No. 3 Baseball Begins Extended Road Trip At Samford Tuesday Night
Monday, May 14, 2012 | Baseball
No. 3 Florida (38-14) will complete the regular season with a four-game swing through the state of Alabama. The Gators face Samford (33-19) on Tuesday night before wrapping up league play at Auburn (28-23/12-15 SEC) in a three-game set starting on Thursday. Start time from Joe Lee Griffin Field will be at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and the contest can be heard on WRUF SportsRadio 850 with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
Freshman Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton, Mass.) (4-2, 3.69) will draw the start for the Gators against Bulldog sophomore righty C.K. Irby (3-1, 1.78).
In the teams' last meeting, junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) was 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs and Magliozzi had a career-high six strikeouts as Florida collected a 5-3 win on March 20 to complete a perfect 10-0 homestand and increase its school-record winning streak to 18 games.
Magliozzi collected his second victory by working four innings in a pre-determined start, while junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) retired all three Bulldogs in the ninth to register his seventh save in as many chances. Senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (2-for-4) and freshman Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) (2-for-3) also chipped in with multiple-hit efforts. Samford plated a run in the first inning before the Gators answered in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Zunino that scored senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.). UF seized a 3-1 lead with two runs on three hits in the second stanza on a run-scoring single by Tobias and a wild pitch by Joseph Burns. After the Bulldogs pulled within 3-2 in fifth, freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) answered with an RBI single that brought across Tucker. Samford countered with another run in the seventh to narrow the deficit to 4-3 before Zunino delivered a clutch two-out double in the home part of the inning to score Pigott with the game's final run. Maddox set down the visitors in order in the ninth to close the contest.
Over the weekend, Florida captured two out of three games over No. 25 Mississippi State at McKethan Stadium for its second SEC series win in a row. The Gators trail league leader Kentucky (41-11/18-9 SEC) by two games. In a tightly-contested series, UF's pitching staff was brilliant against the Bulldogs, allowing four runs over 27 innings for a 1.33 earned run average and holding opposing hitters to a .167 batting average. The team's bullpen allowed zero runs over 12.2 innings and registered 15 strikeouts, including seven by junior Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) (3-1, 1.70).
Zunino (.321, 46 RBI) belted a solo homer in the eighth inning to lift UF to a 2-1 series-clinching victory on Sunday afternoon. Zunino's team-leading 13th homer came with one down off of freshman Jacob Lindgren (1-2) to move the Gators in front and Maddox (3-2, 1.50) completed a perfect outing by setting down the Bulldogs 1-2-3 in the ninth. It was the closer's first appearance since April 29. Rodriguez produced two scoreless and hitless frames and tallied three strikeouts. UF's pitching corps totaled 10 strikeouts and limited MSU to three hits, a season-low surrendered by the Orange and Blue's pitching staff. In his first action since April 29, Maddox retired all seven Bulldog hitters he faced and totaled two strikeouts to pick up the win. Florida improved to 6-3 in SEC series this season and has taken its last three regular-season series against Mississippi State.
Junior Kendall Graveman and freshman Jonathan Holder combined on a three-hit shutout as the Bulldogs evened the weekend series with a 2-0 win on Saturday night. Graveman (4-3) limited the Gators to a three singles over 7.2 innings to earn the victory, while Holder set down all four hitters he faced to register his fourth save. Freshman Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) (.290, 17 RBI) was a bright spot by going 2-for-4 for his seventh multiple-hit effort. It marked just the second time that UF has been held scoreless this season (3-0 at No. 16 Ole Miss on March 30).
Junior Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (6-1, 3.29) claimed his third-straight start in the series opener by limiting the Bulldogs to one run and five hits over seven innings, his longest SEC start of the campaign. Rodriguez hurled a pair of scoreless innings and registered four strikeouts to collect his third save as UF handed Bulldog junior Chris Stratton (9-1) his first loss since May 21, 2011, against LSU. Pigott (.327, 31 RBI) broke open a 2-1 game with a two-run homer in the eighth, his seventh round-tripper of the campaign and sixth in league action.
Gator Bytes
*Kevin O'Sullivan is 1-0 (1.000) against Samford after the victory on March 20.
*UF is 20-4 (.833) against non-ranked opponents and 18-10 (.643) versus top-25 foes this season.
*Entering the week, 28 of Florida's 52 games have been against ranked opposition. - good for 54 percent.
*The Gators are 27-12 (.692) in games that are part of a weekend series and are 11-2 (.846) in mid-week contests. The Orange and Blue has a 10-3 (.769) weekend series ledger, with four sweeps.
