Florida-Georgia Softball Series Even with 4-2 Gator Win Saturday

Saturday’s softball action between the No. 4 Gators and No. 9 Bulldogs at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens started with a continuation of Friday’s series opener, a contest Georgia pulled out, 3-2, despite a seventh-inning rally by UF Saturday afternoon. With momentum in favor of the Orange and Blue, the Gators went on to even the series with a 4-2 victory in the second tilt of the three-game weekend set between the two SEC Eastern Division rivals.

The Gators (30-4, 11-2 SEC) used 2-for-3 performances from senior Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore Cheyenne Coyle (West Hills, Calif.) in game two to down UGA (29-6, 8-3 SEC), while freshman righty Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) came on for five clutch innings of work in the circle, fanning six Bulldogs and giving up just one run, despite six Georgia hits, to earn her 10th victory (10-2) of her inaugural campaign donning the Orange and Blue.

In the continuation of Friday’s halted game, sophomore Kasey Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.) stepped up and knocked her second homer of the season, a two-run shot, to narrow Georgia’s advantage, 3-2, in the top of the seventh as both squads met at 2 p.m. to wrap up game one. With one out on the board, Georgia leading 3-0 and freshman Katie Medina (Downey, Calif.) on first, Fagan lifted one over the left-center fence to turn over the Gators lineup. Both Sami Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.) and Moultrie delivered base hits and advanced into scoring position on an Erin Arevalo wild pitch. Arevalo rallied for two strikeouts to secure Georgia’s series-opening victory.

Demps Runs Nation's Fastest 100 Meters En Route to Texas Relays Title

Senior sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) claimed the men’s 100 meters university crown at the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on a breezy Saturday afternoon. The fourth and final day of competition at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas, Austin proved to be a windy one, with nearly every race marked as wind-aided.

“With Jeff, we’re seeing the results of his early training,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “I think we’d both say that this wasn’t his most technical race. We’re pleased that he won in such a great field but we’re looking forward to his growth throughout the season.”

Demps ran the third-fastest all-conditions time of his career, racing to a first-place finish with a performance of 10.01 (+2.9). Demps has twice turned in 9.96 wind-aided performances in his Gator tenure and his 10.01 is the fastest all-conditions time in the nation this season.

His win marked the fourth Gator victory at the Texas Relays, as senior jumper Daniela Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.), junior thrower Jeremy Postin (Auburndale, Fla.) and sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia) took home titles in the “B” section of the women’s long jump, the “A” section of the men’s hammer throw and the “A” section of the men’s javelin throw, respectively.

Another impressive performance for the Gators was junior thrower Kaitlin Davis (Niceville, Fla.), who finished second in the “B” section of the women’s discus, throwing the furthest of any Florida female in the discus this weekend with a toss of 49.26m/161-7.

“Kaitlin is a very steady athlete,” Holloway said. “She listens well to Coach (Steve) Lemke and she did incredibly well this weekend.”

Senior thrower Keely Medeiros (Blumenau-SC, Brazil) matched her season’s best shot put performance with a throw of 16.52m/54-2.50 in the “A” section of the women’s shot put. Teammate Fidela James (Jacksonville, Fla.) threw a season-best 14.73m/48-4 in the event, finishing 11th.

Florida’s relay squads also put forth solid performances on Saturday. Florida’s men’s 4x400 meter relay, comprised of Hugh Graham, Jr. (Miami, Fla.), Dedric Dukes (Miami, Fla.), Leonardo Seymore (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.), finished third overall with a time of 3:05.22, with less than a second separating the top three teams (LSU – 3:04.54; Baylor – 3:04.67).

The women’s 4x400 meter relay, featuring Ebony Eutsey (Miami, Fla.), Alishea Usery (St. Louis, Mo.), Ugonna Ndu (Newark, N.J.) and Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Fla.), placed fourth in 3:33.13, improving on their preliminary time by over two seconds (3:35.41).

The Gators’ men’s 4x100 meter relay, composed by Demps, Graham, Jr., Seymore and Dukes, finished fifth overall with a time of 39.26.

“I think all of our performances, including our relays and throws, show we’re training hard,” Holloway said. “We’ve learned a lot being here. I said yesterday that we came here to be a factor and I think we were. We competed against the better teams and better athletes in the nation and I think we got better. Now we’re ready to focus on Florida Relays and the rest of our outdoor season.”

