No. 3 Gators Split Saturday Doubleheader at Ole Miss to Cap First SEC Road Weekend

Saturday, March 21

Oxford, MS

2:30 PM

Florida Gators

19-5, 2-3

Ole Miss

13-9, 3-2

Florida

Ole Miss

No. 3 Gators Split Saturday Doubleheader at Ole Miss to Cap First SEC Road Weekend

Sunday, March 22, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: John Hines

OXFORD, Miss. -- After dropping a 5-2 decision in game one of Saturday's weather-induced doubleheader, the No. 3 Florida baseball team got back in the wins column in the nightcap with an 8-4 victory to wrap up UF's second SEC set this season at Swayze Field in Oxford. While the Rebels (13-10, 3-3 SEC) clinched the series in game one of Saturday's double dip, the Gators (20-5, 3-3 SEC) finished the weekend with a 12-hit victory.

Florida scattered runs in the first, second, third, sixth and seventh innings and had 12 hits, including four doubles, in the nightcap -- its Friday night and Saturday afternoon output combined. Freshman Dalton Guthrie paved the way for the Gators with a 3-for-5 night, including a career-high three RBI. Right-hander Dane Dunning twirled the first 4.1 innings and fanned a career-tying five Rebels before senior lefty Bobby Poyner came on for the next 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up his first win this season (1-1), including six strikeouts.

GAME TWO SUMMARY | Florida 8, Ole Miss 4 (box)

Florida claimed its first lead of the series at Ole Miss in the first frame of the nightcap after Guthrie laced his team-leading 11th double off the third-base bag to set up a Harrison Bader (1-for-4) RBI single to left to score Guthrie for the 1-0 lead. In the second, UF kept the leadoff double magic alive with freshman Jeremy Vasquez's (2-for-4, two runs) fourth double of the season. Sophomore Buddy Reed (1-for-4) moved Vasquez to second, while the freshman first baseman came home on a Mike Rivera (2-for-5, three RBI) groundout for a 2-0 advantage. Guthrie continued the thee-run output in the second with his second hit of game two to rack up his eighth and ninth RBI of the season with a two-out single through the left side to score freshman Christian Hicks (1-for-3, two runs), who was hit by a pitch, and sophomore Ryan Larson (1-for-3, two runs), who roped a two-out double, his second of the year.

UF struck again in the third when Rivera singled home Vasquez for some more two-out scoring. Vasquez notched an infield single and swiped second before coming around to score for Rivera's 16th RBI of the season.

Ole Miss countered with back-to-back doubles to get on the board in the fifth when Henri Lartigue pushed shortstop Errol Robinson home for a 5-1 margin, but UF strung together a two run, two-hit sixth after Guthrie smacked his third hit of the night through the left side to score Hicks, who had one of UF's four doubles. Florida then loaded the bases for a Bader RBI walk and the 7-1 lead through six.

Rivera added his career-tying third RBI of the game in the seventh with a single through the right side that plated Richie Martin (1-for-4, one run) following the Gator shortstop's one-out single and stolen base, resulting in an 8-1 Florida advantage.

Two Gators errors in the bottom of the ninth permitted Ole Miss to cut UF's lead in half, 8-4, after an error, groundout RBI and sac fly for the Rebels.

Poyner (1-1) picked up his first win of the season on the hill for UF, while Rebels starter Will Stokes (0-1) shouldered the loss.

GAME ONE SUMMARY | Ole Miss 5, Florida 2 (box)

In the first game of the double dip, Ole Miss put up a three spot in the first and one run each in the second and third before UF countered with a two-run fourth for what would be the final 5-2 margin.

The Rebels drew two walks in the bottom of the first and Ole Miss' Sikes Orvis made UF pay with a three-run homer for the early 3-0 lead. An infield single for Ole Miss third baseman Will Golsan plated the Rebels' fourth run in the second before Orvis struck again in the third for the home team with a RBI double to right field.

Florida put the leadoff batter on the first three consecutive innings as Guthrie led off with a base hit in the first, while classmate J.J. Schwarz drew a walk in the second. Guthrie walked in the third, but Ole Miss sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett halted any chance of a Gators' score.

Florida juiced the bags in the fourth after sophomore Buddy Reed (2-for-5, one run) and Schwarz struck with back-to-back singles before Vasquez used an Ole Miss miscue to set up a Rivera (2-for-4) RBI hit to right field. Florida added a run when Schwarz crossed the dish on a Larson (1-for-3) sac fly for Florida's second and final run of the first contest.

Both starters earned the decision in game one, as Gators' left-hander A.J. Puk moved to 4-2 with the loss while Bramlett improved to 3-1 for Ole Miss. Wyatt Short worked the final 1.1 to pick up his second save of 2015.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan

On the second-game victory and thoughts on the weekend:
"It was one of those games we needed to win, we needed to get out of here with a W. We'll go back home -- we're .500 in the league -- regroup and obviously we've got a lot of work to do. We have some guys in roles that aren't ready for this quite yet. We had three starters go out there (on the mound) and we didn't get five innings from any of them. I think it's probably time we try to look at some other guys. It's unfortunate because I think those guys are certainly capable, but haven't been able to sustain it for five or six innings.

The positive is we won a ballgame here that we needed to win. It's unfortunate we had to give up a three spot there in the bottom half of the ninth. All in all, we have some work to do. We obviously did not play our best this weekend. We have some work to do, but so does everyone else."

POSTGAME NOTES
*After Saturday's split, Florida still owns the advantage in the history of the series with Ole Miss, 49-47
*Florida's 12 hits in game two Saturday gave the Gators double-digit hits in their third SEC contest and in seven of UF's last 10 games
*Gator sophomore RHP Dane Dunning tossed the first 4.1 innings of Saturday's nightcap, fanning a career-tying five batters before senior LHP Bobby Poyner came on for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up his first win this season, including six strikeouts, one shy of his career-high seven
*Sophomore centerfielder Buddy Reed led off UF's two-run fourth inning in game one with a base hit to extend his career-best hit streak to 11 games. Reed went 2-for-5 at the plate for the Gators in game one with one run and preserved the hit streak on his last at-bat in the nightcap (1-for-4)
*Freshman C/DH Mike Rivera went 2-for-4 in the first game Saturday and 2-for-5 with three RBI in game two to continue a hot hitting streak, including at least one base hit and RBI in four straight games. Rivera's three RBI were a career high
*Freshman Dalton Guthrie's three RBI in game two were a career high as the Gator leadoff went 3-for-5 at the dish

UP NEXT
Florida will head down to DeLand to take on Stetson in a Tuesday evening clash, set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Gator fans can listen to Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network. Live stats for the contest 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.