Florida Faces Auburn Again In 2012 SEC Baseball Tournament Opening Round
Monday, May 21, 2012 | Baseball
Third-seeded Florida (40-16) will meet 10th-seeded Auburn (30-26) in the third game of the double-elimination SEC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon in Hoover, Ala. The game will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET and be carried on CSS, Channel 259 on the Cox Communications cable system in the Gainesville/Ocala area and can also be heard on Country 103.7 The Gator with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert. The Gators captured a series from the Tigers over the weekend on the Plains but dropped the finale, when a win could have gained them a share of the league title with LSU.
Sophomore right-hander Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) will be making his 12th start of the season, as well as his first SEC Tournament appearance and first career appearance against Auburn, and will face senior right-hander Jon Luke Jacobs (5-3, 3.75). After pitching 3.2 innings in his freshman campaign, Crawford is third on the squad with 56.1 innings of work. The righty is 4-2 with a 3.67 earned run average, 51 strikeouts and 18 walks. In his last action, Crawford went four innings on May 12 against Mississippi State (4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K) but did not receive a decision.
The Gators cruised to wins in the first two games against AU by scores of 6-0 and 10-1 before their bid for a share of a third-consecutive regular-season title was dashed with a 5-4 setback in the finale. UF's offense batted .321 (34-for-106) over the three games at Plainsman Park, with a 20-6 scoring advantage, and the team totaled seven doubles, four homers and a pair of triples. Its pitching staff limited the SEC's top hitting club to a .151 (14-for-93) performance and compiled a 1.38 ERA.
Senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (.321, 43 RBI, 14 RBI) became the school's all-time leader in hits with a two-run homer in the opener to surpass Mark Ellis' previous standard of 319 hits. Tucker was 8-for-14 (.571) over the three matchups with the Tigers and half of his hits went for extra bases courtesy of two doubles and two homers. Junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (.324, 51 RBI, 15 HR) went 4-for-10 (.400) with a pair of doubles and a homer, while junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) (.281, 27 RBI) was 5-for-13 (.385).
Auburn senior right fielder Creede Simpson threw out Tucker at the plate to complete a game-ending double play as the Tigers notched a 5-4 victory on Saturday afternoon. With the Gators down to their final three outs, Tucker (2-for-5) delivered a base-hit into right field with one down. Zunino followed with a double that grazed the wall in left field, his school-record 24th of the campaign. With a pair of runners in scoring position, junior Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (.313, 34 RBI) lofted what Florida hoped would be a game-tying sacrifice fly into right field. However, Simpson snared the ball for the second out and fired a bullet to the plate, where senior Caleb Bowen applied the tag to a sliding Tucker to end the contest. Freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) (.259, 20 RBI) had opened the scoring with a two-run triple in the second inning.
A 12-hit, three-homer offensive attack and the dominant pitching of Johnson (6-4, 3.88) powered UF to a series-clinching 10-1 victory on Friday. With the triumph, the Gators reached the 40-win plateau for the 21st time in school history and the school-record fourth-consecutive season under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan. Johnson matched his season and career high with a seven-inning stint in which he allowed just two singles and an unearned run, with seven strikeouts and two walks. Junior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) (.281, 18 RBI) (2-for-4) clubbed a three-run homer as part of a four-run first inning, Tucker went 3-for-5 with a two-run dinger in the sixth, and Zunino had a solo shot to start the third.
Junior Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (7-1, 2.89) held the Tigers to three singles for his third career complete game and Tucker became the school's all-time hit leader as Florida captured the opening game of its weekend series with a 6-0 shutout on Thursday night. It marked the first time that Auburn had been held scoreless this season. Randall captured his fourth-straight outing and delivered the first complete game by a Gator pitcher since he went the distance on April 1, 2011, against Tennessee. The righty registered three strikeouts and issued one walk, only surrendering base-hits in the first, fifth and eighth innings. In his last four starts, Randall has defeated No. 17 Arkansas, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 25 Mississippi State and Auburn and is 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA over 28.2 innings. Tucker went 3-for-4 and established a new career hit record with a two-run homer in the second inning, while Fontana chipped in with a 3-for-4, three-run performance and Zunino was 2-for-4. Six of UF's 10 hits on the night went for extra bases, courtesy of four doubles, a triple and Tucker's round-tripper.
The Gators will be making their league-leading 32nd appearance at the SEC Tourney and are 53-53 (.500) all-time at the event. UF is the defending champion after taking home the prize as the third seed last year.
Florida blanked Vanderbilt, 5-0, to capture the 2011 SEC Tournament. It was the first time in 20 years that the Gators won the league's tourney and was their sixth title (1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1991, 2011). The triumph also represented the first time since 1988 that the Orange and Blue had won the SEC and SEC Tourney in the same season. UF posted a 4-1 mark at the event, starting out with victories over Mississippi State (7-5) and Alabama (6-0) to earn a day off. Georgia stayed alive with a 4-3 triumph over the Gators to secure an NCAA Regional berth on Saturday before Florida rebounded with a 3-2 decision over the Bulldogs to reach the championship round for the first since 2000.