No. 1 Baseball Evens Series At No. 16 Ole Miss, 9-4; O'Sullivan Notches 200th Win

No. 1 Florida (24-3/6-2 SEC) used a six-run eighth inning, highlighted by a tie-breaking, three-run homer by junior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.), to even its weekend series at No. 16 Ole Miss (19-8/4-4 SEC), 9-4, in front of a season-high crowd of 10,064 fans on Saturday afternoon at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan picked up his 200th career victory to become the fastest Gator baseball coach to reach that plateau. The fifth-year skipper is now 200-85 (.702) and reached the mark in 20 fewer games than Joe Arnold, who was 434-244-2 (.640) in 11 seasons from 1984-94.

After being limited to a season-low three hits on Friday night, the Gators banged out 17 hits, including a season-high seven doubles, to match their highest output in a game this year. Senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) (3-for-6, two runs), Ramjit (3-for-5, three RBI, two runs) and freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) (3-for-5) each had three hits as eight of nine UF starters chipped in with at least one. Freshman Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton, Mass.) improved to 4-0 by having the Rebels leave the bases loaded in the seventh when they led by a run.

Trailing 3-2 entering the eighth, Florida erupted for six runs on six hits in the stanza by sending 10 batters to the plate. Junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) led off with a single into right field off junior Dylan Chavez (3-1) and junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) poked a double into left center for two Gators in scoring position. Turgeon came through with a game-tying single into center field that brought across Maddox. Ramjit moved the visitors in front with a three-run jack to left field, his third big fly of the season, all coming in SEC play. Freshman Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) drew a walk from freshman reliever Sam Smith and Pigott collected his third hit of the day with an infield single before senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (2-for-4) smoked an RBI double down the right-field line to score Shafer for a four-run lead. Freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) (1-for-3, two RBI) expanded the Gators’ margin to 8-3 with a sacrifice fly into right field off junior reliever Tanner Bailey.

No. 16 Ole Miss Takes Opener Over No. 1 Baseball, 3-0

Sophomore right-hander Bobby Wahl fired eight scoreless innings as No. 16 Ole Miss (19-7/4-3 SEC) blanked No. 1 Florida (23-3/5-2 SEC), 3-0, in front of a season-high 9,311 fans on Friday night at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field to claim the opener of the three-game series.

Wahl (5-0) limited the Gators to a pair of singles and junior Brett Huber overcame a leadoff triple in the ninth by senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) to preserve the shutout and pick up his sixth save. It marked the first time that UF had been shut out since March 8, 2011, by Georgia Southern (7-0).

The Rebels reached junior righty Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (3-1) for three runs in the first inning on an RBI single by junior Alex Yarbrough (2-for-4) and a two-run homer by senior Matt Snyder (2-for-4). Junior Tanner Mathis had singled up the middle on Randall’s first pitch of the game and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by sophomore Austin Anderson. Mathis swiped third and scored on a base-hit into right field by Yarbrough. Snyder followed with his fourth homer of the campaign to right field to give the hosts a 3-0 lead.

Wahl retired the first two Gators of the fourth on strikeouts before issuing back-to-back walks to juniors Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) and Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.). The right-hander had freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) pop up in foul territory to end the frame.

After Randall recorded the first two outs in the fifth, Snyder and sophomore Will Allen delivered consecutive singles. Randall stranded the runners with a strikeout of senior Zach Kirksey.

Randall allowed eight hits and three runs over six innings, with four strikeouts and a walk. Freshman Bobby Poyner (Wellington, Fla.) entered the game prior to the Rebels’ seventh at bat and surrendered a one-out single to senior pinch hitter Blake Newalu, who moved into scoring position with a stolen base. Poyner worked out of further trouble by having Yarbrough and Snyder ground out.

Freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) drew a leadoff walk in the eighth but Wahl responded with strikeouts of junior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) and junior pinch hitter Jeff Moyer (Winter Springs, Fla.). The righty had a fielder’s choice by junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) force Turgeon at second base to complete the frame.

Poyner set down the first two Rebels in the home part of the inning and was replaced by freshman Ryan Harris (Jupiter, Fla.). Over 1.2 innings, Poyner permitted one hit and had one strikeout. Harris threw one pitch and junior Andrew Mistone grounded out to end the inning.