*Florida starting pitchers are 20-6 with a 3.51 ERA and have 185 strikeouts and 53 walks in 235.2 innings.
*The Gator bullpen is 18-8 with 16 saves and a 2.12 ERA this season, with 222 strikeouts and 52 walks in 233.1 innings.
*Twenty-two of Florida's 61 homers have come at the opponent's stadium, where the squad has a .292 batting average and an 11-6 (.647) record.
*In the last 20 games, UF's bullpen has surrendered more than two runs only once (three against USF in 4.1 IP on April 24). During that stretch, the pitching corps has compiled a 1.30 ERA, with 92 strikeouts in 96.2 innings and a .187 average against.
*Junior Steven Rodriguez has registered a team-high 72 strikeouts in 53 innings and is 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA in a team-high 28 appearances. He threw 6.2 scoreless innings in three games last week, with 11 K, three walks and one hit. Rodriguez has not been scored upon in his last eight outings dating back to April 20 against Georgia.
*Senior Greg Larson is third on UF's all-time list with 114 appearances. The righty is a perfect 6-0 with a team-low 1.49 ERA in 27 games this season, and has 31 strikeouts and nine walks in 42.1 innings.
*Sophomore Keenan Kish (0-0, 0.87) has provided to be a valuable asset out of the bullpen lately, turning in four-straight scoreless outings - USF on April 24 (2.0 IP, 3 K, 0 H), Arkansas on April 28 (4.0 IP, 4 K, 0 H), North Florida on May 8 (4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 K) and Mississippi State on May 12 (3.2 IP, 4 K, 1 H). The back-to-back four-inning stints are now a career high.
*Junior Mike Zunino's solo blast in the eight inning on Sunday was the 41st dinger of his career, moving him past Ben Harrison (2001-04) into third place on the school's all-time list.
*Junior Austin Maddox (3-2, 1.50) is 12-for-12 in save opportunities and has 53 strikeouts and eight walks in 48 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 5-for-37 (.135) against Maddox, who is tied for fifth on the school's career list with 17 saves with Jamie McAndrew (1987-89). Current Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Darren O'Day is fourth with 20 saves.
*Junior Brian Johnson (.315, 32 RBI) begins the week on a six-game hitting streak in which he is 7-for-24 (.292)
*Freshman Ryan Harris (2-0, 2.25), has not been scored upon in his last eight appearances since giving up three runs at South Carolina on March 22. He has allowed zero runs in 11 of his 12 outings.
*Florida holds a 298-165 scoring advantage and has out-scored foes, 88-36, over the final three innings and extra frames combined.
*Twenty-one of UF's 38 victories have been come-from-behind. Last season, 20 of the Gators' school-record 53 wins came after they were trailing.
*The Gators have clubbed 61 homers in 52 games after totaling 69 HR in 72 games last season. Ten different players have left the yard, led by Zunino (13), senior Preston Tucker (12), junior Nolan Fontana (9), senior Daniel Pigott (7), freshman Taylor Gushue (5) and Johnson (5). The Orange and Blue has multiple homers in 19 games and has at least one jack in 35 of 52 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 10-for-10.
*Steady with the glove, Fontana has just three errors in 214 chances this season for a .986 clip and has yet to commit any miscues in SEC games.
*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 317 career hits, Tucker needs three more to surpass Ellis' record (319). Against Arkansas, Tucker surpassed the school-record total of 941 at bats shared by Ellis and Josh Adams (2008-11) and now has 974.
*Freshman Justin Shafer (.290, 17 RBI) led the Gators with a .417 (5-for-12) average as the team claimed three of four outings last week. He batted a team-best .333 (3-for-9) in the series win over No. 25 Mississippi State. Shafer had two of Florida's three hits on Saturday, his seventh multiple-hit game of the campaign. The left fielder went 1-for-3 with a walk in the opener as the Gators collected a 4-1 win.
*With 244 career starts entering the game at Samford, Tucker is second at UF behind Adams (252). The senior is up to second in games played (250), trailing only Adams (253).
*The Gators are 18-10 (.643) this year when opponents score first and are 29-4 (.879) when out-hitting their foe.
*After committing five errors in the series against Mississippi State, Florida has 44 errors through 52 games for a 978 fielding percentage and has played error-free in 21 contests (19-2). Oddly enough, UF has one error in five-straight outings, its longest stretch of the year.
*The Gators' 33 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.
