No. 2 Florida Baseball Faces USF On Tuesday Night
Monday, April 23, 2012 | Baseball
Continuing its nine-game homestand, No. 2 Florida (31-9/11-7 SEC) will meet USF (27-14/11-4 Big East) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at McKethan Stadium in its first of five games this week. The game will be carried on GatorVision Online and can be heard on WRUF SportsRadio 850 with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert. The Gators will play Bethune-Cookman (24-16/13-4 MEAC) on Wednesday before hosting No. 17 Arkansas (28-12/9-9 SEC) in another pivotal conference weekend series.
In the last meeting between the teams, Florida used three home runs, seven extra-base hits and a solid outing from left-hander Alex Panteliodis to defeat USF, 8-1, on March 9, 2011, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,211 fans at USF Baseball Stadium. The Gators' 12th-straight triumph over the Bulls enabled them to sweep all four meetings last season. UF scored seven of its eight runs with two down, highlighted by back-to-back dingers in the second inning by Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (1-for-2, two runs) and Josh Adams (1-for-4). Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) matched his career-best hitting streak of 12 games with a 3-for-4 outing that featured a two-run homer in the sixth. In his first start of the season, Panteliodis limited the Bulls to one run on five hits and totaled four K over five innings. Tommy Toledo gave up three hits over two scoreless frames, Matt Campbell put up a zero in the eighth and Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) totaled two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 ninth to close the game. Maddox also went 3-for-5 and had his first double of the season.
Florida kicked off its 2011 campaign with a three-game sweep of USF at McKethan Stadium from Feb. 18-20. It was the fourth-straight year of head coach Kevin O'Sullivan's tenure that the Gators had opened the year with a sweep (2008: Siena, 2009: Louisville, 2010 & 2011: USF). With the victory in the finale, UF tied the school-record home-winning streak of 18 games originally set from March 16-May 13, 1963, and matched from Feb. 10-March 31, 1998. Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) was 9-for-12 (.750) with three multiple-hit outings. Pigott started twice in the outfield and was 4-for-7 (.571) with three RBI. Nine of Florida's 33 hits in the series went for extra bases, with seven doubles and two homers.
Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) fired six scoreless innings and poked a pair of doubles as Florida raised the curtain on the season with a 7-2 victory. He faced the minimum of 18 batters, yielded two singles, registered six strikeouts and retired the final 10 Bulls he encountered. Johnson was supported by a Gator offense that totaled 13 hits, tallied three runs in the third and four more in the fifth. Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) went 3-for-5 with three RBI, featuring a two-run homer in the fifth, while Fontana (4-for-5) collected a career-high four hits and scored twice. On the mound, Johnson, Anthony DeSclafani and Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) held the Bulls scoreless for eight innings before the visitors plated two runs in the ninth. Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.) drew the start at third base and batted ninth, where he was 1-for-3 and scored a run. Florida used strong pitching and solid defense to clinch the series with a 4-1 victory on Saturday afternoon. Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) gave up one run on seven hits in six innings for the win, while relievers Nick Maronde and Tommy Toledo threw three scoreless frames. With the Gators holding a 2-1 lead in the seventh, Toledo came out of the bullpen with two down and the bases full and benefitted from a tremendous diving play by Fontana on a ball hit by Sam Mende that saved potentially two runs and instead ended the inning with a force play at second base. UF tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the frame on a two-out infield single by Pigott (2-for-3) that scored Ben McMahan and the hosts completed the scoring in the eighth on a fielder's choice by Johnson that brought across Adams. Toledo allowed two hits over 2.1 innings to register his first career save. Four Gator pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout as Florida blanked USF, 5-0, on Sunday. Making his collegiate debut, Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) registered nine strikeouts, gave up one walk and allowed just a first-inning single over five scoreless frames to earn the win. After yielding the base-hit, the right-hander retired the next 11 Bulls he faced and notched five strikeouts in a row at one point. Whitson was followed to the hill by Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 K), Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K) and Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K). It was Florida's first shutout of USF since Feb. 24, 1988, 7-0, in Gainesville, and the team's first shutout since defeating Florida Atlantic, 15-0, on June 6, 2010, in the NCAA Gainesville Regional final.
Over the weekend, Florida took two of three games from Eastern Division rival Georgia (3-2 (16), 3-5, 6-3) to remain two games behind Kentucky for the league lead. It marked the sixth-straight year that the Gators have taken the series from the Bulldogs. O'Sullivan improved to 13-4 in his tenure against UGA, including 7-2 at McKethan Stadium. Pigott (.338, 28 RBI) was 7-for-12 (.583) on the weekend, with five RBI and a pair of homers, while Johnson (.337, 29 RBI) went 5-for-11 (.455). The Gator pitching staff registered 27 strikeouts and issued two walks over 34 innings and registered a 2.65 ERA. Maddox (2-2, 1.69) threw 6.2 scoreless innings over two appearances against the Bulldogs and saved the finale. Florida and Georgia played tremendous defense, as each team committed one error over the three contests.
