No. 3 Florida Secures Series With No. 1 Texas A&M, 7-2

Saturday, April 2

Gainesville, FL

7:30 PM

Florida Gators

26-3, 6-2

Texas A&M

22-5, 4-4

Texas A&M

Florida

Peter Alonso (right) celebrates with Deacon Liput (left) on Saturday night.

No. 3 Florida Secures Series With No. 1 Texas A&M, 7-2

Saturday, April 2, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

Gators win 26th straight at home behind the pitching of Alex Faedo and four hits from Peter Alonso

By: John Hines

VIDEO
Highlights

Postgame Interviews
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Peter Alonso, Alex Faedo & Jeremy Vasquez

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior Peter Alonso was 4-for-5 with three RBI and a homer and sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo worked six innings for his sixth win as No. 3 Florida clinched its weekend series with a 7-2 victory over No. 1 Texas A&M on Saturday night. After the Aggies (22-5/4-4 SEC) plated two runs in the first inning, the Gators (26-3/6-2 SEC) tallied seven unanswered runs to notch their 26th straight win at McKethan Stadium.

Faedo (6-0) overcame a 35-pitch first inning by registering seven strikeouts, yielding five hits and permitting one earned run to the SEC's top offense. He was supported by an opportunistic Gator offense that scored six runs with two out, totaled 12 hits for the second straight game, drew seven walks and had eight of its nine starters reach base. Junior Dane Dunning worked three shutout innings and had four strikeouts to earn his second save of the campaign.

Senior J.B. Moss opened the game with a homer to give the Aggies a quick lead. His hit to left field was originally a double but was overturned to become his fifth homer after the umpires went to the replay monitor. Junior Boomer White (3-for-3) had an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error by freshman Jonathan India and senior Hunter Melton (2-for-4) followed with a base-hit up the middle for runners on the corners. A wild pitch enabled White to come home with the second run.

The Gators responded in the home part of the frame with three runs on three hits off of senior Kyle Simonds (5-1) for a 3-2 advantage, highlighted by a two-out, two-run single by sophomore Mike Rivera (2-for-3). Sophomore Dalton Guthrie (2-for-3) led off with a single to left and moved around the bases on a grounder by junior Buddy Reed and a fly out by sophomore JJ Schwarz. Alonso singled through the left side to bring in Guthrie and freshman Deacon Liput walked before Rivera moved the Orange and Blue in front with a base-hit into left center.

Alonso provided UF with a 4-2 lead in the second with a two-out single into left field that scored Guthrie. Guthrie had been hit by a pitch with one down, went to second on a walk to Schwarz and had taken third on a throwing error by senior catcher Michael Barash.

Florida boosted its margin to 6-2 in the fourth on a solo homer by Alonso and an RBI double by sophomore Jeremy Vasquez (2-for-4). Alonso connected on his sixth homer with one down into the left-field bleachers, his second round-tripper of the series. Rivera drew a two-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Vasquez's seventh double of the year into right center.

The Gators completed the scoring in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Vasquez. Alonso had led off with a single into left and stole second with two down before Vasquez sliced a full-count offering from senior Andrew Vinson into the gap in right center.

Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"I don't want to overstate this, but that's probably as good of a pitching performance by anyone that I've ever coached by the way the first inning went. Texas A&M came out ready to swing the bats. They were aggressive. I think Alex (Faedo) threw 35 pitches in the first, and then to really buckle down against a really good lineup for the next five innings -- he competed. I think it's a valuable lesson for all of our pitchers. Dane (Dunning) was outstanding as well. We're just playing really well these last couple of games, and we have to play really well against a good Texas A&M team."

On Florida responding after the Aggies' two runs to open the game:
"It was a gritty performance. You win last night, you go down 2-0 and A&M's excited and they're swinging the bat well in the first inning. It's hard to put their hitters away. It was a really odd first inning. Both offenses did a really good job coming out of the gates and battling and driving pitch counts up. It was a good team win for us."

Sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo
On how Texas A&M jumped on him early and the adjustments he made:
"I just needed to locate my stuff better and have better pace on the mound. Sully brought that to my attention and I think that helped a lot. (I needed to) Just try to stay with the game plan and keep the ball down a little better."

Sophomore outfielder Jeremy Vasquez
On the offensive production that the Gators have had over the past two nights:
"We've just been having a great plan going into it and putting good swings on the ball and getting runs."

Postgame Notes

Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan raised his record to 7-1 against the nation's top-ranked club.
Tonight was the Gators' 11th come-from-behind victory of the year.
The starting pitchers combined for 80 pitches in a 45-minute first inning, the longest the Gators have played this season.
Alex Faedo became the first Gator pitcher with six wins this year, throwing six innings and totaling seven strikeouts.
Faedo now has 60 strikeouts on the year in just 42.2 innings pitched.
With his first-inning walk, Deacon Liput has now reached base in 28 out of the Gators' 29 games.
Peter Alonso collected four hits Saturday night. That was the fourth time this year that a Gator batter had a four-hit game (Ryan Larson vs. FGCU on 2/20, Liput vs. Harvard on 3/11 and Jonathan India vs. Texas A&M on 4/1).
Four Gators had multi-hit games (Dalton Guthrie, Alonso, Mike Rivera, Jeremy Vasquez).
Alonso's 15th career homer and seventh solo shot, tied him with Rivera for a team-high six on the season.
Four Gators reached base three or more times (Alonso, Dalton Guthrie four times, Rivera four times, Vasquez).
Eight of the nine Florida starters reached base at least once.

Up Next
The Gators and Aggies will wrap up the series tomorrow at 2 p.m., with junior left-hander A.J. Puk (1-2, 3.49) facing sophomore right-hander Jace Vines (4-0, 3.38). Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be carried on ESPNU and through the Watch ESPN app with Tom Hart, Kyle Peterson and Laura Rutledge.

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