Florida Gators
Florida Atlantic
Gators Beat FAU to Claim Gainesville Regional; Await Tallahassee Regional Winner
Monday, June 1, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman JJ Schwarz delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning and freshman right-hander Alex Faedo allowed one run over a career-high six innings as top-seeded Florida (47-16) posted a 2-1 victory over second-seeded Florida Atlantic (42-19) to claim the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Sunday at McKethan Stadium. The Gators' seven-game winning streak matches their longest of the season.
Schwarz was voted as the event's Most Outstanding Player after batting .538 (7-for-13) over UF's three victories, with six RBI, four runs, two doubles, two walks and a homer. The Gators notched their fifth Regional title under eighth-year head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (2009-10-11-12-15) and secured their seventh Super Regional berth in school history (2004-05-09-10-11-12-15). UF also captured its 11th NCAA Regional and has swept six of the last seven Regionals it has hosted (2005-09-10-11-12-15).
Next weekend, UF will host the winner of the Tallahassee Regional, with No. 10 Florida State (43-19) needing one more win to advance. Start times and dates for next weekend's eight best-of-three series around the country will be announced by the NCAA late Monday night.
Senior Ricky Santiago drew first blood for the Owls with a two-out single in the first inning that brought in junior Billy Endris (2-for-4). After Faedo (5-1) retired the first batter on a fly-out, Endris tripled into left center field. Faedo retired the Conference USA Player of the Year, junior Brendon Sanger, on a foul pop-up and then Santiago delivered a base-hit into right field to start the scoring.
The Gators tied the game in the fourth inning, when senior Josh Tobias (3-for-4)was able to score on a fielding error by FAU sophomore second baseman Stephen Kerr. Tobias had led off with a double down the left-field line against sophomore lefty Sean Labsan (2-3) and a grounder by Schwarz was misplayed to bring across the tying run.
Schwarz moved Florida in front, 2-1, with an RBI single into left field in the sixth inning. Junior Richie Martin opened the frame with a walk and Tobias followed with a base-hit through the right side, prompting a pitching change. Senior Reily Monkman came in for Labsan (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R) and Schwarz roped a single into left field to plate Martin. Tobias was thrown out at third base on the play, with Schwarz advancing to second base. Monkman recorded the second out of the frame and junior lefty Devon Carr had freshman Jeremy Vasquez fly out to center field to keep the Owls down by a run.
In the home part of the inning, Kerr led off with a single into right field and moved into scoring position on a grounder by Endris. Faedo worked out of the jam by striking out Sanger and having Santiago ground out to Martin.
Faedo departed after a career-high six innings in which he surrendered three hits and one run, while equaling his career best of six strikeouts. Senior Bobby Poyner recorded the first two outs of the seventh before permitting a single to junior pinch hitter Brett Lashley. Martin made a tremendous defensive play on a ball hit by sophomore CJ Chatham and flipped over to freshman second baseman Dalton Guthrie to complete the stanza.
Poyner struck out the first two Owls in the eighth before Endris singled up the middle. After Endris went to second on a passed ball, Poyner fanned Sanger on a 3-2 pitch to finish the inning. Lightning was detected in the area and the game was halted at 6:23 p.m. Following a 67-minute delay, the Gators went down in order in the ninth before junior Taylor Lewis recorded the final three outs to nail down his seventh save.
2015 NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team
Catcher – JJ Schwarz, FLORIDA
First Base – Buddy Putnam, USF
Second Base – Kevin Merrell, USF
Shortstop – Kyle Teaf, USF
Third Base – Ricky Santiago, Florida Atlantic
Outfield – Buddy Reed, FLORIDA
Outfield – Harrison Bader, FLORIDA
Outfield – Billy Endris, Florida Atlantic
Designated Hitter – Jeremy Vasquez, FLORIDA
Pitcher – A.J. Puk, FLORIDA
Pitcher – Bo Logan, Florida Atlantic
Most Outstanding Player: JJ Schwarz, FLORIDA
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
“First of all, I would like to congratulate John [McCormack] and FAU. They had a great year, and they have a great team. He's a very good friend of mine. I also want to thank our fans for being outstanding all weekend. Today was a dogfight. It was not easy. It's a valuable lesson learned; elimination games are never going to be easy. I thought [Sean Labsan] did a great job, and I thought that Alex [Faedo] pitched his best he has all year. Bobby [Poyner] came in and pitched outstanding, and Taylor [Lewis] came in and closed it out. We played great defense. We're excited about moving forward and playing in the Super Regional here next week.”