Wahl departed after an eight-inning stint in which he permitted two singles, with six strikeouts and three walks. Pigott began the ninth with a triple to left field off Huber, his second-straight game with a three-bagger. The reliever countered with a strikeout of senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.), a fly out by Zunino and a grounder by Johnson to secure the win. The Rebels held a 9-3 advantage in hits and neither team committed any errors.

Saturday’s pitching matchup starting at 2:30 p.m. ET will pit Johnson (4-0, 3.13) against Ole Miss senior righty R.J. Hively (3-1, 1.47)

Game Notes

·         The three hits by Florida were a season low.

·         The Gators had given up a total of eight runs in the first inning in their first 25 games.

·         UF is now 6-2 away from Gainesville, while Ole Miss improved to 15-4 at home this year.

·         The Rebels have now tossed back-to-back shutouts after defeating Jackson State, 12-0, on Tuesday night.

·         Florida is 10-3 against ranked teams in 2012.

Gators shut out against Mississippi

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 16 Ole Miss scored three runs in the first inning Friday to support the two-hit pitching of sophomore Bobby Wahl in the 3-0 win over top-ranked Florida.

Wahl (5-0) went eight innings, struck out six and walked three for Ole Miss (19-7, 4-3 SEC). Brett Huber picked up the save in the ninth. He gave up Daniel Pigott's leadoff triple, but got the Gators out in order after that.

Florida (23-3, 5-2 SEC) was outhit 9-3.

The Rebels jumped on Hudson Randall (3-1) quickly. Tanner Mathis hit the game's first pitch for a single and later scored on a single by Alex Yarbrough. Matt Snyder followed with a two-run home run.

Randall was tagged with his first loss of the season by allowing eight hits over six innings and the three earned runs. He struck out four and walked one. Bobby Poyner and Ryan Harris limited Ole Miss to one hit the rest of the way.

Florida's only other scoring threat came in the fourth inning after two were out. Mike Zunino and Brian Johnson walked, but Taylor Gushue fouled out.

Notes: UF was shut out for the first time since a 7-0 defeat to Georgia Southern last March. … Former Buchholz High School standout Will Allen started at catcher for Ole Miss. The sophomore entered the night with a .343 batting average. He had one hit Friday. … The Gators played before another sold out stadium: 9,311.

Women's Tennis Defeats Auburn, Sets Up Showdown with SEC Western Division Leader Alabama

The No. 2-ranked University of Florida women’s tennis team earned a hard-fought 7-0 sweep against Auburn on Friday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

“This was a greatly improved Auburn team and they gave us a real battle,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “It was a four hour and 15 minute, 7-0 sweep. I’ve never been involved with a match like that before today. I thought we played well and were resilient. Overall, I thought it was a really good tennis match and performance.”

The Gators next travel to Tuscaloosa, where the team faces Southeastern Conference Western Division Leader and 13th-ranked Alabama (13-2, 7-0 SEC) on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. ET. The Gators (14-1, 7-0 SEC) and Crimson Tide are the only two remaining undefeated teams in conference play.

Florida halted Auburn’s run of having won the doubles point in its last three matches, as well as in five of its last six entering Friday’s match against the Gators, who jumped out on court No. 1 where the 13th-ranked pair of Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) earned an 8-2 win in the first decision of the afternoon.

The Gator tandem of juniors Caroline Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.), playing together for the first time ever, captured the decisive doubles victory with an 8-2 win against the 36th-ranked pair of Jen Pfeifler and Paulina Schippers.

Florida then secured the sweep of all three doubles matches when Alexandra Cercone (Seminole, Fla.) and Olivia Janowicz (Palm Bay, Fla.) defeated Plamena Kurteva and Taylor Schreimann, 9-8 (7-3).

In singles action against the Tigers (8-8, 3-4 SEC), Florida posted a handful of individual milestone victories en route to winning its 32nd consecutive SEC regular-season match.

Will looked every bit like the nation’s top-ranked singles player and posted a dominate 6-0, 6-1 victory against No. 118-ranked Jen Pfeifler on court one that gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Will improved to 101-11 in her career, including an 18-1 record this season.

Janowicz followed with the 50th singles win of her career, defeating Schreimann, 7-6 (0), 6-0. The victory was the 49th of her career, as well as her 30th in dual match action.

