Florida Gators

No. 1 Gators Take Series Finale Over No. 7 Vanderbilt 10-6

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida bats came to life on Sunday afternoon as the No. 1 Gators took a series-clinching win over No. 7 Vanderbilt 10-6 at McKethan Stadium. Florida (43-9, 18-8 SEC) tallied 13 hits as they picked up their second-consecutive league series win.

Newcomer Deacon Liput (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI) powered the early offense, taking Vanderbilt starter Patrick Raby deep on a 1-1 offering in the first for his third homer on the season. Freshman Jonathan India (2-for-5, R, RBI) and sophomore JJ Schwarz (2-for-5, 2 R, RBI) provided the setup work as the two reached safely on a pair of one-out singles. With two away, Liput stepped in and secured the 3-0 lead.

Both teams traded scoreless innings in the second but Vanderbilt responded with a four-run effort in the third. Tyler Campbell, Ro Coleman, Jaren Kendall, and Bryan Reynolds led off with consecutive hits and generated the offensive spark. Reynolds' was responsible for most of the damage after connecting on his 11th homer this season -- a three-run blast to left field.     

The Orange and Blue answered with three runs on a trio of hits and one walk in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Dalton Guthrie (3-for-5, R, RBI), Schwarz and junior Buddy Reed each tallied hits and scored as Florida took a 6-4 lead.

Vanderbilt benefitted from a two-run fourth to even the score at 6-6 as Jason Delay and Ethan Paul led off with back-to-back singles. The two were driven in on a Connor Kaiser single through the right side.

With one away in the fifth, Florida's bats continued to shine, plating two runs on a pair of hits to break the six-all score.

Liput opened things up by connecting on his second hit of the afternoon, a single to right field, and was followed by a Nelson Maldonado single to the pitcher. Mike Rivera drew ball four on 3-2 count to load the bases and Jeremy Vasquez brought in the first run after taking a fastball inside for the free base. Junior Ryan Larson finalized the two-run inning with a sacrifice-fly to right field. Maldonado tagged up and beat the throw.

Vasquez and Larson finished UF's scoring opportunities in the eighth inning. Both connected in singles to opposite sides of the field and were pushed across on back-to-back singles from Guthrie and India to finalize the 10-6 win.

Sophomore Alex Faedo started Sunday's contest and picked up his 10th win on the season following six innings of work. Junior Dane Dunning came in for relief in the seventh and tossed two scoreless innings. Shaun Anderson faced three batters as he closed out the ninth.

Post-Game Quotes

Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"I knew today wasn't going to be easy. (Patrick) Raby has been having a good year and (Vanderbilt) their top three relievers were ready to go. I told the team at the end that it shows you we can score runs without having Peter (Alonso) in the lineup. It's a learning experience for them to know that we can do that, because we haven't had him out of the lineup the whole year."
 
On today's pitching:
"I think the fifth and sixth innings from Alex (Faedo) were important for us. Credit Vanderbilt's hitters; they did a good job when he made mistakes. He lengthened the game for us, and we didn't have to go to Dane (Dunning) in the fourth inning. Dane bounced back today after yesterday. The ball had action; it was down, and it sunk. When he had to face one of the better hitters in (Bryan) Reynolds, he was spot on."
 
Freshman second baseman Deacon Liput
On coming from behind to win today's game:
"We knew coming into this game that Vanderbilt had pitchers rested and we had pitchers rested, and it was going to be a battle. Once the lead started to go back-and-forth, it was just a matter of staying mentally engaged."
 
Sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo
On his outing:
"I felt really good in the beginning of the game, and (Vanderbilt) did a good job of getting to me the second time around in the lineup. The defense played really well behind me, so they saved me a lot. They hit really well."
 
Sophomore shortstop Dalton Guthrie
On Alex Faedo:
"Those are the performances that I like most about a pitcher. It's easy to pitch when you're throwing up zeroes every inning, but it takes a different mindset to give up runs and get hit around like he did. He's done it a couple of times where he gave up a couple of runs and battled back. He put up some zeroes when we really needed him to. I was happy with the way he performed. It doesn't look good in the box score, but playing behind him, as a teammate you know he's going to fight. It's reassuring."

Postgame Notes

• Newcomer Deacon Liput connected on a three-run homer in the first inning. It was his third on the season.
• The three-run blast marked UF's 95th two-out RBI on the season, and Liput's 16th two-out RBI (30 total).  
• Eight of nine Florida starters registered RBIs in today's win.
• Eight of nine Florida starters also tallied at least one hit.  
• The Gators have 292 total RBIs on the year, meaning 33% have come with two outs. 
• The Orange and Blue matched Saturday night's hit total (three hits) in just the first inning with two singles from Jonathan India and JJ Schwarz and Liput's three-run homer.
• Freshman Deacon Liput now has 16 multi-hits on the season.
• Sophomore JJ Schwarz totaled his 17th multi-hit game in 2016 and the 41st of his career.
• Sophomore Dalton Guthrie tallied the 23rd multi-hit outing in 2016 and 44th of his career.
• With eight strikeouts this afternoon, sophomore right-hander, Alex Faedo, now owns 99 career strikeouts.
• The last time Florida scored 10 runs in SEC play was on April 14, against Arkansas (W, 12-8).

Up Next:

Florida begins a three-game series at LSU on Thursday night. Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell have the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be carried on ESPNU and streamed through the ESPN app.

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