Florida Gators
Florida State
Gators Win a Wacky One Over Noles
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Former major leaguer and longtime announcer Joe Garagiola once wrote a book titled "Baseball Is a Funny Game."
The 89-year-old Garagiola finally retired two years ago, but no doubt he would appreciate Florida's 14-8 victory over Florida State on Tuesday night.
It was a funny game -- and then some. Weird, entertaining and long are other adjectives that fit.
"They are not all going to be 2-1 ballgames,'' Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.
This one was five minutes shy of four hours on a perfect night for baseball before an announced crowd of 5,827 at McKethan Stadium, the fifth-largest home crowd in school history.
The folks who stayed until the end when Florida reliever Logan Browning -- the 13th pitcher of the game, seventh for the Gators -- struck out Florida State's Steven Wells Jr. to put the victory to bed at 10:56 p.m. got their money's worth.
The teams combined for 22 runs, 25 hits and 356 total pitches.
That's a lot of baseball.
The No. 3-ranked Gators (19-3) won their fifth in a row over the No. 11 Seminoles (17-5) and finished their 10-game homestand 9-1.
Some of the highlights and lowlights from Tuesday's game:
-- One of the biggest ovations came when Albert (Florida's mascot) caught a foul ball in the bottom of the seventh.
-- Gators outfielder Harrison Bader had back-to-back bat flips, one on a long foul ball and another on an RBI sacrifice fly, to rev up the Gators and irritate the Seminoles in the fifth inning.
-- FSU committed five errors, three on third baseman Dylan Busby.
-- A cloud of smoke hovered over the field for a couple of the early innings before the wind finally cleared it, blocking out the sunshine in this rivalry known as the Sunshine Showdown.
-- Gators shortstop Richie Martin stole home in the fourth inning to put Florida up 7-5.
-- Florida State pulled off a double steal in the fifth inning with Busby stealing home a half inning after Martin pulled off the rare feat.
-- The two starting pitchers, Florida's Eric Hanhold (35) and Florida State's Alex Byrd (36) combined for 71 pitches in the first inning.
By now you probably get the idea that Tuesday's game was a little different.
"It was a frustrating game I'm sure to watch from the fans' perspective because every time each team scored the other team went back out and gave it back up,'' O'Sullivan said. "It's just one of those nights."
While O'Sullivan left for home concerned about finding the proper roles for some of his pitchers, he was pleased his team played error-free and banged out 16 hits against an FSU team that had won 13 of its last 14 games.
Florida finally regained the momentum for good in the bottom of the fifth after Florida State rallied from a four-run deficit to tie the game 7-7 in the top of the inning.
Ryan Larson's RBI single put the Gators up 8-7, Martin picked up an RBI on hard hit ball to third that Busby misplayed, and then Bader's memorable at-bat ended with a deep fly ball to right-center that scored Dalton Guthrie to make it 10-7.
Bader went 1-for-3 with three RBIs as every Gator starter had a hit, including a three-run homer from freshman JJ Schwarz in the seventh that served as a de facto night-capper for Florida.
"Even though it might have seemed grueling at times, you've just got to stay focused,'' Bader said. "A win against Florida State is always good."
And then as Bader started to walk toward the dugout and head for home, he turned to a group of reporters for a final word.
"Everybody get home safely. A long night."
Yes it was. But an entertaining one.
*****
POST-GAME NOTES
- A crowd of 5,827 piled into The Mac Tuesday to watch the Share A Little Sunshine Showdown on St. Paddy's Day, the fifth-highest attendance all-time
- Florida's seven pitchers Tuesday combined for a season-high 12 strikeouts, with three each from Eric Hanhold and Alex Faedo to lead the way for the Orange and Blue
- The Gators' 16 hits against the Noles were one shy of a season-high 17. Nine of UF's 16 hits were manufactured by the freshman class. Mike Rivera paced the pack with a 3-for-5 showing at the dish with two runs scored and one RBI, while JJ Schwarz extended his hit streak to 10 games with three RBI (2-for-5)
- All nine Gator starters had at least one hit in Tuesday's 14-8 victory over Florida State; six players had at least two hits
- Florida racked up eight extra-base hits against FSU, including five doubles, two triples and a three-run jack from Schwarz, his fifth of the season
- Junior Harrison Bader went 1-for-3 at the plate, extending his hit streak to 11 games
QUOTES
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan:
On Florida's win tonight:
“Every game is different. Some games you pitch really well and don't swing the bats. Then, there's game's like this. Obviously, we didn't pitch as well as we wanted tonight, but our offense picked us up. I told the team at the end of the game that as poorly as we pitched, the most remarkable thing is that we didn't make a single error the entire night. We played a four-hour game. When things get like that and you start to see hitters over and over the defense tends to get on their heels and not play well. I am really pleased with how we swung the bats and how we played defense tonight. The freshmen were outstanding. I think the freshmen in the lineup had nine of the 16 hits. Aaron Rhodes came in and really settled things down for us. Even though it was only for one inning, Logan [Browning] came in the ninth and pitched great. Moving forward, there are a lot of positives. We do have a lot of work left to do, but we hung in there and won the ballgame.”
Junior left fielder Harrison Bader
On tonight's win against FSU:
“I think the hardest thing in baseball is to have all three aspects of your team really working. Our offense was really good, and our defense was really good. Our pitching slipped a little tonight. But those guys are working hard and I know it was just an off night for a couple guys. At the end of the day, our offense picked them up tonight. That's the most important part.”
Freshman designated hitter JJ Schwarz
On hitting a three-run home run in the seventh:
“It's really important to get those runs. [FSU] is a good team, and we played really good defense. I knew if we had a cushion, we would be fine.”
Up Next
The Gators travel to Ole Miss for a three-game series this weekend. Friday and Saturday's games can be seen on the SEC Network+ and Sunday's game can be seen on ESPNU. All three can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
Follow the Gators
Season tickets, Mini-Plans and Single-Game tickets can be purchased online through GatorZone.com 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.com or follow the team's Twitter account@GatorZoneBB.
