
Three-Run Double by Larson Helps No. 8 Florida Capture Series At Georgia, 7-4
Sunday, May 3, 2015 | Baseball
ATHENS, Ga. – Sophomore Ryan Larson came through with a three-run double in the sixth to snap a 4-4 tie and lift No. 8 Florida to a 7-4 triumph over Georgia in Sunday's rubber game at Foley Field. The Gator bullpen threw seven scoreless innings, with junior Taylor Lewis (3-1) earning the victory and junior Danny Young pocketing his second save by retiring all eight batters he faced.
Notching back-to-back wins after dropping Friday night's opener, the Gators (35-13/15-9 SEC) have now claimed eight of the last nine series against the Bulldogs (22-25/7-16 SEC). Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 19-7 (.731) against UGA, 8-4 (.667) in Athens.
More importantly, the Orange and Blue remains two games behind No. 6 Vanderbilt (35-14/17-7 SEC) in the chase for the SEC Championship and visits the Commodores for three games starting on Thursday night.
The Gators jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-out, two-run single by sophomore Buddy Reed. Freshman Dalton Guthrie had led off against sophomore Robert Tyler by reaching on an error and went to third on a single into left field by senior Josh Tobias (2-for-4). After a fielder's choice by sophomore Peter Alonso resulted in the Gators having Guthrie at third and Alonso at second, junior Harrison Bader walked to fill the bases. Reed smoked a liner into right field that helped Florida open the scoring for the third day in a row.
Georgia countered in the home part of the frame with a three-run homer to right field with two down by junior Daniel Nichols (2-for-4). Freshman Keegan McGovern and junior Zack Bowers drew back-to-back walks from freshman Alex Faedo and Nichols connected on his fifth homer of the campaign.
Florida regained the advantage, 4-3, in the third inning. Junior Richie Martin and Tobias started the frame with walks, ending the afternoon for Tyler (2.0 IP, 4 R, 1 ER). A grounder by Alonso advanced both runners, Martin tied the game by scoring on a passed ball and Bader drove in Tobias with an RBI grounder off senior Jared Walsh (4-2).
Wrenn led off the Bulldogs' third at bat with a homer to left field, his second of the series and seventh of the year. Sophomore left-hander Kirby Snead took over for Faedo (2.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R) and pitched a clean rest of the third before a leadoff single in the fourth by Nichols and a one-out single by sophomore Skyler Weber (2-for-4) prompted a pitching change. Lewis halted the threat with consecutive strikeouts.
Larson launched a three-run double in the sixth to give the Gators a 7-4 lead. Reed walked, freshman JJ Schwarz and freshman Mike Rivera's bunt was mishandled by Walsh to load the bases with none out and Larson collected his fifth double to clear the bags.
A single by junior Nick King and a walk to Wrenn brought Young in for Lewis with none out in the seventh. The southpaw induced a 6-4-3 double play and wound up tossing three consecutive scoreless frames to secure the win.
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan
On today's game:
“After Friday night, to win the next two games it was a good weekend for us. We fought through a lot of adversity; we probably didn't play our best baseball this weekend but we beat an SEC team on the road two out of three – I would take that every weekend. I thought one pitch by Alex (Faedo) to (Daniel) Nichols there (a three-run homer) was a difference – he makes one pitch there it's probably a different outing for him. But, it's a young mistake, he'll learn from it and I have total confidence in him. I thought Kirby (Snead) came in and did a nice job, Taylor (Lewis) came in did a nice job and it was really good to get three scoreless from Danny Young.”
Postgame Notes
- Florida earned its 12th come-from-behind win of the season.
- Josh Tobias went 2-for-4 and scored a run for UF, while four other players contributed one hit.
- Each team had six hits this afternoon, while the Gators did not commit and any errors and the Bulldogs had three.
- Buddy Reed's two-run single in the first inning gave him seven multiple-RBI outings this season.
Up Next
The Gators return home to meet USF (29-18-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in their final non-conference game of the season. The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert, will be carried on the SEC Network and viewed through participating TV providers through WatchESPN.
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