No. 1 Florida Edges North Florida, 5-4

Wednesday, March 9

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

14-1

UNF

6-8

North Florida

Florida

Shaun Anderson picked up his first save of the campaign as the Gators swept the Ospreys.

No. 1 Florida Edges North Florida, 5-4

Wednesday, March 9, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

The Gators take both ends of the home-and-home series.

By: John Hines

Video Recap from SEC Network+ with Nick Belmonte & Jeff Cardozo
Highlights from the Gators' eighth win in a row

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior Shaun Anderson induced a game-ending grounder with the tying run on third base as No. 1 Florida nipped North Florida, 5-4, on Wednesday night at McKethan Stadium. Anderson collected his first save of the season to help the Gators (14-1) take both ends of a home-and-home mid-week series with the Ospreys (6-8) to increase their winning streak to eight games.

Junior Chris Thibideau opened the ninth with a base-hit into center field and stole second base with one down. A grounder by senior Kyle Brooks advanced Thibideau to third base but Anderson had senior Keith Skinner ground out to complete the contest and preserve the triumph for freshman Jackson Kowar (2-0).

The visitors opened the scoring in the first inning for the second night in a row on an RBI single by senior Nick Karmeris. Brooks led off against Kowar with a single into left field and moved to second on a grounder by Skinner. Karmeris singled through the right side to bring home Brooks.

In the bottom of the frame, sophomore Mike Rivera delivered a triple with the bases full for a 3-1 Florida advantage. Sophomore Dalton Guthrie (2-for-3) opened with a single off of sophomore Zach Drury (1-1) but was erased on a fielder's choice by junior Buddy Reed. After Reed stole second, junior Peter Alonso drew a two-out walk and freshman Deacon Liput legged out an infield single to fill the bags. Rivera lofted a ball into left center that eluded a dive by senior Dakota Higdon and brought in all of the Gators.

Sophomore Mark Kolozsvary extended UF's lead to 4-1 with a solo homer into the left-field bleachers in the second. It was his second homer of the season and eight of Florida's 12 homers this year have been from catchers.

Senior Corbin Olmstead (3-for-4, two RBI) pulled the Ospreys within two runs in the third on a two-run double into the gap in right center field. Kowar retired the first two batters before walking Skinner and Olmstead used a two-bagger for his club's 4-2 deficit.

Kowar retired eight batters in a row before Olmstead had a one-out single in the sixth. The right-hander answered by having Karmeris bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Freshman Brady Singer replaced Kowar (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 K) prior to the seventh and yielded a one-out infield single to Higdon and a double to junior Alex Merritt to put North Florida in business. However, the righty escaped the jam by striking out Thibideau and having junior Patrick Ervin ground out.

Sophomore JJ Schwarz boosted the Gators' advantage to 5-2 with an RBI single in the home part of the frame. Guthrie had a two-out single into right center and Reed raised his hitting streak to 10 games with a base-hit up the middle. Schwarz then ripped a liner that ricocheted off of Ospreys' rookie reliever Frank German to score Guthrie.

In the eighth, Brooks opened with a single into right field and Skinner walked before Olmstead delivered an RBI double to right field to bring home Brooks. Junior Kirby Snead was summoned from the bullpen for Singer (1.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R) and struck out Karmeris. Junior Christian Diaz greeted Anderson with a grounder that scored Skinner to narrow the gap to 5-4 and a base-hit by Higdon gave North Florida runners on the corners. Anderson kept the Gators on top by striking out Merritt.

Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
"I thought Jackson (Kowar) did very well. The only hiccup was there in the third inning. He had two outs, nobody on and walked a guy. Brady Singer came in with runners on and did a very nice job. Kirby (Snead) came in and got an out, and I thought Shaun (Anderson) did a nice job. There were some pressure situations, obviously. We need to score some more runs and have some more quality at bats up and down the lineup. The positive is that we needed to make some pitches there -- Brady did with some runners on, Kirby needed to come in and have a good outing there, and Shaun (Anderson) had to make some pitches there at the end with a one-run lead. Those experiences are going to help us moving forward on the mound."

Junior right-hander Shaun Anderson
On coming into the game with two North Florida runners on and one out:
"I knew that I needed to get ahead early; I didn't want to go deep into the count. I wanted to attack hitters, and I just trusted my stuff. My main goal was to keep the runners stranded and get us back in the game to hit."

Sophomore catcher Mark Kolozsvary
On scoring three runs in the bottom of the first after UNF had taken a 1-0 lead:
"You always have to try and get back on them. You don't want to play from behind for very long. It was big getting back up. We gave (Jackson Kowar) a little bit of time to catch his breath and get refocused."

Sophomore catcher/third baseman Mike Rivera
On the bullpen's performance:
"They made pitches when they needed to. Shaun (Anderson) pitched outstanding. Kirby (Snead) did his job, and Brady (Singer) battled through."

Postgame Notes

Florida improved to 10-6 against North Florida all-time and is now 9-1 against in-state opponents this season.
Nine of the 16 contests between the Gators and Ospreys have been decided by two runs or less.
Florida earned a come-from-behind win for the third straight game and the seventh time in 2016.
The Gators are 9-0 at McKethan Stadium and are on a 16-game winning streak at home.
Jackson Kowar struck out four batters over a career-high six innings.
Kirby Snead made his team-high eighth appearance and struck out the only batter he faced.
Buddy Reed improved to 7-for-7 on the basepaths this season with a theft in the first inning and moved his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the seventh.
With a first-inning single, Deacon Liput has now reached base in all 15 of Florida's games this season.
Mike Rivera's triple was his first of the year and second of his career (at Mississippi State on April 19, 2015).
Mark Kolozsvary connected on his second homer of the year in the second inning; two of his three hits this year have been round-trippers.
Kolozsvary took second base in the seventh inning for his first career stolen base.
Florida started the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings by drawing walks.
The Gators played error-free baseball for the eighth time this year and improved to 8-0 in those outings.

Up Next
The Gators begin a weekend series on Friday at 7 p.m. against Harvard (2-2). Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

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