Florida Gators
Georgia
Georgia Takes Series Opener Over No. 8 Florida
Saturday, May 2, 2015 | Baseball
ATHENS, Ga. – Junior right-hander David Sosebee set a career high by working eight innings and sophomore Mike Bell was 4-for-4 with four RBI as Georgia (22-23/7-14 SEC) defeated No. 8 Florida (33-13/13-9 SEC), 11-1, on Friday night at Foley Field.
The Bulldogs snapped a 1-1 tie with a four-run third inning and used a 14-hit offensive outburst to claim the opener of the three-game set between SEC East rivals. Sosebee (3-2) limited the Gators to four hits and recorded eight strikeouts before junior Mike Mancuso finished the game with a perfect ninth.
Freshman Mike Rivera had given the Gators a 1-0 lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the second inning against Sosebee. After sophomore Peter Alonso was hit by a pitch with one down, sophomore Buddy Reed and freshman JJ Schwarz had consecutive singles to fill the sacks. Rivera broke the ice with a fly ball to right field.
The Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the frame on a bunt by junior Nick King (1-for-3, two RBI) that brought home sophomore Trevor Kieboom. Kieboom had drawn a leadoff walk from sophomore righty Logan Shore (6-4), moved to second on a grounder by sophomore Skyler Weber and advanced to third on a base-hit into left by Bell.
Georgia plated four runs on four hits in the third to seize a 5-1 lead. Freshman Keegan McGovern started things off with a single and junior Zack Bowers followed with a walk. Senior Jared Walsh (4-for-5) and Kieboom had back-to-back one-out RBI singles to end the night for Shore (2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R). Although sophomore Kirby Snead struck out Weber, a two-run triple by Bell resulted in a four-run lead for the Bulldogs.
Bell connected on a solo shot with one down in the sixth off of sophomore Shaun Anderson and the Bulldogs tacked on five more runs on four hits in the seventh inning. Bowers came home on a bases-loaded balk by freshman Logan Browning, Weber had an RBI grounder and the trio of Bell (single), King (triple) and sophomore Stephen Wrenn (3-for-5) (single) had run-scoring hits for UGA.
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On tonight's game:
“We need to do a better job of making sure that we miss when ahead in the count on the mound. We did not get off to a good start tonight and we have to be able to pitch better to win in this league. I'm disappointed, I didn't see this one coming. We had a great week of practice and the kids were ready to play, we just didn't perform tonight. We've got to get the middle part of our order working. There were too many advantage counts that we didn't take advantage of and we have to elevate fastballs to drive in runs.”
Postgame Notes
- Florida fell to 3-5 in game one of SEC series this season.
- Kirby Snead worked a season-high three innings for the Gators, with three strikeouts, two hits and zero runs.
- Josh Tobias (2-for-4) had a pair of hits for Florida, his 17th multiple-hit effort of the year, one behind team leader Dalton Guthrie (18).
- The Gators played error-free baseball for the 25th time in 46 games.
Up Next
The Gators and Bulldogs will meet tomorrow at 12 p.m., as sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (6-3, 5.87) will oppose UGA sophomore southpaw Ryan Lawlor (4-6, 3.41). The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell, will be carried on ESPNU with Jason Benetti and Mike Rooney and viewed through participating TV providers through WatchESPN.
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