GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Junior
A.J. Puk delivered six strong innings and matched a season-high 11 strikeouts in Florida's 5-0 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. Despite the three-hit, one-run effort, the Gators bats came up short on the offensive side as Florida (42-9, 17-8 SEC) suffered its ninth loss on the year and eighth in Southeastern Conference play.
Vanderbilt's Julian Infante set the tone early in the second inning, taking advantage of a rare Puk mistake and sending it beyond the leftfield bleachers for the initial 1-0 lead. The solo shot would be the lone run surrendered by Puk, and it was all the offense the Black and Gold required in Saturday's win.
Puk continued to shine throughout the afternoon, sitting down 14 of his next 18 batters faced while limiting his opponents to just three hits and a pair of walks. The left-hander was relieved in the seventh inning by junior
Dane Dunning.
With Dunning on the hill and a 1-0 lead, the Commodores tallied their second run with a pair of singles and a double to stretch their lead to a pair of runs.
Jason Delay led off with a single to right field and made his way to third on a Connor Kaiser double to left. Tyler Kampbell followed up with an RBI-single to bring in Delay for the insurance run.
Offensively, Florida had runners aboard at first on five separate occasions, but were unable to generate any further attack. Freshman
Nelson Maldonado and sophomores
Mike Rivera and
Dalton Guthrie each tallied singles while sophomores
Nick Horvath and
JJ Schwarz drew walks to serve as the Gators only base runners on the afternoon.
Vanderbilt's Kyle Wright held the UF offense at bay all afternoon and went the distance with a complete game shutout and just three hits allowed.
The Commodores eventually extended the lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning. Bryan Reynolds, Infante, and Delay each plated runs in the eighth to finalize the three-run inning.
UF's final attempt at a rally came on a
Dalton Guthrie leadoff single in the ninth, but it was too-little to-late as Wright retired three straight and completed the shutout.
Wright improved to 7-3 with the win and Puk (2-3) was charged with the loss.
Postgame Quotes:
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"Obviously (Vanderbilt right-hander Kyle) Wright threw very well. I think the one positive to pull out of today is A.J. (Puk) threw the ball well too, so it's nice to move forward with him coming off his last outing. Offensively, we have to do a little bit more. There's some really good arms in this league, and you've got to understand that these days are going to happen when you're not going to score many runs on certain days."
Junior left-hander A.J. Puk
On today's outing:
"I thought I threw pretty well; I had a good feel for all my pitches today. It's always fun competing against Vanderbilt; they have a good team. (Kyle) Wright did his job today, and he pitched very well."
Sophomore shortstop Dalton Guthrie
On Vanderbilt pitcher Kyle Wright:
"We were trying to attack the fastball. When you get to fastball counts, he was able to throw his curveball for a strike. Credit to him, we had trouble adjusting."
On Puk this season:
"It's tough. He's pitched well a lot, and we haven't been able to score for him. I don't know what it is, but it seems like every time he goes out there, there's a guy on the other side that's pitching just as well. It's frustrating, but it's something we will work on to scrap across a couple runs."
Postgame Notes:
- A.J. Puk had 11 strikeouts, tying his season-high he set against Missouri on March 19.
- He threw a season-high 110 pitches and reached double-digit Ks for the fourth time this year.
- With a single in the fourth inning, Mike Rivera extended his season-long hitting streak to six games.
- Today was the first time the Gators have been shutout since June 15, 2015 versus Virginia (0-1). It was the first shutout at home since April 24, 2015 versus Kentucky (0-3)
Up Next:
The Gators return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET, in the series finale.
Jeff Cardozo and
Mick Hubert have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be shown live on SEC Network.
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