No. 2 Florida Welcomes No. 9 UCF To McKethan Stadium Wednesday Night
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 2 Florida (10-2) hosts No. 9 UCF (11-1) at McKethan Stadium on Wednesday at 7 p.m. after the Knights pulled out a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night in front of a record crowd of 4,319 fans at Jay Bergman Field.
Promotions for tonight's game:
- UF Alumni Association Day
All UFAA members with valid ID receive 2-for-1 reserve bleacher seating. - UF & Santa Fe Faculty & Staff Night
All Faculty and Staff from UF and Santa Fe College receive 2-for-1 reserved bleacher seating
The game can be heard through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Bob White. It will also be carried on SEC Network+ with Nick Belmonte and Larry Vettel 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 saw its bid for a six-game winning streak fall short with the loss on Tuesday night at UCF. The Gators started the season 5-0 and fell to No. 8 Miami on Feb. 21 before reeling off five straight wins.
- UF is an even 2-2 this season against ranked opponents and is 65-49 (.570) at home versus top-10 foes under Kevin O'Sullivan.
- Freshman 2B Dalton Guthrie has batted .321 (17-for-53) out of the leadoff spot with 11 runs and has hit safely in 10 of the Gators' 12 outings. He brought the Gators within 4-3 on Tuesday night with a two-run, two-out double in the seventh.
- Senior 3B Josh Tobias tied a school record with hits in eight consecutive at bats and hit a sizzling .778 (7-for-9) in the sweep of Stony Brook. He went a career-best 5-for-5 on Saturday with three RBI and added a solo homer and a triple as part of his 2-for-4 effort on Sunday.
- Tobias was 1-for-4 with an RBI grounder at UCF and is 9-for-18 (.500) with six RBI in his last four games.
- The Orange and Blue has pounded out 43 extra-base hits, with 27 doubles, 13 homers and three triples, with a .496 slugging percentage.
- Led by junior OF Harrison Bader's five dingers, UF has 13 homers already. It didn't reach 13 round-trippers last season until the 32nd game on April 6 against Kentucky and had 26 the entire year.
- Bader paces the Gator offense in batting average (.429), RBI (19), multiple-hit games (6), homers (5) and multiple-RBI games (5).
- 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 8-1 with a 2.17 ERA and registered 41 strikeouts in 49.2 innings.
- The Gators have outscored their opponents, 92-36, including a 12-4 disparity in the first inning. Florida is 6-0 when scoring first.
- Forty-eight of UF's 82 RBI this year have come with two out, led by 12 from Schwarz and 10 from Bader.
- Florida is 19-for-26 (.731) on the basepaths, with thefts from eight different players. Sophomore OF Buddy Reed (.275, 10 runs) is 7-for-10 after going 5-for-10 as a freshman.
- UF batted .324 in the series against Stony Brook, registered a 1.67 team earned run average and boasted a 1.000 fielding percentage.
DRAWING THE START
Right-hander Brett Morales (1-0, 3.12) will make his third start of the season for the Gators and will oppose UCF freshman righty Eric Hepple (1-0, 0.00). In 8.2 innings, the sophomore has eight strikeouts and given up one walk. Morales threw six perfect innings at USF on Feb. 18 and worked 2.2 innings in his last outing against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 24 without a decision (4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K).
SERIES NUGGETS
Kevin O'Sullivan is 7-3 (.700) against UCF, 5-1 (.833) in Gainesville and 2-2 (.500) in Orlando. The Gators notched a 5-1 win in the teams' last meeting in Gainesville on Feb. 18, 2014.
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.