Outfielder Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.), who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Tourney after batting .583 (7-for-12) over the four games he played, with six runs and six stolen bases. He joined Gator winners Rich Bombard (Pitcher, 1982), Brian Reimsnyder (Outfielder, 1988), Herbert Perry (Designated Hitter, 1991) and Brian Purvis (Outfielder, 1991). Other members of the All-Tourney Team from the Orange and Blue included Fontana, Randall and outfielder Bryson Smith.
Before last's season triumph, all of these championships came at other venues besides Hoover when the event was held on campuses. The Gators have been the runner-up on five occasions: 1977, 1979, 1992, 1996 and 2000.
Tuesday's encounter will mark the eighth time that Florida has met Auburn during the SEC Tourney. It will be the first time in 12 years that the squads have tangled in Hoover and the Gators have claimed five of the seven matchups. In the teams' last meeting in the postseason, UF captured a 7-2 win in the first round in 2000 en route to an appearance in the title game, where it succumbed to LSU, 9-6.
Gator Bytes
*Kevin O'Sullivan is 7-2 (.778) against Auburn, 3-0 (1.000) at McKethan Stadium and 4-2 (.667) at Plainsman Park.
*In four previous SEC Tournament appearances, O'Sullivan boasts a 7-7 (.500) record. The Gators were 0-2 in 2008, 1-2 in 2009, 2-2 in 2010 and 4-1 in 2011.
*UF is 22-6 (.786) against non-ranked opponents and 18-10 (.643) versus top-25 foes this season.
*The Gators are 29-13 (.690) in games that are part of a weekend series and are 11-3 (.786) in mid-week contests. The Orange and Blue has an 11-3 (.786) weekend series ledger, with four sweeps.
*UF was 7-3 (.700) in their 10 SEC series, with a sweep of Vanderbilt and 2-1 series victories over No. 6 South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 25 Mississippi State and Auburn. The Gators were on the short end of 2-1 margins to No. 16 Ole Miss, No. 7 LSU and No. 17 Arkansas.
*Breaking down Florida's 18-12 (.600) league record, UF was 7-3 (.700) in game one, 6-4 (.600) in game two and 5-5 (.500) in game three.
*The Gators were 11-4 (.733) against the East this season and 7-8 (.467) against the West.
*Florida starting pitchers are 22-7 with a 3.41 ERA and have 198 strikeouts and 59 walks in 258.1 innings.
*The Gator bullpen is 18-9 with 16 saves and a 2.39 ERA this season, with 232 strikeouts and 54 walks in 244.2 innings.
*Twenty-seven of Florida's 66 homers have come on the road, where the squad has a .292 batting average and an 14-8 (.636) record.
*In conference games only, Auburn led the SEC with a .291 batting average and Florida paced the league with a 2.71 ERA. The Gators' clip of .257 ranked 10th and the Tigers' pitching staff's ERA of 4.36 rated 10th.
*In games started by sophomore Jonathon Crawford this season, Florida is 8-3 (.727) and scores an average of 4.7 runs.
*Junior Austin Maddox (3-2, 1.46) is 12-for-12 in save opportunities and has 54 strikeouts and eight walks in 49.1 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-38 (.132) 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 Steven Rodriguez has registered a team-high 74 strikeouts in 54 innings and is 3-2 with a 2.17 ERA in a team-high 29 appearances. Until last Saturday afternoon in the seventh inning at Auburn, he had not been scored upon in his previous eight outings dating back to April 20 against Georgia.
*Senior Greg Larson is third on UF's all-time list with 115 appearances. The righty is a perfect 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA in 28 games this season, and has 31 strikeouts and nine walks in 43 innings.
*Junior Mike Zunino's solo blast in the eighth inning on May 13 against Mississippi State was the 41st dinger of his career, moving him past Ben Harrison (2001-04) into third place on the school's all-time list. He added a three-run jack on May 15 versus Samford and went deep in game two at Auburn.
*Florida holds a 325-183 scoring advantage and has out-scored foes, 93-41, 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 66 homers in 56 games after totaling 69 HR in 72 games last season. Ten different players have left the yard, led by Zunino (15), senior Preston Tucker (14), junior Nolan Fontana (9), Pigott (7), freshman Taylor Gushue (5) and Johnson (5). The Orange and Blue has multiple homers in 20 games and has at least one jack in 38 of 56 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 11-for-11.
*Steady with the glove, Fontana has just four errors in 230 chances this season for a .983 clip and committed one miscue in SEC games. Before Saturday against Auburn, his last error had been on March 27 against Florida State.
*Tucker had a couple of doubles versus Tennessee on April 14 to eclipse Mark Ellis' school-record total of 61 set between 1996-99. Against Arkansas, Tucker surpassed the school-record total of 941 at bats shared by Ellis and Josh Adams (2008-11) and now has 991.
*With 248 career starts entering the SEC Tournament, Tucker is second at UF behind Adams (252). The senior passed Adams' (253) previous record for games played last Saturday.
*Kevin O'Sullivan routinely pencils in three freshmen on his lineup card: Justin Shafer (left field), Josh Tobias (third base) and Casey Turgeon (second base).
*The Gators are 18-11 (.621) this year when opponents score first and are 31-5 (.861) when out-hitting their foe.
*After committing four errors in the series at Auburn, Florida has 48 errors through 56 games for a 978 fielding percentage and has played error-free in 22 contests (19-3). Oddly, Florida has at least one miscue in eight of its last nine games.
*The Gators' 38 sacrifice flies are well 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.