Embree, ranked No. 11 in the country, downed Emily Flickinger, 7-5, 6-2 for the clinching dual match victory as well as her 80th career singles win, after earning her 79th career doubles triumph earlier in the match which was her 12th consecutive win with Mather, who won her 97th career doubles match.

Hitimana gave the Gators a 5-0 lead with her 6-2, 6-4 decision against Schippers on court five, where the Gator junior won her team-leading 12th straight overall singles match, as well as her 19th consecutive dual match singles victory.

Sophomore Sofie Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belgium), playing on a season-high court three, battled hard for her 6-4, 7-5 win against Kurteva that helped Florida take a 6-0 advantage in the team scoring. The win was Oyen’s 20th this year.

Cercone provided the finishes touches on the 7-0 victory, as she rallied for a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 1-0 (10-6) over Jackie Kasler and earned her 100th combined singles and doubles victory. The Gator sophomore, who became the 43rd member of the Gator’s 100-victory club, won her 57th match on the singles court, shortly after winning her 43rd on the doubles court.

Two Field Victories Highlight Friday Races at Texas Relays

Senior jumper Daniela Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore thrower Stipe Zunic (Zadar, Croatia) turned in victories on Friday as the Gators completed the third day of the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, hosted by the University of Texas.

Griffin earned her first career victory on Friday, leaping to a personal-best 6.25m/20-6.25 in section B of the women’s long jump. Teammate Lorraine Graham (Springdale, Md.) finished ninth in the event, tallying a 5.69m/18-8 mark.

“For Daniela, she had a great meet today,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “Her training has been going really well and I think this bodes well for her as we continue outdoors.”

Zunic, who is coming off a javelin win at the UCF Invitational last weekend, threw a career-best 77.89m/255-6 to dethrone two-time defending Texas Relays champion Sam Humphreys from Texas A&M.

“For Stipe, I think it’s less about the victory and more about the PR,” Holloway said. “We’re all really pleased with his effort and look forward to seeing that continue.”

Freshman Ciarra Brewer (Union City, Calif.), coming off a sixth-place performance in the women’s triple jump at NCAA Indoors, turned in a career-best 13.07m/42-10.75 in the event to finish seventh.

“We knew what we were getting from Ciarra when we recruited her out of high school,” Holloway commented. “There’s a lot more there and today was certainly a step in the right direction.”

In the women’s discus, junior thrower Ashley Miller (Miami Beach, Fla.) finished 11th with a throw of 45.80m/150-3 and senior thrower Keely Medeiros (Blumenau-SC, Brazil) finished 14th overall with a toss of 40.10m/131-7.

In the 100 meter hurdles, Ndu and freshman Ashley Favors (Riverview, Fla.) both put in solid performances. Ndu finished 18th overall with a time of 13.66, a new personal best. Favors, in just her second 100 meter hurdles race of her career, finished with a time of 15.24.

The Orange and Blue had five qualifiers for Saturday’s finals, as the men’s 4x100 meter relay was the first group to qualify with a time of 39.73. The foursome of Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.), Hugh Graham, Jr. (Miami, Fla.), Leonardo Seymore (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Dedric Dukes (Miami, Fla.) will compete on Saturday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. ET.

No. 11 Men's Tennis Blanks No. 15 Auburn, 7-0

The 11th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team picked up a key Southeastern Conference victory on Friday evening, beating No. 15 Auburn, 7-0, in Gainesville at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators improved to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

“I’ve got to give credit to Auburn because today’s match was definitely closer than the final score indicates,” said head coach Andy Jackson. “We’re getting a little bit better and that’s good. We’re looking forward to playing again on Sunday against Alabama.”

Florida started off with an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles, as Bob van Overbeek and Spencer Newman beat Dennis Lengsfeld and Lucas Lopasso. Auburn (14-6, 3-4 SEC) then picked up an 8-6 win on court three when Dan Cochrane and Lukas Ollert took down UF’s Tripper Carleton and Andrew Butz.

At No. 1 doubles, the Gators’ Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam pulled out a tight match, 9-7, against Auburn’s Alex Stamchev and Andy Mies. With both duos holding serve for the majority of the match, the Gators went up 8-7 when Federhofer hit a forehand winner up the line to break the Tigers’ serve. Federhofer then held serve in the final game to clinch the doubles point for UF.

“Billy was our man of the match today,” said Coach Jackson. “The way that he handled himself on the court and pulled through to clinch the doubles point was really big for us today to give us the momentum going into singles.”

