Gators Fall to USF in Tampa

Tuesday, February 19

Tampa, FL

6:30 PM

Florida Gators

3-1

USF

3-1

Florida

South Florida

Sophomore Justin Alintoff provided a bright spot out of the bullpen with 2.2 scoreless innings Tuesday.

Gators Fall to USF in Tampa

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Daniel Apple

WHAT HAPPENED: Florida's first road trip of the season was a rough one, as USF beat the Gators 6-1 on Tuesday night in Tampa.

USF took an early lead, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the first before UF starter Hunter McMullen stranded two runners to get out of the inning.

Joe Genord's solo home run in the third inning extended the Bulls' lead to 3-0.

Florida turned to the bullpen early and transfer Justin Alintoff settled things down, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings to keep USF at bay.

Jud Fabian launched a solo home run to left field -- the Gators' first of the season -- to end the shutout bid in the sixth inning.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Justin Alintoff – A junior college transfer from Indian River CC, Alintoff has made two appearances without allowing a run over the first four games of the season. On Tuesday, he entered in the third inning and settled things down for the Gators, keeping the Bulls within striking distance as he tossed 2.2 scoreless innings.

STANDOUT STAT: 2 – The Gators only managed two hits on the night, matching their season low from 2018 (2 hits at Kentucky, 4/21/18).

FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on Tuesday's game: "It started on the mound, we fell behind early in the first inning, gave up two runs. This was our first road game and obviously we didn't handle the stage very well. With such a young team, these are the types of games and experiences that we're going to learn from. We hit a couple of balls to the warning track, I think three, early in the game. We kept it a two-run game and had first and third with nobody out [in the seventh inning] and had Wil [Dalton] up. That was a tough at bat for us, I think if we had been able to score a run there things could have been a little bit different. We've got to do a better job making adjustments. These are the type of learning experiences that we'll learn from and get better from."

UP NEXT: Florida hosts UNF Wednesday at 6 p.m. This weekend, the Gators will play in-state rival Miami in a three-game series at McKethan Stadium. Friday and Saturday's games will start at 6:30 p.m. The series finale on Sunday begins at 1 p.m.