Florida Gators
Kentucky
No. 6 Florida Salvages Finale With Kentucky, 10-1
Sunday, April 26, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman right-hander Alex Faedo yielded one run over 5.1 innings and a balanced offense with 16 hits helped No. 6 Florida (33-12/13-8 SEC) defeat Kentucky (25-17/10-10 SEC), 10-1, on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. Junior Harrison Bader (3-for-5), freshman Dalton Guthrie (3-for-4)and freshman Mike Rivera (2-for-3) each drove in multiple runs for the Gators.
Junior Zach Arnold had given the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Faedo (4-1) with an RBI single that scored sophomore Storm Wilson (2-for-3). Wilson had a one-out single and had gone to third on a hit-and-run when senior Thomas Bernal singled up the middle.
The Gators answered in the home part of the inning with three runs on two hits and a pair of sacrifice flies to grab a 3-1 lead. Senior Josh Tobias led off with a walk from senior righty Andrew Nelson (2-3) and Bader legged out an infield single before sophomore Peter Alonso (2-for-3, two runs) roped his fifth double into right center to score Tobias. Freshman JJ Schwarz followed with a sacrifice fly into right field to bring home Bader and Rivera's fly ball into right field plated Alonso.
Guthrie expanded Florida's margin to 5-1 with a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth inning. Alonso and Schwarz had opened the frame with back-to-back singles before Nelson battled back to retire the next two hitters. However, Guthrie smacked an 0-1 offering into right center for his first career triple to drive in both of his teammates.
Florida scored twice in the fifth inning to build a 7-1 advantage. Bader delivered an RBI single off of freshman reliever Zach Logue after a leadoff triple by junior Richie Martin (2-for-4) and Rivera banged a double off of the left-field wall with two down to bring in Bader.
Junior Taylor Lewis replaced Faedo (5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R) with a pair of Wildcats aboard in the sixth and one down and registered back-to-back strikeouts. The Gators tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the stanza when Guthrie scored on a wild pitch by junior Dylan Dwyer and Bader stroked an RBI single into right field.
In the seventh, the Gators added their final insurance run of the contest as Rivera reached base on a one-out infield single and later scored on a sac fly from Guthrie. Senior Bobby Poyner took over for Lewis in the middle of the eighth and tossed the final 1.1 innings, while striking out a pair of Wildcats.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On today's win:
“Alex [Faedo] gave us a really good start and pitched out of a couple of jams early. Taylor [Lewis] came in and did a nice job again and Bobby [Poyner] did a great job as well. We swung the bats great too. Dalton [Guthrie] had a big day after a tough couple of games with three hits. I think the triple into right-center broke things open because we had a couple of opportunities with runners at third and less than two outs where we didn't do convert. [Harrison] Bader had a good game, Peter Alonso had a couple of hits, Richie [Martin] had a couple of hits, and [Mike] Rivera had a big double in the fifth. I thought he caught great all weekend. Overall, we got hits from everybody in the lineup today. It was a game we needed to win. It's one of those things where we didn't play as well as we wanted to this weekend, but you have to credit Kentucky because they played well.”
On the weekend overall:
You can look at it one of two ways: we've lost the last two out of three, or we've won our last seven out of nine. I'm going to go with the rally that we had last night that gave us momentum going into today. I thought we played the way we are capable today, did what we needed to do, pitched much better and swung the bats much better. We are sitting at 13-8 with nine to go, everything is in front of us and we control our own destiny. Bottom line is that I thought we played very well today.”
Freshman second baseman Dalton Guthrie
On hitting his first career triple:
“Right around second base, I saw the ball bobbled, and that's when I decided to go for it. I was still thinking about pulling up halfway there because I thought I might get thrown out. I didn't know I was fast enough to do that, so that was nice.”
On getting the win today:
“This was a must-win, especially just to stay in the race for the SEC. This was huge since we're going on the road next weekend. We definitely needed this.”
Freshman right-hander Alex Faedo
On his start today:
“I felt great. We needed a big win, so I knew I had to give us a good start to keep us in contention in the SEC. I'm just trying to throw strikes. We're really deep in the bullpen, so I tried to give us five good innings to keep us in the game.”
Freshman catcher Mike Rivera
On getting the win today:
“It was huge. This league is about one-game, one-out. Every out matters. We're disappointed that we lost the first two, but I'm glad we won today.”
On the Gators' offense:
“We got fired up by our coaches. Our team leaders came up today big. This was one of those days where we had to come out hot, do our thing, and get the win. That's all that matters. I think the ninth inning yesterday gave us some momentum, the fact that we started swinging the bat again the way we swing it. We gave it some fight, and we didn't quit. I think that helped.”
Postgame Notes:
- The Gators improved to 25-5 at McKethan Stadium this spring.
- Florida collected its 11th come-from-behind victory of the season by scoring 10 unanswered runs.
- The Gators had back-to-back sacrifice flies by JJ Schwarz and Mike Rivera in the second inning this afternoon after the duo accomplished the feat in the second inning last night.
- Alex Faedo improved to 4-1 on the season as he tossed 5.1 innings, struck out four hitters and walked just one.
- Taylor Lewis and Bobby Poyner combined to throw the final 4.2 innings for the Gators, while not surrendering a run and striking out four Wildcats.
- All nine Gator starters had at least one hit this afternoon.
- In the fifth, Dalton Guthrie, who had three hits today, recorded a pair of RBI on his first career triple. Peter Alonso and Schwarz scored on the play, as they each led off the inning with a pair of singles.
- Richie Martin notched his 10th double and third triple of the season. He has now hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games.
- For the series, Harrison Bader (6-for-13),Martin (4-for-9) and Alonso (4-for-10) all hit at least ,400 this weekend for the Gators.
Up Next
The Gators will return to action on Friday at SEC East rival Georgia (21-23/6-14 SEC) at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell and will be carried on SEC Network+ through WatchESPN.
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