Newman took down Ollert, 6-0, 6-2, on court two to begin singles action and push Florida’s lead to 2-0 in the match. At No. 2 singles, Slilam breezed through the first set, 6-1, before falling behind against Stamchev early in the second set, trailing 3-0. After taking an injury timeout, Slilam battled back to win the match, 6-1, 6-3.

Minutes later on court three, Carleton secured the team victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Cochrane. It was Carleton’s 11th dual-match win of the season, including a 5-2 mark in SEC action, tied for the most league wins on the team with Slilam.

Florida is now handing the ball to Omarius Hines, and he's running with it

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Omarius Hines didn't make much of an impact at receiver. Nor at tight end.

Maybe being a running back finally will work out for the 6-foot-2, 223-pound redshirt senior.

Florida moved Hines there this spring, partly to improve the depth at the spot but also to give Hines a chance to be more involved in the offense than he has been so far in his career. Hines also still will play some tight end and in the slot, but so far he has gotten favorable reviews at running back."He's done some nice things," UF coach Will Muschamp said. "He hasn't carried the ball as much. It's hard to judge in helmets obviously, but he did some nice things carrying the ball. He has some instincts with the ball in his hands, and I'm interested in seeing it progress."

Hines had dazzled Urban Meyer's coaching staff with his size and speed, but was never able to make much of an impact on the field. After redshirting in 2008, he caught 34 passes for 453 yards and two touchdowns in 2009 and 2010. His biggest contribution, however, was a 36-yard run on a fake punt against Tennessee in 2010.

Hines was even less of a factor last season. He touched the ball only eight times -- seven catches for 106 yards and one run for 12 yards -- in 12 games, despite playing in an offense that was desperate for any kind of playmaker to emerge.

Like Meyer, Muschamp said Hines has too much ability to not be heavily involved. The move to running back is supposed to solve that, although Muschamp did say there are plans to use Hines in pretty much the same way as Trey Burton -- minus the wildcat quarterback stuff -- to take advantage of his pass-catching ability.

"He's got good hands," Muschamp said. "I think more than anything it was adding a bigger body in the backfield and a guy that's played, but we need to find a role for him and use some different ways to get him the football. We just look at the offseason program and look at our team and see who can be the playmakers, and he's certainly, from an explosive athlete standpoint, a guy that stands out."

Hines has averaged 12.6 yards per carry and run for two touchdowns on 13 carries in his career, but those carries came on a fake punt and end arounds. He hasn't lined up in the backfield in an I-formation and taken a handoff, looked for a hole and made a linebacker miss. But he has looked like a natural through the first two weeks of spring, offensive coordinator Brent Pease said.

"He's such a gifted athlete," Pease said. "It's kind of learning different spots of where's he's going to be. He's natural. He's still got to learn some things with it. He obviously gives us good depth. He's got a lot of ability. Him and some other kids, you've kind of seen their confidence grow every day."

Hines' obvious role would be as a short-yardage runner. He's listed as an inch smaller and four pounds lighter than Burton, but third- or fourth-and-short is not Burton's forte. He lost 14 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Florida State 15-yard line in the Gators' 21-7 loss to the Seminoles last season. Hines could flourish there, defensive tackle Omar Hunter said.

"He's big, really big," Hunter said. "He's hard to tackle. He runs really hard."

The Gators are even more desperate for playmakers this season because of the inexperience at quarterback and the uncertainty over whether Mike Gillislee and/or Mack Brown will be able to handle being the Gators' No. 1 running back. Hines is getting his last shot.

"We need to get more out of him as a football player, and that's including on special teams and everything we do within the organization," Muschamp said.

Harrell Puts In Career Performances on First Day of Texas Relays

Sophomore multi-event athlete Brittany Harrell (McComb, Miss.) sits in fourth place overall after the opening day of competition at the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

Harrell turned in two all-time career bests and one outdoor personal record on Wednesday in the first four events of the women’s heptathlon, scoring 3309 points heading into Thursday.

“We knew coming into today that Brittany was going to do big things this week,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “In her training and during competition last weekend at UCF, she showed she was ready for a strong performance at the Texas Relays.”

