six of Florida's 21 hits in the series were homers, including a pair by sophomore Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) in Sunday's finale.
Zunino delivered a three-run homer in the 12th to lift the Gators over Vanderbilt, 6-3, to take the rubber game of the series. Deadlocked at 3-3, Fontana (3-for-5, two runs) walked to open the 12th and was sacrificed to second on a two-strike bunt by senior Bryson Smith (Watkinsville, Ga.). The Commodores walked junior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) intentionally and Zunino (2-for-5, five RBI, two HR) greeted junior Navery Moore with his second homer of the day, a three-run shot into the right-field bleachers that gave the Gators their first lead of the afternoon at 6-3. Zunino had blasted a solo homer in the seventh to pull UF within 3-2. Junior Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) struck out three batters over two scoreless innings to earn the win and wiggled out of a jam in the 11th when the Commodores had the potential winning run on third base with one down. UF's five relievers tossed 7.2 innings of scoreless ball and gave up just three hits. Junior Nick Maronde (Lexington, Ky.) followed freshman starter Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) and permitted one hit over 3.1 innings with three K.
Vanderbilt had evened the series on Saturday by reeling off 14 unanswered runs after Smith had started the third inning with his second homer. The Commodores banged out 18 hits, scored multiple runs in four different frames and relied on the pitching of junior Grayson Garvin to set the stage for the decisive game.
Senior Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) cranked a game-tying homer to begin the ninth and Smith snapped an 0-for-16 drought with an RBI double as Florida edged Vanderbilt, 6-5, in the completion of Friday night's suspended contest at Hawkins Field on Saturday afternoon. Adams tied the game at 5-5 with a leadoff homer in the ninth off Moore, who had not permitted an extra-base hit the entire season. The blast was the fifth for Adams and came against a hurler who possessed a microscopic 0.36 earned run average entering the ballgame. In the ninth, junior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a one-out single into left field and raced down to second base on a wild pitch. Fontana (1-for-3, two RBI) drew a walk for two Gators aboard and Smith came through with a double to right field that brought across Pigott for a 6-5 lead. Sophomore Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) picked up his second save by putting down Vanderbilt in order in the ninth to preserve the triumph for junior Anthony DeSclafani (Freehold, N.J.). The Gators had been 1-11 when trailing after eight innings until that afternoon's heroics.
Gator Bytes
*Kevin O'Sullivan is 9-5 (.643) against Vanderbilt, 5-1 (.833) in Gainesville, 3-3 (.500) in Nashville and 1-1 (.500) at the SEC Tournament.
*The Gators are 7-4 (.636) against top-five opponents this season but are 0-5 versus top-five foes at neutral sites under O'Sullivan.
*Sophomore Cody Dent entered the SEC Tourney 4-for-36 (.111) on the season. He is 3-for-11 (.273) over the four games starting at third base.
*Senior Bryson Smith leads the Gators in Hoover with a .412 (7-for-17) clip, with three RBI and a pair of stolen bases.
*Junior Daniel Pigott has established a team record with five stolen bases in five attempts during the SEC Tourney. After not playing in the opener against Mississippi State, the left fielder has gone 5-for-9 (.556) and scored five runs.
*Through four games, the Gators are hitting .254 (33-for-130) with a 2.50 earned run average and are 10-for-11 on the basepaths.
*Florida's starting pitchers are 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 16.2 innings this weekend and have allowed 13 hits, with 13 strikeouts and six walks.
*UF's relievers are 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA and a pair of saves by sophomore RHP Austin Maddox. The relief corps has registered 16 K, permitted two walks and yielded 15 hits, while limiting opponents to a .217 batting average.
*Junior Alex Panteliodis is 0-0 with a 1.12 ERA in three career appearances against Vanderbilt. In eight innings, the southpaw has given up eight hits and three runs (one earned), with eight K and three walks.
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