Florida Gators
Florida State
No. 8 Florida State Downs No. 5 Florida, 8-3, in Round Two of Share A Little Sunshine Showdown
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No. 8 Florida State (23-7) defeated No. 5 Florida (23-7), 8-3, on Tuesday night in front of 8,306 fans at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville in The Share A Little Sunshine Showdown to even the teams' regular-season series. The Gators had upended the Seminoles, 14-8, in Gainesville on St. Patrick's Day and will visit Tallahassee on April 14.
Sophomore Hank Truluck opened the scoring in the second inning with a two-out RBI single into right field off of freshman right-hander Alex Faedo (1-1). Senior Chris Marconcini had drawn a leadoff walk before Faedo caught freshman Dylan Busby looking on strikes and freshman Mike Rivera threw out Marconcini attempting to steal second base. Senior Josh Delph (2-for-4, two runs) roped a double to the wall in right field and Truluck delivered a run-scoring hit.
Junior DJ Stewart (1-for-2, two RBI) expanded Florida State's lead to 2-0 in the third with a double down the right-field line that brought home junior John Sansone (4-for-4, two runs), who had an infield single and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Senior Josh Tobias cut the Gators' deficit in half against senior southpaw Bryant Holtmann (4-1) with a two-out homer in the fourth inning to left field. It was his third round-tripper of the campaign. Senior Danny De La Calle (2-for-5, two RBI, two runs) countered for the Seminoles in the home part of frame with a two-out solo shot to left for a 3-1 FSU advantage.
Consecutive two-out RBI singles by Busby and Delph in the fifth resulted in a 5-1 lead for the Seminoles. Junior Danny Young replaced Faedo (4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 5 K) and Sansone opened the stanza with infield fly that dropped in for a hit and sophomore Quincy Nieporte singled through the left side with one down for a pair of runners aboard. After Young responded with a strikeout of Marconcini, Busby delivered an RBI single into left field to score Sansone and Delph drove in Nieporte with a base-knock into right field.
The Gators threatened in the sixth, as freshman Dalton Guthrie and junior Richie Martin (2-for-4) started the inning with consecutive singles to prompt a pitching change. Junior Dylan Silva came in for Holtmann (5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R) and set down the next three batters.
FSU tacked on two more runs in the seventh to build an 8-1 margin, as Sansone drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Delph and Stewart lofted a sacrifice fly into center field that brought across De La Calle. The Gators tallied a pair of runs in the ninth on an RBI grounder by sophomore Buddy Reed that scored junior Harrison Bader (leadoff walk) and an RBI grounder by freshman JJ Schwarz that drove in junior Mike Fahrman, who had delivered a pinch-hit double into left field.
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan
“Credit Florida State, they played really well tonight. I thought (Bryant) Holtmann did a nice job in a starting role and we had a good plan against him. He executed a lot of pitches and did a really nice job and then they went with (Dylan) Silva. We had a chance in the sixth with first and second and nobody out and we had our 3-4-5 hitters coming up and I think he got to a 3-1 count with (Harrison) Bader and induced a fly ball and then he did a nice job. The bottom line is they played better than we did tonight and we have some work to do to get better. Credit their hitters, they did a nice job and battled at the plate; we've been on the other side of that too plenty of times.”
Junior shortstop Richie Martin
“We have to get back to the drawing board and get ready for the weekend at Missouri. We had our chances and didn't take advantage of them tonight. It was a great atmosphere and we always like playing in front of large crowds.”
Postgame Notes
- Florida State ended a five-game losing streak to Florida dating back to a 2-1 victory in Jacksonville on March 26, 2013.
- Tonight was the ninth meeting between the Gators and Seminoles in Jacksonville, with the Seminoles holding a 6-3 edge.
- Making his third start, freshman Alex Faedo matched his career high of five strikeouts set against Fairfield on March 11.
- Senior Josh Tobias' solo homer in the fourth inning was Florida's 26th round-tripper of the year, equaling last season's total.
- Junior Richie Martin went 2-for-4 to lead the Gator offense.
- The Seminoles enjoyed a 13-6 advantage in hits and drew eight walks.
Up Next
The Gators will travel to the Show-Me State for a weekend series at Missouri that starts on Friday at 7 p.m. The series can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell and will be carried on SEC Network+ through participating TV providers only through WatchESPN.
Follow the Gators
Season tickets, Complete Game Mini-Plans and Single-Game tickets 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. For all of the latest information on Florida baseball, log on to GatorZone or follow the team's Twitter account @GatorZoneBB.