Harrell opened the day in the 100 meter hurdles, where she turned in a lifetime-best time of 14.36 to finish ninth and score 928 points. The sophomore then competed in the heptathlon high jump, where she was just .01 meters away from her personal best, clearing 1.72m/5-7.75 on Wednesday for 879 points and a second-place finish

The Mississippi native competed in the shot put next, throwing an outdoor PR of 11.67m/38-3.50 to finish fifth in the event for 639 points. The final event of the day was the 200 meters, where Harrell finished eighth with a personal best of 25.26, scoring 863 points.

“The thing about the multi-events is that it’s all about momentum,” Holloway said. “Brittany has great momentum heading into tomorrow. She needs to rest and refocus and we’re looking forward to seeing her compete on Thursday.

The first heptathlon event on Thursday will be the long jump at 1 p.m. ET. The field events will kick off with the university/college women’s hammer throw at 1:30 p.m. ET. The first running events of the weekend start at 5:30 p.m. ET with the university/college women’s 400m hurdles. The evening session starts at 7:30 p.m. ET with the university/college 1500m run.

No. 4 Softball Edged, 4-1, by No. 21 USF in Non-Conference Clash Wednesday

Despite pounding out six hits as a team, led by freshman Bailey Castro’s (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) 2-for-3 performance Wednesday, the No. 4 Florida softball squad dropped just its third game of the season, falling 4-1 to No. 21 USF in a mid-week, non-conference match up in front of 1,089 Gator fans at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. For the second time this season, the two squads met as Florida out-lasted USF, 3-2, in eight innings Feb. 12 in season-opening tournament action in Tampa.

A sharper USF squad connected for eight hits, capitalized on two Gator defensive miscues and rallied behind ace Sara Nevins, who owned the nation’s best ERA (0.55) entering the match-up, to snap Florida’s 16-game home win streak. The Bulls jumped on top of the Gators from the get-go, putting up two quick runs in the first inning, while following with two in the third for their four overall to improve to 30-5 on the campaign. The Gators moved to 29-3 overall and are now 4-3 on the season against Top-25 competition.

For the 12th time this season, Florida freshman Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.) earned the nod in the circle, working her sixth complete contest of the year. Haeger fanned four, but walked five and gave up two earned runs on eight USF hits, shouldering her second loss of the season (9-2).

Like Haeger, Nevins (17-2) went the distance, walking three and retiring three Gators by strikeout. Nevins gave up two hits to Castro, who tallied her first multiple-hit game donning a Gator uniform, while Haeger knocked in UF’s sole run on a long ball in the fourth. Juniors Ensley Gammel (Bakersfield, Calif.), Sam Holle (Tampa, Fla.) and Kelsey Horton (Valrico, Fla.) had one hit apiece.

Gators Earn First-Ever Shutout in 29-0 Rout of Fresno State

Freshmen Nicole Graziano (Mendham, N.J.), Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) and Taylor McCord (Jacksonville, Fla.) combined for 17 points this evening to lead the No. 4 Florida Gators to their highest goal total and first-ever shutout, defeating Fresno State, 29-0. With the win, Florida improves to 11-2 (1-0 ALC), while the Bulldogs fall to 2-6 (0-1 MPSF).

“It was really about people who haven’t needed to step up really needing to today, and I thought they did that,” said Head Coach Amanda O’Leary. “Obviously, Nicole Graziano did a great job.  It was fun to see Nora play on the attacking end and only on the attacking end, but defensively I thought we played really well.  I thought Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) came up with some big ground balls in the first half to get us jump started in transition.  I’m just really pleased overall.”

Nicole Graziano led the team with a career-high six goals and seven points and notched two ground balls and a team-best four draw controls. ALC Rookie of the Week Nora Barry scored five goals, four ground balls and two draw controls, and fellow-freshman Taylor McCord had a personal-best four goals and an assist. Gabi Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y.) also had five points, scoring three goals and two assists.

Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) became the first Gator in school history to record 200 career points on a goal late in the first half, and finished the night with three goals and an assist. Caroline Chesterman (South Nyack, N.Y.) hit the century mark in points tonight, ending with a goal and a team-leading three assists.

UF baseball tops FSU in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE — By a matter of inches, the Florida Gators were able to snap a four-game losing streak to rival Florida State in the city of Jacksonville.

The Gators (21-4) used a two-out, two-run triple from Casey Turgeon in the sixth inning that barely eluded Florida State center fielder James Ramsey, and then the Gators relied on solid pitching from four relief pitchers to post a 4-1 win over Florida State on Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,571 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.


