No. 9 Florida Travels To SEC Front-Runner No. 8 Vanderbilt As Conference Race Winds Down
Thursday, May 7, 2015 | Baseball
Florida vs. VanderbIlt Series Notes
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Riding a three-game winning streak, No. 9 Florida (36-13/15-9 SEC) visits conference leader No. 8 Vanderbilt (35-14/17-7 SEC) for a three-game series that begins on Thursday night at Hawkins Field. The Commodores lead the Gators by two games in the East and enjoy a half-game advantage over West co-leaders No. 1 LSU (40-8/16-7 SEC) and No. 2 Texas A&M (41-7/16-7 SEC).
In a matchup of right-handers, sophomore Logan Shore (6-4, 3.01) will face Commodore junior Carson Fulmer (9-1, 1.74) in Thursday's series opener at 7;30 p.m., sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (6-3, 5.08) will oppose VU redshirt junior right-hander Philip Pfeifer (3-3, 3.88) in game two of the series on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and freshman righty Alex Faedo (4-1, 3.27) will Vanderbilt junior righty Walker Buehler (3-1, 2.86) in Saturday's finale at 1 p.m.
All three games of the weekend series can be heard through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell. Thursday's series opener will be carried on ESPNU with Dave Neal and Kyle Peterson and through participating TV providers through WatchESPN, Friday's game will be shown on SEC Network+ through participating TV providers only through WatchESPN and Saturday's game will be carried on the SEC Network with Neal and Peterson. 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
- Florida will be playing its ninth of the 10 league series. The Gators are 8-4 (.750) at home and 7-5 (.583) on the road in SEC play.The Gators have a 21-4 (.840) non-conference mark this season and are 15-9 (.625) against SEC teams.
- Florida's bullpen is 16-2 with a 2.92 ERA and 11 saves, and has registered 180 strikeouts in 212.2 innings.
- The Orange and Blue has a 5-3 (.625) mark in SEC series - 3-1 (.750) at home and 2-2 (.500) on the road.
- UF is hitting .298 as team, has compiled a team earned run average of 3.40 and leads the nation with a .986 fielding percentage.
- Florida has played error-free baseball in 28 of its 49 games and is 23-5 (.821) in those games. UF has not had multiple errors in an outing since March 28 (two against Alabama) and the single-season school record for fielding percentage is .978, set in 2010.
- The Gators are 32-2 (.941) when out-hitting their opponent, 28-3 (.903) when scoring first, 22-5 (.815) when hitting a homer and 18-1 (.947) when scoring in the first inning. In taking two of three games last weekend at Georgia, UF drew first blood in each contest.
- Senior third baseman Josh Tobias, who continues to lead the Gators with a .366 overall batting average and a .355 league clip, was 5-for-12 (.417) against the Bulldogs and went 2-for-3 with a run on Tuesday night.
- Sophomore center fielder Buddy Reed (.311, 36 RBI, 35 runs) went 4-for-10 (.400) versus the Bulldogs, had a two-run single on Sunday, a spectacular leaping grab against the wall at Foley Field on Saturday and was 2-for-4 with an RBI double (1st) and an RBI single (5th) in the win over USF.
- Sophomore right fielder Ryan Larson (.306, 23 runs, 21 RBI) came through with a three-run double in the sixth to snap a 4-4 tie and lift UF to a 7-4 triumph in Sunday's rubber game at UGA.
- In game three against the Bulldogs, the Gator bullpen threw seven scoreless innings, with junior RHP Taylor Lewis (3-1, 1.97) earning the victory and junior LHP Danny Young (1-0, 2.78) pocketing his second save by retiring all eight batters he faced.
- Freshman pinch hitter Jeremy Vasquez (.329, 11 RBI) delivered a game-winning single with two outs in the ninth inning to drive in junior shortstop Richie Martin (.319, 44 runs, 28 RBI) as the Gators evened the series with a 3-2 victory on Saturda
- Sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (6-3, 5.08) was brilliant over six shutout innings, notching a career-high 11 strikeouts and issuing zero walks. After surrendering a pair of singles in the opening stanza, he retired the final 16 hitters he faced. Puk leads the Orange and Blue with 56 strikeouts in 44.1 innings.
- According to the most recent SEC statistics, Florida ranks No. 1 in fielding percentage (.985), No. 4 in team batting average (.298) and No. 5 in team ERA (3.40).
- Freshman JJ Schwarz is first in the league in RBI (50), tied for second in home runs (13) and seventh in slugging percentage (.600), junior Harrison Bader is tied for third in RBI (47), sixth in slugging (.604) and is tied for fourth in home runs (11), Martin is sixth in runs scored (44), freshman Dalton Guthrie is tied for eighth in runs scored (42), while Tobias is ninth in batting average (.366) and 11th in slugging percentage (.575).
SERIES NUGGETS
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan is 17-11 (.607) against Vanderbilt, 9-3 (.750) in Gainesville, 4-5 (.444) in Nashville, 2-3 (.400) at the SEC Tourney and 2-0 at the NCAA Tourney (both at the College World Series).
PALMETTO STATE WAS THEIR HOME
O'Sullivan and Vanderbilt skipper Tim Corbin served together on Jack Leggett's staff at Clemson. Corbin was with the Tigers between 1994-2002, while O'Sullivan was at the ACC school from 1999-2007 before coming to Gainesville.
