No. 7 Florida Opens SEC Tournament Wednesday Night Against No. 24 Arkansas
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 | Baseball
Florida at SEC Tournament Series Notes
HOOVER, Ala. – No. 4 seed Florida (40-15) will face fifth-seeded Arkansas (34-20) on day two of the 2015 SEC Tournament on Wednesday night. The Razorbacks ousted 12th-seeded Tennessee, 2-1, on a walk-off double in the ninth inning.
Sophomore right-hander Dane Dunning (5-2, 3.54) will draw the start for the Gators against UA freshman right-hander Keaton McKinney (6-1, 2.83).
The game can be heard through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert, it will be carried on the SEC Network at approximately 9:30 p.m. with Clay Matvick (play-by-play), Gabe Gross (analysis) and Kayce Smith (reporter) and viewed through the WatchESPN app. 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
- By taking the final regular-season series from Auburn, Florida reached the 40-win plateau for the 23rd time in school history and the sixth time under Kevin O'Sullivan.
- The total of 40 regular-season wins was 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 Orange and Blue had a 7-3 (.700) mark in SEC series - 4-1 (.800) at home and 3-2 (.600) on the road. UF also won their last three conference series.
- Florida emerged victorious in five SEC series after dropping the opener (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Auburn).
- The Gators are 28-6 (.824) at McKethan Stadium, 11-8 (.579) on the road and 1-1 (.500) at neutral sites this season.
- Florida's bullpen is 19-2 with a 2.90 ERA and 13 saves, and has registered 193 strikeouts in 236 innings, with a .234 batting average against.
- UF is hitting .293 as team, has compiled a team earned run average of 3.35 and leads the nation with a .985 fielding percentage.
- Florida has played error-free baseball in 32 of its 55 games and is 25-7 (.781) in those contests. The single-season school record for fielding percentage is .978, set in 2010.
- The Gators are 36-2 (.947) when out-hitting their opponent, 29-4 (.879) when scoring first, 25-5 (.833) when hitting a homer and 19-1 (.950) when scoring in the first inning. UF came from behind in both of its victories over Auburn last weekend.
- Senior Josh Tobias, who continues to lead the Gators with a .366 overall batting average, was 4-for-9 (.444) in the series with the Tigers and snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer in the finale. A second-team All-SEC pick, he enters the SEC Tournament on a career-high 12-game hitting streak in which he is 17-foar-44 (.386) with 10 runs, six walks and four doubles and four RBI. Tobias did not commit any errors on the hot corner until the second-to-last day of the regular season and has a .991 fielding percentage.
- Sophomore center fielder Buddy Reed (.307, 39 RBI, 39 runs) earned a berth on the SEC All-Defensive Team, the first Gator outfielder honored since Matt den Dekker was recognized three straight seasons from 2008-10.
- For the second year in a row, the Gators placed a trio of players on the SEC All-Freshman Team: 2B Dalton Guthrie, C Mike Rivera and DH JJ Schwarz. Rivera and Schwarz earned second-team All-SEC recognition as well.
- Sophomore RHP Dane Dunning (5-2, 3.54) will start Florida's first game in Hoover on Wednesday night. He has made 13 appearances and 12 starts, with 50 strikeouts and 18 walks in 53.1 innings. Dunning's last start was on May 5 against USF, when he registered eight strikeouts over four innings on a pitch count to earn the victory.
- Junior Taylor Lewis has registered a team-low 1.59 earned run average and is 5-1 with six saves in 39.2 innings. The right-hander has not permitted any runs in his last six appearances and worked 4.1 innings to notch the win last Saturday against Auburn.
- After 26 home runs in 63 games outings last year, Florida has gone yard 50 times in 2015, led by Schwarz (14) and junior Harrison Bader (12).
SERIES NUGGETS -– ARKANSAS
Arkansas was one of the three SEC teams that Florida did not face this season, along with LSU and Texas A&M. The Gators downed the Hogs twice during the opening series of league play last March in Gainesville (2-1, 1-0, 3-9).
Kevin O'Sullivan is 8-13 (.381) against Arkansas, 6-6 (.500) in Gainesville, 1-5 (.167) in Fayetteville and 1-2 (.333) at the SEC Tournament. The teams last met in Hoover on May 27, 2010, a 5-4 triumph for the Orange and Blue.