Pigott cranked a three-run homer in the sixth inning that snapped a 3-3 tie and propelled the Gators to a 6-3 victory in the deciding game of the series on Sunday afternoon. Pigott (3-for-3) matched his career high by driving in four runs and also had a double in the fourth inning that knotted the contest at 2-2. Zunino (.336, 41 RBI, 11 HR) was 2-for-4 with his team-leading 11th homer, Whitson (2-0, 5.11) picked up the win in relief and Maddox had a perfect ninth to secure his 11th save in 11 opportunities this season. Randall (3-1, 3.52) made his first start since March 30 at Ole Miss and gave up three hits and a run over three innings. Behind eight strong innings from senior right-hander Michael Palazzone and a perfect ninth by junior Blake Dieterich, Georgia evened the series on Saturday with a 5-3 victory. Tucker (.316, 31 RBI, 10 HR) clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning that was the 51st homer of his career, while Johnson matched his career high with a seven-inning stint (7 H, 4 R, 5 K, 0 BB) and helped his own cause by going 2-for-4. Freshman reliever Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton, Mass.) (4-1, 3.38) had three strikeouts over two innings of work. A two-out throwing error on a third strike in the 16th inning allowed the winning run to score as UF edged Georgia, 3-2, on Friday night. It was the Gators' longest outing since defeating LSU, 7-6, in 16 innings on March 22, 1996, and was the longest game by time in Bulldog history. Neither team committed any errors until the final play of the contest. With the action approaching five hours and the clubs locked in a 2-2 stalemate, UF junior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) (.274, 14 RBI) drew a one-out walk and was sacrificed to second by junior Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.) (team-high eight sacrifice hits). A wild pitch allowed Ramjit to take third and he was able to score on a strikeout by Fontana (.311, 23 RBI) when the throw went wide of first base. Larson (5-0, 1.78) threw three scoreless innings without permitting any hits to earn the victory, while the four Gator pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and zero walks in 16 innings. Crawford (4-1, 3.86) went the first 4.1 innings and gave up one run and was followed to the mound by Rodriguez (3-1, 2.33), who scattered four hits over 3.0 innings, with four strikeouts and one run. Maddox worked a career-high 5.2 innings and totaled five K and four hits before turning the game over to Larson in the 14th.
Gator Bytes
*Florida has claimed the last 12 encounters with USF since falling, 11-5, in Tampa on May 11, 2005.
*Kevin O'Sullivan is a perfect 10-0 versus the Bulls, 8-0 in Gainesville and 2-0 in Tampa.
*The Gators are 13-1 (.929) against in-state opponents this season: 3-0 vs. Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State and Miami, 1-0 vs. Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic and 0-1 vs. North Florida.
*Florida occupies the top spot in the Ratings Percentage Index released by the NCAA and the Strength of Schedule ratings compiled by Warren Nolan.
*The Orange and Blue is 21-3 (.840) at home this season.
*Florida starting pitchers are 16-3 with a 3.68 ERA and have 148 strikeouts and 37 walks in 178.2 innings.
*The Gator bullpen is 15-6 with 12 saves and a 2.40 ERA this season, with 172 strikeouts and 36 walks in 180.1 innings.
*Thirty-two of the club's 52 homers have come at McKethan Stadium.
*Junior Austin Maddox (2-2, 1.69) is 11-for-11 in save opportunities and has 47 strikeouts and seven walks in 42.2 innings. He had five saves last season and UF's mark for saves in a campaign is 13 by Danny Wheeler in 1994 and Josh Fogg in 1998. Leadoff hitters are 4-for-27 (.148) against Maddox, who is tied for sixth on the school's career list with 16 saves with Connor Falkenbach (2002-05) after passing former teammates Billy Bullock (2007-09, 11 saves) and Kevin Chapman (2007-10, 11 saves) against Samford.
*Florida holds a 259-136 scoring advantage and has out-scored foes, 74-28, over the final three innings and extra frames combined.
*Sophomore Daniel Gibson has surrendered three runs in 18.2 innings of work covering 16 appearances. The southpaw has 14 strikeouts and six walks, while holding opponents to a .211 clip.
*Eighteen of UF's 31 victories have been come-from-behind. Last season, 20 of the Gators' school-record 53 wins came after they were trailing.
*Junior Brian Johnson begins the week on a nine-game hitting streak in which he is 16-for-35 (.457) with 14 RBI, six runs, four doubles and three homers. His career-long stretch of 11 games with a hit went from May 20, 2010, until Feb. 19, 2011.
*The Gators have clubbed 52 homers in 40 games after totaling 69 HR in 72 games last season. Nine different players have left the yard, led by Zunino (11), Tucker (10), junior Nolan Fontana (7), freshman Taylor Gushue (5) and Johnson (5). The Orange and Blue has multiple homers in 17 games and has at least one jack in 28 of 40 contests this season.
*Fontana has already set his career high for homers after having three as a freshman and five as a sophomore. He leads UF in stolen bases by going 8-for-8.
*Tucker had a couple of doubles versus Tennessee on April 14 to eclipse Mark Ellis' school-record total of 61 set between 1996-99. He recently became just the second player in Gator baseball history to reach the 300-hit plateau. With 306 career hits, Tucker needs 14 more to surpass Ellis' record (319).
*The Gators are 15-5 (.750) this year when opponents score first and are 24-2 (.923) when out-hitting their foe.
*After committing one error on during the Georgia series, Florida has 31 errors through 40 games for an SEC-best .980 fielding percentage and has played error-free in 17 contests (15-2).
*The Gators' 29 sacrifice flies are over halfway to the school's single-season mark of 48 done in 2000. UF had 27 sac flies last year, led by nine from Fontana.
*Florida's pitching staff has not surrendered a homer in its last seven games (at Florida State on April 10).
