Florida Gators
Auburn
No. 7 Florida Claims Series Over Auburn To Reach 40 Wins; UF No. 4 seed in SEC Tournament
Saturday, May 16, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior Josh Tobias snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer in the sixth inning as No. 7 Florida (40-15/19-11 SEC) downed Auburn (34-22/13-17 SEC), 3-1, to capture the series on Saturday afternoon at McKethan Stadium to complete the regular season.
It marked the fifth time this year that the Gators dropped game one of an SEC series and rebounded with a pair of victories. Junior right-hander Taylor Lewis (5-1) threw 4.1 scoreless innings and senior southpaw Bobby Poyner recorded the final out to pick up his fourth save.
With the triumph, UF also reached the 40-win plateau for the sixth time in head coach Kevin O'Sullivan's eight-year tenure and its regular-season win total was one shy of the school mark accomplished in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2011.
The Gators enter the SEC Tournament this week as the No. 4 seed and will face the Arkansas-Tennessee winner on Wednesday night.
Auburn opened the scoring in the second inning, when sophomore Kyler Deese scored on a wild pitch. Deese and freshman Austin Murphy started the stanza with back-to-back singles against freshman right-hander Alex Faedo and were sacrificed over by junior Cody Nulph. After Faedo caught junior Sam Gillikin looking on strikes for the second out, a wild pitch enabled Deese to break the ice.
The Gators answered in the bottom of the frame on a leadoff homer to right field by sophomore Peter Alonso (2-for-4) off of sophomore Keegan Thompson. It was Alonso's third round-tripper of the year.
Nulph and junior Jackson Burgeen began the fifth with consecutive singles before Faedo struck out junior Melvin Gray. Following a walk to sophomore Damon Haecker that loaded the bases, Lewis took over for Faedo (4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R) and induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play on a grounder by sophomore Anfernee Grier.
Florida threatened in the home part of the inning, when sophomore Ryan Larson had a one-out single and took second on a throwing error and Guthrie earned a free pass. However, junior Dalton Rentz (3-3) worked out of trouble by having sophomore Buddy Reed hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
Tobias belted a two-run shot in the sixth to give the Gators a 3-1 lead. Junior Richie Martin led off by reaching on an error, prompting a pitching change. Sophomore lefty Izaac Yarbrough came in for Rentz and Tobias cranked a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left center for his fifth big fly of the campaign. The blast extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On winning the series vs. Auburn:
“It's not how you draw it up, but this team shows a lot of resiliency. It's not easy to lose game one and to come back and win games two and three. We got 40 wins during the regular season and that isn't easy to do. Only a handful of teams in the country are able to do that. What separates our 40 wins from most is that our out-of-conference schedule is so difficult. We play a lot of good teams and there are no easy wins. Our strength of schedule out of conference is one of the hardest in the country, and combined with our SEC schedule, we play a lot of good teams. To get to that mark with 40 wins says a lot about our team.”
“We didn't swing the bats great this weekend, but I want to compliment Auburn's pitchers because they did a good job. They kept mixing on us and it wasn't a very offensive weekend as far as the weather was concerned. The wind was blowing straight in from left [field], but our guys hung in there. The big at-bat today was by Josh [Tobias]. It was really good to see a senior go out like that, and then Bobby [Poyner] got the last out. Between [Aaron] Rhodes coming in and pitching so well yesterday and Josh getting a big double and home-run today, and Bobby getting the last out of the game, I don't know if you could have drawn up a better script. I am really pleased with their outcome.”
Senior third baseman Josh Tobias
On hitting the go-ahead home run:
“I was just trying to do something to help the team win. It's kind of icing on the cake to hit that.”
On finishing the regular-season by leading the team in batting average:
“It's great. I started off slow, but I just kept working and believing in myself. Things happen.”
Junior right-hander Taylor Lewis
On coming in for longer outings:
“To tell you the truth, as long as we win, I don't care what I do. I just try to come in whenever they call me and do my job. Going in for one inning is a little different [than today]; you have to change your role. I try not to throw as hard [during longer outings], but sometimes I do. I just pound the zone when I come in since I'll face batters more than one time. It's not too much of a difference, but it is a little bit.”
Sophomore first baseman Peter Alonso
On getting the series win today:
“Momentum is everything. Overall, I think we're playing really well. Going into the SEC Tournament playing good baseball is really important. All of the pieces are starting to come together, and we're looking to make some noise in the tournament.”
On the play of Bobby Poyner and Josh Tobias on Senior Day today:
“It's perfect, you can't write a better script. I've worked the past two years with these guys, and they've put a lot of effort and sweat into the program. They deserve the results they got here today on their special day, 100%.”
Postgame Notes:
- Florida reached the 40-win plateau for the 23rd time in school history, sixth time under Kevin O'Sullivan.
- The total of 40 regular-season wins is one shy of the school record set in 1989 (41-18), 1991 (41-19), 1996 (41-14), 1998 (41-13) and 2011 (41-15).
- The Gators finished 7-3 (.700) in the 10 SEC series and won five series after dropping the opener (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Auburn).
- Florida came from behind to claim the last two games of the series – giving the Orange and Blue 16 wins when trailing this spring.
- UF improved to 28-6 (.824) at McKethan Stadium in 2015, 10-5 (.667) in league action.
- The Gators finish the regular season with error-free baseball in 32 of their 55 games and is 25-7 (.781) in those games.
- Florida was 9-1 (.900) in game three of SEC weekend series.
Up Next
The Gators will begin play at the SEC Tournament on Wednesday, with the full bracket being released after today's action. The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert and will be shown on the SEC Network and available through WatchESPN.
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