The win snapped FSU's winning streak over the Gators in Jacksonville. Florida won the first meeting in 2007, but the Seminoles (23-2) had captured the last four games at the neutral site.


Turgeon came up with his key hit in the sixth that bounced off the glove of Ramsey, allowing Mike Zunino and Taylor Gushue to score. Turgeon added the third run of the inning when Vickash Ramjit delivered a single into right field.


Florida used four relief pitchers after starter Greg Larson was lifted in the fourth inning with two outs. Johnny Magliozzi went the shortest amount, throwing just six pitches, but he induced FSU's Stephen McGee to bounce into a bases-loaded double play in the fourth inning to keep the Seminoles' lead at 1-0.


Florida added an insurance run in the eighth inning when Ramjit's single scored Gushue.

op-ranked Gator gymnasts head to Raleigh, N.C., for NCAA Regional

The No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team will travel to Raleigh, N.C., to compete as the top seed for the NCAA Regional on Saturday, April 7. Start time is set for 4 p.m. (ET) in North Carolina State’s Reynolds Coliseum. The NCAA Gymnastics Committee announced the fields for each of the six 2012 NCAA Region Championships sites Monday.

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each region site advances to the NCAA Championships, set for April 20-22 at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. Florida competed at The Arena at Gwinnett Center last Saturday, claiming the program’s eighth Southeastern Conference team title.

Last year, UF used a runner-up finish at the NCAA North Central Region in Denver, Colo., to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 29th time in the 30-year history of the meet. The Gators took seventh overall in the NCAA Championships.

No.12 Ohio State and No. 13 Penn State are the other seeded teams at the Raleigh Regional. No. 20 NC State, No. 26 Kent State and No. 31 North Carolina round out the field for the regional site. NC State is the only team in the field UF has met in 2012 regular season action, as the Gators opened the campaign with a 196.025-194.675 dual meet win in Raleigh.

Florida will open regional competition on the uneven bars.

The top 18 teams nationally, based on regional qualifying score (RQS), were paired into the six regions (three per region). Each region site contains one team each from the nation’s No. 1-6, No. 7-12, and No. 13-18 ranking positions. The final three spots in each regional were filled from teams ranked 19-36 by RQS. The committee tried to keep those teams within their own region as much as possible.

In addition five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual specialist per event advance to each of the six regions. The all-around competitors and event specialists came from within the region. Monica Mesalles Sallares of Bridgeport will be paired with the Gators for regional competition.

The National Qualifying Score (NQS) determines the pairings for day one of the team competition at the NCAA Championships. The NQS is calculated by adding a team's RQS and score from the regional meet. Teams will be ranked 1 to 12 based on the NQS. Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 will be placed in Group A; and teams 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 placed in Group B. A random draw will be used to determine competition session for Groups A and B for the 2012 NCAA Championships.

2012 NCAA Southeast Region Competition Order
	Vault	Bye	Bars	Beam	Bye	Floor
I	NC State	Penn State	Florida	Kent State	Ohio State	UNC
II	UNC	NC State	Penn State	Florida	Kent State	Ohio State
III	Ohio State	UNC	NC State	Penn State	Florida	Kent State
IV	Kent State	Ohio State	UNC	NC State	Penn State	Florida
V	Florida	Kent State	Ohio State	UNC	NC State	Penn State
VI	Penn State	Florida	Kent State	Ohio State	UNC	NC State

2012 NCAA Gymnastics Regional Fields (with national rank)
Raleigh Regional (Raleigh, N.C.) – April 7 @ 4 p.m. ET
1.	Florida
12.	Ohio State
13.	Penn State
20.	NC State
26.	Kent State
31.	North Carolina
Auburn Regional (Auburn, Ala.) – April 7 @ 6 p.m. CT
6.	Georgia
7.	Oregon State
18.	Auburn
21.	Michigan
27.	West Virginia
T32.	Michigan State
Seattle Regional (Seattle, Wash.) – April 7 @ 4 p.m. PT
4.	Alabama
9.	LSU
16.	Arizona
23.	Washington
30.	Iowa
36.	Central Michigan
Fayetteville Regional (Fayetteville, Ark.) – April 7 @ 4 p.m. CT
3.	UCLA
10.	Arkansas
15.	Boise State
19.	Missouri
29.	New Hampshire
34.	Maryland
Champaign Regional (Champaign, Ill.) – April 7 @ 4 p.m. CT
2.	Oklahoma
11.	Stanford
14.	Denver
22.	Illinois-Champaign
T24.	Kentucky
32.	Illinois-Chicago
Salt Lake City Regional (Salt Lake City, Utah.) – April 7 @ 6 p.m. MT
5.	Nebraska
8.	Utah
17.	Minnesota
T24.	Iowa State
28.	Arizona State
35.	San Jose State

