WHAT HAPPENED: Florida and Tennessee split Sunday's doubleheader by matching 6-4 scores in Knoxville to wrap up the weekend series.
After winning on Saturday night, the Gators clinched the series with a 6-4 win in 11 innings in game one of Sunday's doubleheader. The Vols salvaged a game with a 6-4 win in game two.
In game one of the doubleheader, Florida clinched the series with a 6-4 win in 11 innings. The Volunteers built an early 3-0 lead off Florida starter
Jackson Kowar, but the Gators battled back and went ahead 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning.
Wil Dalton hit a two-out, two-run double that brought in two runs to put UF ahead by one to allow the Gators to bring in closer
Michael Byrne.
Tennessee was able to tie the game against Byrne in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game to extra innings. Neither team managed to score over the next three innings until the Gators threatened in the top of the 11th.
After a walk and hit batter put a pair of Gators on base,
Andrew Baker sacrificed the runners over to allow
JJ Schwarz to hit a sac fly to give Florida a 5-4 lead. Another run came in after
Austin Langworthy reached on an error to make it 6-4.
Jordan Butler pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the win in game one.
In game two,
Deacon Liput led off the game with a solo home run into the right field bullpen to give the Gators an early 1-0 lead.
Tennessee responded by putting up six runs in the third inning. The Vols loaded the bases without a hit, drawing two walks and a hit batter before Pete Derkay cleared the bases with a double. A two-run single from Jay Charleston made it 6-1.
The Gators fought back with a pair of runs in the sixth.
Wil Dalton hit his 12th home run of the season and
Keenan Bell doubled to cut the deficit to three.
In the seventh and final inning, Florida threatened again after back-to-back singles put two on. Langworthy's RBI single cut the lead to two but the Vols got a grounder to close the game.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Deacon Liput – Junior
Deacon Liput hit .500 (8-16) against Tennessee with two home runs and a team-high five RBI. He is not second on the team with a .329 batting average on the season.
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on the doubleheader: "Wil put a really good swing on the ball [in the seventh] and drove it to the warning track, we had the tying run in scoring position there at the end. We made it really interesting there. We won an extra-inning game in the first one today, so all-in-all it was a good weekend.
"It's never easy to win on the road, and the weather this weekend was a little bit different than we're used to playing in. I thought our guys played very well this weekend. For the most part we played good defense, we made some errors in the first game today, but other than that we gave ourselves a chance to win in the second game today and that's really all you can ask for."
STANDOUT STAT: 19 – With a single in the seventh inning of game two, junior
Jonathan India extended his hitting streak to 19 games. The streak is the longest by a player under head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan, surpassing former catcher Mike Zunino's streak of 17 games in 2011.
UP NEXT: Florida will head back to the Sunshine State for a midweek contest at Florida State on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
Next weekend, the Gators will host Missouri at McKethan Stadium beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
