No. 5 Florida Welcomes No. 8 Miami For Key Series at McKethan Stadium
Thursday, February 19, 2015 | Baseball
Florida vs. Miami Series Notes
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 5 Gators (4-0) return to McKethan Stadium for a weekend series with Sunshine State rival No. 8 Miami (4-1). In midweek action on Wednesday, Florida downed USF in Tampa, 13-3, while the Hurricanes were on the short end at Florida Atlantic, 5-3.
Sophomore right-hander Logan Shore (1-0, 0.00) (pictured left, Photo by Tim Casey) will face Hurricanes' redshirt junior left-hander Andrew Suarez (0-0, 3.60) in Friday's series opener at 7 p.m., sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (1-0, 1.93) will oppose UM junior left-hander Thomas Woodrey (1-0, 3.00) in game two of the series on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Gator sophomore righty Dane Dunning (1-0, 4.15) will meet Miami junior right-hander Enrique Sosa (1-0, 0.00) in Sunday's finale at 1 p.m.
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. Saturday's action will be carried nationally on the SEC Network with Adam Amin and Kyle Peterson, while Friday's and Sunday's games will be carried on SEC Network+ with the crew of Nick Belmonte and Larry Vettel on Friday and Belmonte and Mick Hubert on Sunday. 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's offense has come out firing through four games, as the squad has hit .340 (49-for-144) and outscored Rhode Island and USF by a combined score of 50-8.
- The Orange and Blue has pounded out 19 extra-base hits, with 10 doubles, seven homers and two triples, to go along with a .583 slugging percentage.
- Led by junior Harrison Bader's three dingers, UF has seven homers already. It didn't reach seven round-trippers last season until the 26th game on March 29 against LSU.
- Florida's pitching staff has given up eight runs (five earned) in 36 innings for a 1.25 ERA, with 37 strikeouts and six walks.
- UF has used 15 different pitchers and its quartet of sophomore starters, RHP Logan Shore, RHP Dane Dunning, LHP A.J. Puk and RHP Brett Morales, is a combined 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA and registered 20 strikeouts in 20 innings.
- The Gators have plated 50 runs in four games. They did not reach this plateau offensively until the 12th game last season on March 2.
- The total of 37 runs last weekend was the highest for UF to begin a year since 2006 (40 runs), when it swept Cincinnati (10-0, 10-4, 20-4).
- Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan claimed his 200th win at McKethan Stadium last Saturday and is now 201-63 (.761) on his own turf.
- UF started three freshmen in its season opener: Dalton Guthrie (2B), Mike Rivera (C) and JJ Schwarz (DH). Five rookies started the finale last Sunday: Logan Browning (RF), Guthrie, Christian Hicks (1B), Rivera and Schwarz.
- Bader (.600, 14 RBI) has multiple hits and multiple RBI in all four games this season and is slugging 1.400.
- Guthrie has batted .438 (7-for-16) out of the leadoff spot, highlighted by a 4-for-5 outing on Sunday in which he scored three runs and had two doubles.
- Florida is 9-for-10 on the basepaths, with thefts from seven different players. Rivera has thrown out three of the four runners who have tried to steal on him and he is 2-for-2 on his own.
- Morales retired all 18 USF hitters he faced on Wednesday night and registered a career-high seven strikeouts on 70 pitches.
- Schwarz (.333) belted his second career homer and had five RBI in the Gators' last outing and four of his five hits have gone for extra bases.
- Sophomore Buddy Reed (shown below, photo by Tim Casey) went 3-for-6 with a pair of runs and two RBI against the Bulls.
- The Gators have totaled 50 runs, 49 hits and 44 RBI in 2015.
SERIES NUGGETS
Miami holds a 126-111-1 (.532) advantage in the all-time series and the Gators lead the Hurricanes by a 69-46-1 (.599) margin in Gainesville.
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan has an 18-9 (.667) record against Miami, 11-4 (.733) in Gainesville and 7-5 (.583) in Coral Gables. The Gators have taken 17 of the past 21 meetings and their 11-game winning streak in the series from March 7, 2010-March 1, 2013, is a school record.
Single-game tickets, 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.
