No. 5 Florida Hosts Rhode Island To Kick Off Season
Friday, February 13, 2015 | Baseball
Florida vs. Rhode Island Series Notes
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kevin O'Sullivan begins his eighth season at the helm this weekend as No. 5 Florida opens its 2015 campaign by hosting Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10 Conference in a weekend series. The Gators will be starting their 56-game regular season at McKethan Stadium for the 15th-consecutive season and the 27th time in 29 years. Game times this weekend are at 7 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. The first 500 fans at McKethan Stadium on Friday night will receive a 2014 SEC Champion pint glass and Gator Legend Mike Zunino will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
Sophomore right-hander Logan Shore will face Rams' junior left-hander Steve Moyers in Friday's season opener, sophomore right-hander Dane Dunning will oppose URI junior right-hander Lou Distasioin game two of the series on Saturday and Gator sophomore lefty A.J. Puk will meet a pitcher to be announced in Sunday's finale.
All three games of the weekend series can be heard through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell. In addition, Saturday and Sunday's games will be carried on SEC Network+. These games will be available through participating TV providers only through WatchESPN. Live stats for each game will be available on GatorZone.com and fans can also follow updates of each game on @GatorZoneBB, the official Twitter account of the Gator baseball team.
QUICK HITS ABOUT THE GATORS
*Florida returns 22 letterwinners from last year's squad, including five position starters - 1B Peter Alonso, SS Richie Martin, 3B Josh Tobias (shown below), OF Harrison Bader and OF Buddy Reed. Of the club's 10 newcomers, nine are freshmen and one is a junior college transfer (RHP Taylor Lewis from Chipola College).
*The Gators have made the NCAA Tournament every year of Kevin O'Sullivan's tenure, the longest stretch in school history.
*Last season, Florida claimed the SEC Championship with a 21-9 (.700) record, the Gators' third league title in five years (2010-11-14).
*O'Sullivan's club reached the 20-win plateau in league action for the eighth time in school history and the third time in his tenure.
*The Gators won the program's 13th SEC title, first since 2011, and emerged on top of the East for their league-best 22nd divisional crown.
*Named as the 2014 National Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game and as the SEC Freshman of the Year, RHP Logan Shore was 7-4 with a 2.16 ERA in 16 appearances, making 15 starts, and he struck out 58 batters in 95.2 innings. The righty was 7-1 with a 2.08 ERA in league play, tying for the lead in conference wins.
*The Gators' total of 10 newcomers was the No. 3 ranked recruiting haul according to Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game.
*O'Sullivan welcomed his sixth-consecutive top-8 recruiting class from Collegiate Baseball: 1st in 2009, 5th in 2010, 8th in 2011, 7th in 2012, 1st in 2013 and 3rd in 2014.
*Seven Gator newcomers were drafted last June but elected to move to Gainesville: C JJ Schwarz (17th round, Milwaukee), C Mike Rivera (33rd round, Oakland), OF/LHP Logan Browning (36th round, Cincinnati), INF Dalton Guthrie (40th round, Minnesota), RHP Taylor Lewis (40th round, Colorado) (shown below), INF Taylor Lane (40th round, Milwaukee) and RHP Alex Faedo (40th round, Detroit).
*Since O'Sullivan has been in charge, the Gators have lost just four weekend series in Gainesville to non-conference opponents: the 2009 Super Regional to Southern Miss (7-9, 6-7) and regular-season series to Miami (FL) (Feb. 27-March 1, 2009: 5-8, 1-2, 2-16), FGCU (Feb. 22-24, 2013: 2-8, 3-8, 4-7 (11) and Indiana (March 8-10, 2013: 1-4, 6-4, 4-7).
*Florida boasts a 198-63 (.759) mark at McKethan Stadium under O'Sullivan, including a 47-12 (.797) record in three-game series.
*Dating back to 2002, the Gators hold a 12-1 (.923) record in opening weekend series at home. In O'Sullivan's tenure, Florida have swept Siena (2008), Louisville (2009) and USF (2010 & 2011) and captured two of the meetings with Cal State Fullerton (2012), Duke (2013) and Maryland (2014).
SERIES NUGGETS
Friday's matchup will mark the first between Florida and Rhode Island since the Gators swept a weekend series in Gainesville from March 11-13, 2011 (11-5, 12-4, 8-6). The Gators have claimed all five meetings with the Rams.
Season tickets and the Complete Game Mini-Plans can be purchased online through GatorZone or by calling the Gator Ticket Office at 1-800-34-GATOR from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For all of the latest information on Florida baseball, log on to GatorZone or follow the team's Twitter account @GatorZoneBB.
