No. 1 Florida Tops FGCU In Season Opener, 4-2

Friday, February 19

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

Florida Gulf Coast

Sophomore Mike Rivera drove in a pair of runs for the Gators on Opening Night.

No. 1 Florida Tops FGCU In Season Opener, 4-2

Friday, February 19, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

The Gators celebrated the 1996 SEC Championship team in pregame ceremonies for its 20th reunion weekend.

By: John Hines

Postgame Highlights/Interviews
SEC Network+ Recap
Highlights
Logan Shore, Mike Rivera & Jeremy Vasquez
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Photo Gallery

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior Logan Shore yielded one run over five innings on Friday night as No. 1 Florida started the campaign with a 4-2 victory over FGCU at McKethan Stadium. The attendance of 5,778 was an Opening Night record at UF and marked the eighth-best turnout in school history. Sophomore Mike Rivera drove in a pair of runs, highlighted by a go-ahead homer in the fourth inning, while the Gator pitching staff registered 11 strikeouts.

Rivera (1-for-3) opened the scoring in the second inning with a sacrifice fly into left field that drove in junior Peter Alonso (2-for-3). Alonso had led off with an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch by redshirt senior Brady Anderson (0-1) and went to third on a base-hit into center by sophomore Jeremy Vasquez (2-for-4). Rivera then delivered a fly ball near the warning track to break the ice.

FGCU evened the score in the fourth inning, as senior Tyler Selesky came home on a fielder's choice by senior Colton Bottomley. Selesky had drawn a leadoff walk and redshirt junior Jake Noll (3-for-4) singled up the middle before Shore (1-0) fanned senior Nick Rivera. Although Bottomley's grounder forced Noll at second base, the Gators were unable to turn an inning-ending double play and Selesky used heads-up base-running to score.

In the home part of the frame, Rivera put the Orange and Blue back in front with a towering solo homer to left field on a 3-2 offering from Anderson.

The Gators tacked on a two more runs in the fifth on sacrifice flies by sophomore JJ Schwarz and Alonso. Freshman Jonathan India drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third when sophomore Dalton Guthrie reached on an error. After junior Buddy Reed was hit to fill the bags, Schwarz collected his first RBI of the year with a fly ball to center to bring home India and Alonso followed with another ball into center to plate Guthrie.

After junior Kirby Snead registered a career-high four strikeouts over three scoreless innings, junior Dane Dunning collected his first career save by recording the final three outs. Bottomley had brought FGCU within two runs on a sacrifice fly that scored Noll and Dunning completed the contest by punching out junior Corey Fehribach.

Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
"We weren't as aggressive offensively as we may be or will be down the road. These guys have been waiting a long time to get back on the field together. I am pleased with how we played. I thought Kirby (Snead) did a good job; Dane (Dunning) came in and did a very nice job. It was good to get his 2016 going. (Jeremy) Vasquez had a good night. All in all, it was a good game, so we will look to improve moving forward."

On Logan Shore's outing:
"With the left-hand hitters, he was pushing the ball a little bit and not getting on top of the ball. This is what No. 1 guys do. They find a way to win even though they may not be as crisp as they usually are."

Junior right-hander Logan Shore
On tonight's start:
"I think overall it was pretty good. There are a few things I need to work on going into next weekend. Overall, it was a good team win. I wanted to get to five (innings), that was my goal for the day. It's definitely good to play against someone else. It kind of gets the jitters out and gets the first one out of the way. It felt good."

Sophomore outfielder Jeremy Vasquez
On opening the season:
"It was a lot of fun. We're finally able to stop scrimmaging each other. We were able to get out here in front of a great crowd and face an opponent. It makes me excited for the season."

Sophomore catcher Mike Rivera
On his performance:
"I'm just out here trying to win a game and taking it inning-by-inning. I want to give credit to the pitchers, they did incredible. We still have a long way to go, but they were looking good. Give credit to the freshmen (Jonathan India and Deacon Liput) too. They played well and looked relaxed."

On his home run that snapped a 1-1 tie:
"I don't go to the plate trying to hit a home run. I go up to square balls up and wherever they go they go. I kind of thought about last year a little bit. A 3-2 count, and I tried to be relaxed and get my timing on the ball."

Opening Night by the Numbers

Tonight's crowd of 5,778 fans established an Opening Night record and ranks eighth all-time at McKethan Stadium.
UF is now 60-41-1 (.593) in 102 opening-day contests, including a 40-21-1 (.653) record at home.
The Gators have emerged victorious in 20 of their last 25 home openers and have opened the season at home in 19 of the past 20 seasons.
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 8-1 (.889) in season openers.
Mike Rivera had three homers last season, including a go-ahead blast in the ninth inning of the SEC Tournament semifinal against No. 1 LSU.
Kirby Snead set a career high with four strikeouts and tossed three shutout innings.

Series History

The Gators are now 10-5 (.667) against the Eagles, including 7-5 (.583) at McKethan Stadium.
Florida has claimed the last three meetings.

Freshmen Impact:

The Gators welcomed this year's top-ranked recruiting class from Collegiate Baseball by starting two freshmen: Deacon Liput (2B) and Jonathan India (3B). India became the first freshman to start at third on Opening Night since Josh Tobias in 2012.
India drew a couple of walks in his debut and a free pass in the fifth inning paid off when he scored on sophomore JJ Schwarz's sacrifice fly.
Liput delivered a single in his first at bat during the second inning.

Up Next
The Gators and Eagles will meet again tomorrow at 4 p.m., with junior left-hander A.J. Puk facing junior right-hander Sterling Koerner. The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Steve Russell and Saturday's game will be carried on SEC Network+ with Nick Belmonte and Jeff Cardozo. This contest will be available through participating TV providers only through WatchESPN.

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