Florida Gators
Fairfield
Schwarz Leads No. 3 Florida Past Fairfield, 8-7
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Behind freshman JJ Schwarz's (2-for-4) triple, home run and three RBI, No. 3 Florida (15-2) defeated Fairfield (0-4), 8-7 on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium. UF used seven pitchers and began the night with junior Eric Hanhold (1-0), who recorded his first win since March 15, 2014 against Arkansas. Tonight marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
UF opened the scoring in bottom of the third inning on sophomore Ryan Larson's (2-for-3) sacrifice fly, which scored freshman Christian Hicks (2-for-4) who had singled to lead off the inning. The Gators then loaded the bases on pair of singles and a walk over the next four batters walk that, which allowed the scorching-hot senior Josh Tobias to come up to the plate in a key situation.
The Greensboro, N.C., native delivered with a single up the middle, extending his career-best hitting streak to nine games, and scoring two runs to give UF a 3-0 advantage heading to the fourth.
After a pre-planned pitching change that brought sophomore Kirby Snead into the game in the top of the fourth, Fairfield jumped on the sophomore early as the Stags' first two hitters, Mac Crispino and Jake Salpietro recorded a single and homerun to bring then within one run at 3-2.
Florida extended its lead with a pair of insurance runs in the fifth and three in the seventh.
In the fifth, freshman Dalton Guthrie (2-for-4) led off the frame with his team-leading eighth double of the season. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on groundout by junior Richie Martin. Later in the inning, sophomore Buddy Reed (2-for-4) (pictured) doubled and then scored on Schwarz' second triple of the season. 
In the seventh, the Gators scored their last three runs of the evening as Reed recorded his second two-bagger of the evening which scored Martin, who led off the frame with a single. Schwarz followed their lead as he drilled his fourth home run of the season to leftfield extending the Gator lead to 8-2.
Undaunted, Fairfield pulled the game within one run at 8-7 after scoring five runs in the top of the eighth inning on four hits. Despite the rally, UF was able to hold on and win the game by that count. Junior RHP Taylor Lewis entered the game in eighth with one out and two runners on, but was able to stop the bleeding and get UF back in the dugout with the lead.
Lewis then tossed a scoreless ninth inning to record his fifth save of the season.
On the bump after Snead, juniors Aaron Rhodes (RHP) and Danny Young (LHP), Anderson, sophomore LHP Tyler Deel and Lewis combined to throw the final five innings for the Gators.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On tonight's win:
“I thought that we swung the bats pretty well in the first couple innings, but nothing really stood out, as we had too many fly balls. I think that five of the first six outs were in the air, but then we got some stuff going. I want to take a minute to say that Fairfield played their tails off tonight. They have some hitters in the middle of their lineup that are pretty good. On the mound, they started a freshman [Gavin Wallace] tonight that was up to 90 [mph] and he mixed it up. Their pitchers threw a ton of strikes. I think they walked four and we walked four. They haven't been able to get outside and play, so credit those guys. I thought that [Eric] Hanhold was good and it was good to get him back out there. I thought Kirby [Snead] came in and his ball was up, so he obviously gave up the home run. I thought [Aaron] Rhodes gave us a quality five outs. Danny Young is probably the player of the game because he came in and slowed some things down for us. The disappointing part is that we have six outs to go, we have a six-run lead, and we implode. We left an 0-2 pitch after a infield single out over the plate, so they got the first two guys on in the eighth and gained momentum. We brought a left-hander in to face a lefty and threw five pitches and four balls. Taylor [Lewis] came in and he wasn't particularly sharp either, but credit Fairfield because they probably deserved to win the ballgame. We are fortunate to be where we are, but I was pleased that we swung the bat better tonight. I thought we put some better swings on the ball, but we just have to get a little cleaner. We will see how we come out tomorrow.”
Sophomore right-hander Eric Hanhold
On his first start of the season:
“It felt good to be out there. I just need to get more work. I'll come back next outing better. I was on pitch count, so I just got to get that work in.”
Freshman catcher JJ Schwarz
On hitting his fourth homer of the season:
“It's been a while since I hit one that, so it felt good. I'm just happy we got the win. I could have gone 0-for-4 and still been happy we got the win.”
Postgame Notes
- Tonight marked the first ever meeting between UF and Fairfield.
- Eric Hanhold made his first start of the 2015 season and his first since March 29, 2014 when the Gators hosted LSU. In addition, the sophomore recorded his first win since March 15, 2014 against Arkansas.
- Senior Josh Tobias extended his career long hit streak to nine games in the bottom of the third inning with a two RBI single.
- Freshman Jeremy Vasquez, who made his first career start for the Gators,was one of the two runners Tobias drove in after he recorded his first-career hit earlier in the inning.
- Freshman Dalton Guthrie recorded his team-leading eighth double in the bottom of the fifth inning.
- Sophomore Buddy Reed notched his second-career game with two doubles. He previously accomplished the feat against FAU on Feb. 24, 2015.
- Freshman JJ Schwarz notched his second triple and fourth homerun throughout the course of tonight's game.
- Junior Taylor Lewis garnered his fifth save of the season.
Up Next
The Gators host Fairfield again on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
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