No. 2 Florida Women's Tennis Defeats No. 19 Mississippi, 6-1

The second-ranked Florida women’s tennis team earned their 103rd consecutive home victory, beating No. 19 Mississippi, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at Scott Linder Stadium at Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

Florida (13-1, 6-0 SEC) has now won 31 straight regular season SEC matches after defeating Mississippi (11-7, 3-3 SEC).

“I think Ole Miss did a great job of competing and made us have to dig a little bit,” head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I told the team that I think we’re getting better every month but there are certainly some things we can improve on. It’s not like we’re firing on all cylinders. I think our play today showed that there’s room for improvement. We know what we need to get better at and we need to just keep hammering away.” 

In doubles play, Florida was able to gain an early 1-0 lead winning on courts one and two in under 50 minutes. On court two, the No. 11 doubles tandem of Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather defeated Erin Stephens and Gabby Rangel, 8-4. The Gators sealed the doubles point with an 8-3 victory on court one by the third-ranked doubles team of Allie Will and Sofie Oyen over the fifth-ranked duo of Kristi Boxx and Abby Guthrie.

To complete the sweep of the doubles, Alexandra Cercone and Olivia Janowicz defeated Iris Verboven and Julia Jones, 8-6, despite trailing 3-0 early in the match.

In singles play, Mather gave the Gators a 2-0 lead after a 6-3, 6-2 win over Stephens on court three. Shortly after Mather’s win, Embree gained a straight set victory on court one defeating No. 12 ranked Boxx 6-3, 6-3, improving the Gators’ lead to 3-0.

Will, ranked No. 1, cruised to a 6-0, 6-1, win on court two over the No. 72 ranked Caroline Rohde-Moe to secure UF’s win over the Rebels. With the win, Will now has 100 career singles victories as a Gator.

“I did not know that. That’s great news,” Will said on reaching the century mark. “I’ve had a lot of good matches here at home and I have not lost a match here at home so the crowd must be doing something right. It’s a privilege to be here and I’m just happy that I was able to get 100 wins and hopefully I’ll have a few before the year is over.”

Oyen dropped her first singles match in her last 14 attempts, Sunday. Guthrie defeated Oyen, 5-7, 5-7, to give Ole Miss their lone point on the evening.

Cercone defeated Jones, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, and Caroline Hitimana defeated Vivian Vlaar, 6-2, 3-6 (10-1), with both matches lasting over two hours.

No. 11 Men's Tennis Gets Win at No. 14 Ole Miss, 5-2

The 11th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team ended a three-match losing streak with a win on Sunday, beating No. 14 Ole Miss, 5-2, at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford, Miss. The Gators improved to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference.

Florida earned the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and 3 over Ole Miss (8-5, 4-2 SEC). The Rebels’ 33rd-ranked duo of Nik Scholtz and Jonas Lutjen beat Tripper Carleton and Michael Alford on court two, 8-3, but Florida’s Spencer Newman and Bob van Overbeek picked up a win against Johan Backstrom and William Kallberg, 8-5, on court three. UF’s eighth-ranked pair of Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam secured the doubles point with an 8-4 win over No. 12 Marcel Thiemann and Chris Thiemann.

The Gators got an early boost in singles when No. 61 van Overbeek upset No. 13 Scholtz, 7-5, 6-3, at the top position. Van Overbeek’s win ended a six-match losing streak, facing four top 15-ranked opponents during that span. Carleton, who dropped the first set to No. 35 Lutjen, fought back for a three-set win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, to push Florida’s lead to 3-0 in the match.

Kallberg got Ole Miss on the board with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 win over Newman at No. 4 singles. Alford clinched the team victory with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over Chris Thiemann on court five.

The teams split the remaining two matches on courts two and six. Florida’s Andrew Butz won on court six over Backstrom, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, and the Rebels’ Marcel Thiemann beat Slilam, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 2 position.