No. 1 Florida Baseball Faces Florida Gulf Coast In Final Non-Conference Weekend Series
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | Baseball
After a pair of mid-week triumphs over Florida Atlantic (16-1) and Florida A&M (15-2) that pushed its winning streak to 10 games, No. 1 Florida (12-1) hosts Florida Gulf Coast (6-5) for three games at McKethan Stadium. Start times for the series are at 7 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday, with the finale being carried live on Sun Sports. The Gators begin 10-consecutive Southeastern Conference weekend series beginning next Friday at home against Eastern Division rival Vanderbilt.
With the Stephen C. O'Connell Center hosting the Home Show this weekend, and it being the University of Florida's Spring Break, fans are reminded that plenty of parking will be available on Fraternity Row in addition to the regular lots and garage adjacent to McKethan Stadium.
In a matchup of right-handers to kick off the weekend, junior Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (2-0, 4.15) will oppose FGCU sophomore Ricky Knapp (2-1, 2.16). Making his fourth start of the campaign, Randall has 11 strikeouts and one walk in 17.1 innings and has held opponents to a .254 average. He picked up the win at No. 8 Miami (Fla.) on March 2 by working 5.1 innings in which he totaled a season-high six strikeouts and allowed seven hits and four runs.
Junior left-hander Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (1-0, 3.95) will take the mound on Saturday afternoon against Eagle sophomore southpaw Brandon Bixler (2-1, 1.02). Johnson received a no-decision in his last outing against the Hurricanes and has nine strikeouts and four walks in 13.2 innings this spring.
Sophomore Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) (1-1, 6.94), who made his first career weekend start in the finale in Coral Gables, will get the nod in the third meeting with FGCU and face senior righty Jason Forjet (0-1, 2.50). The Gator righty registered a personal-best eight strikeouts and allowed seven hits and four runs over 4.2 innings to UM without being involved in the decision.
Having claimed 12 of their first 13 games, the Gators are off to their best start since 2003 and the second-best opening performance in school history. Head coach Dave Fuller's 1952 team began 12-0-1 en route to an overall mark of 21-4-2 and the program's first SEC title. Other Florida teams that started 12-1 happened in 1977, 1989 and 2003. In the five years under Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida has started 10-3 in 2008, 9-4 in 2009, 11-2 in both 2010 and 2011 and 12-1 this season.
The victory over Florida A&M matched the Gators' longest winning streak under O'Sullivan, as last season's squad captured 10 in a row between March 9-25. The school-record winning streak is 14 games, done twice (March 20-April 4, 2001 and Feb. 21-March 14, 2004). The Gators have claimed 11-straight wins eight times, most recently from Feb. 2-27, 2002. UF has posted a dozen victories in a row three times, last from Feb. 18-March 6, 1985, and have put together a 13-game skein once (April 19-May 17, 1968).
Trailing 8-0 in the second inning on Feb. 24, 2010, in the last meeting between the programs, Florida plated 13 unanswered runs to post a 13-8 victory over FGCU at McKethan Stadium. The Gators used a three-run homer with two out in the fourth by Matt den Dekker (2-for-3, four RBI) to seize the lead and UF's bullpen closed the contest with seven shutout innings. Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, while Josh Adams (2-for-5, three RBI) cranked a two-run homer as part of a five-run fourth. Clint Franklin made his season debut at the start of the fourth and allowed one hit over two scoreless innings to pick up his first win since March 27, 2009, against Alabama.
In UF's last contest, freshman Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) had a career-high six RBI and the Gators reeled off 14 unanswered runs in a 15-2 victory over Florida A&M on Wednesday night. Shafer finished 1-for-2 with three sacrifice flies that drove in four runs, added a two-run double as part of a four-run seventh and also struck out the side in the ninth. Senior Tyler Thompson (Tequesta, Fla.) was 2-for-3, Fontana drew three walks and had a two-run single and senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) drove in a pair of runs. After senior Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (2-0) tossed three scoreless innings, with four strikeouts and three hits, he was followed to the mound by sophomore Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) (1.0 IP, 0 H), freshman Ryan Harris (Jupiter, Fla.) (1.0 IP, 1 K, 0 H) and Shafer (1.0 IP, 3 K). The Gators totaled 11 hits and did not commit any errors for the seventh time this year.
The Gators are hitting .331 as a team to rank second in the latest statistics released by the SEC Office. Junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) holds the top spot on the club in batting average (.435), slugging percentage (.870), on-base percentage (.491), hits (20), RBI (15), doubles (five) and is tied with Tucker (.315, 12 RBI) for the team lead with five homers. Thompson is hitting .361 with 10 runs and eight RBI, Fontana is at .348 with 15 runs, eight walks, seven RBI and four stolen bases, while senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) has a .341 clip, 11 RBI, 10 runs and three doubles.
Junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) is 1-0 with three saves and a 0.00 earned run average in 12.1 innings, with 17 strikeouts and zero walks, Larson (2-0, 1.42) has made a team-high six appearances and junior Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA in five appearances spanning 8.0 innings.
Gator Bytes
*The Gators are 9-1 (.900) at McKethan Stadium this year, Kevin O'Sullivan boasts a record of 133-27 (.831) at home and UF is 31-5 (.861) in three-game series in Gainesville on his watch.
*UF has claimed 19 of its last 20 weekend series on its own turf, the lone blemish to South Carolina over March 25-27 last year (2-9, 2-1, 3-4).
*Since O'Sullivan has been in charge, the Gators have lost just two weekend series in Gainesville to non-conference opponents: the 2009 Super Regional to Southern Miss (7-9, 6-7) and a regular-season series to Miami (Fla.) between Feb. 27-March 1, 2009 (5-8, 1-2,
2-16).
*Junior Mike Zunino was 0-for-3 on Wednesday night to see his hitting streak end at 15 games, two shy of his career high. During the streak, Zunino was 26-for-59 (.441) with 17 runs and 16 RBI.
*Zunino is tied with former teammate Matt den Dekker (2007-10) for eighth on the school's all-time list with 33 homers. Mark Ellis (1996-99) and Mario Linares (1988-91) are tied for sixth with 36 bombs.
*Although their 10-game streak of homering was halted by Florida A&M, the Gators have clubbed 20 homers in 13 games. Eight different players have left the yard this season.
*An RBI double in the fifth inning against the Rattlers moved Preston Tucker past Jeff Corsaletti (273, 2002-05) for fourth place on the school's all-time chart with his 274th hit. He needs three to leap-frog David Eckstein (276, 1994-97) for third place. In addition, the two-bagger tied Tucker with Corsaletti (56) for third on the Gator chart.
*The Gators are 6-0 this year when opponents score first and are 11-0 when out-hitting their foe.
*Junior Nolan Fontana extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-run single up the middle in the sixth inning versus FAMU. He is batting .483 (14-for-29) with 12 runs, five RBI and three doubles in that stretch. Fontana's career-long streak is 10 games, between May 6-25, 2011.
*Fontana had two stolen bases against the Rattlers and is a team-best 4-for-4 this year.
*The Gator bullpen is 6-1 with four saves and a 2.22 ERA this season, with 60 strikeouts and 12 walks in 56.2 innings. Four relievers combined to throw six shutout innings on Wednesday night, with eight strikeouts, three hits and two walks.
*Senior Greg Larson's team-leading six appearances has increased his career to 93, three shy of matching Josh Edmondson (2005-08) for fifth on the school's all-time list. In his last two outings, Larson (2-0,
1.42) has notched wins over No. 8 Miami (Fla.) and Florida A&M with eight K over 7.2 scoreless innings.
*Freshman Corey Stump made his collegiate debut with a scoreless ninth against FAU, while sophomore Keenan Kish matched his career-high of three strikeouts with two shutout frames in his first action of 2011.
*Freshman Taylor Gushue has started 12 games at three different positions - five at designated hitter, four at first base and three at catcher.
*UF has eight errors through 13 games and has played error-free in seven contests (6-1).
*Freshman Brandon Sedell poked an RBI triple in his first career at bat in the seventh inning on Wednesday and redshirt freshman Connor Mitchell followed with a pinch-hit RBI single for his first career hit. Junior Vickash Ramjit also collected his initial hit of the campaign with a leadoff single that inning.
*Freshman Ryan Harris appeared in both wins over Florida Atlantic and Florida A&M and has not been scored upon in three appearances.
*Thirteen of Florida's 20 home runs have been of the solo variety and the club has hit three homers in an outing twice in its last four games.
*The Gators have scored 16 runs in the fourth and fifth innings this year and have out-scored opponents, 106-42. UF holds a 27-4 edge in the final three innings of contests.
*With two home runs, senior Tyler Thompson has already surpassed his HR total from 2011 (1) and his eight RBI are nearly halfway to his junior season production of 17.
*Freshman Casey Turgeon started the first 12 games of the season at second base and is hitting .324 with seven RBI, six walks, four runs and three doubles.
*Freshman Josh Tobias set a career best by scoring three runs against FAMU. He has played in 12 games and made 10 starts at third base.
*Junior Cody Dent made his first start of the season at second base on Wednesday and was 1-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base.