On FAU:
“For them to have to play 18 innings in that heat, the way they battled says a lot about their team. That's why they got to this point. It was one of those games where we needed to match them pitch-for-pitch. It wasn't an offensive weekend. With the wind blowing in from the east, anything hit out was getting knocked down. This game should help us moving forward.”
Senior left-hander Bobby Poyner
On winning the Gainesville Regional:
“I think a lot of the guys have been able to learn from the mistakes that we've made in the past. The older guys are hungry to get back to playing well in the post-season and hopefully reach the ultimate goal of winning a national championship. I think we're more mature. Enough cannot be said about the freshmen and how much they have contributed to this team.”
On his performance today:
“It felt good to be back out there. I just focused on keeping the ball down because the last few outings, the ball was up, especially against Arkansas and that's how I got hurt. I made an adjustment to try to really focus on keeping the ball down and it worked out for me today.”
Freshman right-hander Alex Faedo
On his pitching performance today:
“I felt like I needed to keep the ball down and then everything would be good. [It helped] Knowing how the wind was blowing in, and how good our defense is.”
Freshman catcher/designated hitter JJ Schwarz
On Florida's pitching staff:
“There's always confidence with whatever guy we throw out there. I just think that the last few weeks, the pitchers have all collectively put it together, so I think that it is just rolling along to the playoffs.”
On Florida's hitting in the post-season:
“Hitting is contagious. When guys put good swings on the ball, the pitchers always get a little nervous and make more mistakes. It just leads to us having better swings. When guys are in scoring position, it's easy to hit. I think that everyone as a whole is benefitting off of each other.”
Postgame Notes:
- Florida has advanced to the NCAA Super Regional round for the seventh time in school history (2004-05-09-10-11-12-15), five times under Kevin O'Sullivan.
- The Gators earned their 18th come-from-behind victory of the season.
- UF improved to 10-4 (.714) in one-run games this year.
- Florida batted .325 (37-for-114) over three Regional games, compiled a 1.00 ERA (three runs in three games) and did not commit any errors.
- Alex Faedo worked a career-high six innings and tied his personal best of six strikeouts.
- Buddy Reed notched his 14th double in the third inning and has hit safely in all eight postseason games for Florida.
- Josh Tobias began the fourth with a double down the left-field line and has reached base in 25 consecutive games, the longest stretch this season by a UF player.
- Harrison Bader had a two-out double in the fifth for his 14th two-bagger of the campaign.
- JJ Schwarz raised his hitting streak to nine games, one shy of his career high, with an RBI single in the sixth.
Up Next
The Gators will meet the NCAA Tallahassee Regional winner next weekend in a best-of-three Super Regional at McKethan Stadium. Start times and dates will be announced late Monday night by the NCAA.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Gators stayed hot on a warm Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium, beating Florida Atlantic 2-1 to win the Gainesville Regional.
They had to wait out a 67-minute weather delay at the start of the ninth inning, but that didn't cool off a Florida team that has won seven consecutive games entering next weekend's Super Regional.
The Gators capped a perfect 3-0 Gainesville Regional thanks to a career-high six innings from freshman starter Alex Faedo, who limited the Owls to three hits, one walk and one run. He tied his career high with six strikeouts, including Conference USA Player of the Year Brendon Sanger in the sixth inning.
With Stephen Kerr at second base as the tying run, Faedo fell behind Sanger 3-0 with one out. However, he battled back and got Sanger to strike out swinging, and then retired Ricky Santiago on a grounder to short to preserve UF's lead.
Bobby Poyner replaced Faedo in the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings, and after the weather delay, Taylor Lewis pitched a scoreless ninth.
Florida (47-16) advances to a Super Regional for the fifth time in eight seasons under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan and for the first time since 2012.
The Gators fell behind 1-0 in the first inning Sunday when FAU's Billy Endris tripled with one out and scored on Santiago's single. However, that was the only run the Owls (41-19) scored all day.
The Gators tied the game in the fourth after Josh Tobias led off with a double. He scored on a ground ball hit by JJ Schwarz that FAU second baseman Kerr let slip into the outfield for an error.
Schwarz was at the plate in the sixth with Richie Martin at second and Tobias at first. Schwarz laced an RBI single to left that scored Martin with what proved to be the game-winning run.
It was business as usual for Schwarz, who hit .538 (7-for-13) with a home run and six RBIs in the regional. In eight postseason games including the SEC Tournament, Schwarz is 17-for-32.
The Gators host the winner of the Tallahassee Regional next weekend.
For more on today's game, check back with GatorZone.com later.
