Florida Gators
Stony Brook
No. 2 Florida Completes Sweep of Stony Brook, 6-2
Sunday, March 1, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore right-hander Dane Dunning threw a career-high 6.2 scoreless innings as No. 2 Florida (10-1) finished a weekend sweep of Stony Brook (2-7) with a 6-2 win on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. The Gators raised their winning streak to five games and their pitching staff kept the Seawolves scoreless in 24 of 27 innings during the series.
Sophomore John Sternagel opened the scoring with a two-run homer to left field in the second inning off of sophomore Daniel Zamora (1-1). Senior Josh Tobias (2-for-4) had led off with a triple to right field, his seventh consecutive at bat with a hit after singling in the eighth inning on Tuesday and going 5-for-5 on Saturday.
Tobias expanded the Gators' lead to 3-0 in the third inning with a two-out solo homer that hit the scoreboard overlooking right field. Tobias' first round-tripper of the season tied the school record of eight straight hits set by Kurt Keene from May 8-11, 1999.
Dunning (3-0) retired 10 Seawolves in a row before yielding a leadoff single in the fifth to freshman Andruw Gazzola. Although a passed ball pushed Gazzola into scoring position and a grounder advanced him to third, Dunning stranded the runner with back-to-back groundouts. Junior Richie Martin started UF's fifth at bat with his first double of the year and scored on a single into left field by junior Harrison Bader to give the hosts a 4-0 lead.
In the seventh, freshman Mike Rivera poked an RBI single to left field to bring home Bader, who had drawn a one-out walk and moved over on an infield single by freshman JJ Schwarz (2-for-3).
After Dunning worked a career-high 6.2 innings, with four strikeouts and three hits allowed, sophomore Kirby Snead recorded the final out of the seventh before allowing a leadoff double to freshman pinch hitter Malcolm Nachmanoff (2-for-2) in the eighth. Seawolves' sophomore Jeremy Giles spoiled the shutout by with an RBI double off of redshirt sophomore Mike Vinson. Following a walk to sophomore Toby Handley, sophomore Tyler Deel was summoned from the bullpen and struck out junior Jack Parenty. Junior Taylor Lewis then came in and had senior Robert Chavarria ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Martin lofted a sacrifice fly in the eighth that plated freshman Dalton Guthrie for a 6-1 count and Nachmanoff completed the scoring in the ninth with an RBI single down the left-field line. Lewis collected his third save by registering the final five outs.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On Dane Dunning's performance today:
“He (Dane Dunning) threw the ball better as he obviously got into the seventh inning but I'll say this again, I've seen him pitch better than he did today. I'm just waiting for it to click for him, but that shows you how much confidence I have in him and how talented I think he is. I'm really excited at the direction he's going, as every time he goes out there he's learning.”
Thoughts on the weekend series:
“Defensively, I mean what can I say? We played 27 innings this weekend and didn't make a single error. I thought we got a lot of contributions from a lot of people offensively. I wish that we didn't let that first inning today get away from us. We had some bat at-bats with runners in scoring position. But, John Sternagel picked us up with the two-run homer, which I thought was huge. Overall, it was a great weekend. With UCF this week, with Tuesday down there (Orlando) and their obviously nationally-ranked, it should be a good challenge for us. I think they have five or six seniors in their lineup, so I'm certainly looking forward to this week.”
Sophomore right-hander Dane Dunning
On getting out of his first-inning jam:
“I felt like it gave a little boost to our team, a little pep in our step, and helped us out a lot, getting out of that. Obviously, coming into the second inning with Stern's (John Sternagel) home run helped us out a lot, especially me. It's a lot easier throwing when you have runs on the board then when it's a 0-0 ballgame.”
On throwing a career-high 6.2 innings:
“I felt great. I felt like I could go another couple of innings, but the pitch count was a little high. I felt really good.”
Sophomore infielder John Sternagel
On his feelings about his home run:
“It felt awesome. Giving us a lead on Sunday, especially when we knew [Zamora] was a good pitcher too. Just to give us a quick lead, maybe calm our nerves a touch and get us a little momentum going was awesome. Especially with a pitcher as good as Dane (Dunning), who's got a lot of good stuff, it gives him a little confidence. Once he starts putting up zeroes, it makes us feel better as hitters. It works both ways, and it was awesome, so I'm just glad it gave us a lead.”
Senior infielder Josh Tobias
On his success offensively this weekend:
“I wasn't trying to do too much. I was trying to barrel the ball and hit a line drive somewhere. I got some pitches up and put a good swing on them, and they happened to go out and find a gap. I kept it simple.”
Postgame Notes
- UF recorded its second weekend sweep of the season, as the Gators handled Rhode Island three times on Opening Weekend.
- The Gators played error-free ball for the third-straight outing.
- With today win, the Gators are now 4-0 all-time against Stony Brook. Prior to this weekend, the two schools previously met in 1982, when UF downed the Seawolves, 22-0, in Gainesville.
- Dalton Guthrie led off with a double in the first inning, his third two-bagger in the past two games and his team-leading sixth of the season.
- The Gators executed a double steal in the first, with Guthrie swiping third and Buddy Reed taking second base. Reed also stole third in the third inning and is 7-for-10 on the season.
- Josh Tobias had his fourth career triple to begin Florida's second inning.
- John Sternagel connected on his first homer since April 19, 2014, against Georgia with a two-run jack in the second.
- Tobias cranked his first homer since May 22, 2014, versus South Carolina at the SEC Tournament with two down in the third.
- After eight straight at bats with a hit, Tobias was retired on a fly ball to right field in the fifth.
- Tobias went 7-for-9 (.778) on the weekend with four RBI and three runs.
- The Gators have 13 round-trippers in 11 games – hit their 13th homer in game No. 31 last year.
- JJ Schwarz raised his hitting streak to six games with a single up the middle in the fifth.
- Today's winning pitcher, Dane Dunning, tossed a career-high 6.2 innings.
- Florida starters Logan Shore, A.J. Puk and Dunning combined this weekend: 19.2 IP,1.37 ERA, 7 H, 3 R, 6 BB, 14 K
Up Next
The Gators will travel to Orlando on Tuesday night for the front end of a home-and-home series with No. 15 UCF (10-1). The game from Jay Bergman Field at 6:30 p.m. can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
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