Junior
Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (4-for-5) had career-highs in RBI
(five) and hits (four) and freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.)
(3-for-4) cranked a pair of long homers and drove in a career-best four RBI to
lead No. 1 Florida (9-1) to a series-clinching 13-5 victory over No. 8 Miami (8-2)
on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 4,999 fans, the 10th-largest crowd in
Mark Light Field history.
In
notching their seventh-straight win, the Gators pounded out a season-high16
hits and overcame deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to post their 10th-consecutive
victory over the Hurricanes before the largest crowd for a UM home game since
5,063 fans filled the park on April 24, 1999, against Florida State.
Senior
reliever Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (1-0) retired all 14 batters he
faced over a career-high 4.2 innings to pick up his first win since April 17,
2011, at Georgia. Senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) (4-for-5) matched
his career high with four hits as the Orange and Blue seized the lead with a
five-run fifth frame and scored the final 10 runs of the contest to secure its
third regular-season triumph in a row over Miami. It marked only the sixth time
since 1960 that the Gators have taken a series in Coral Gables, also in 1966
(2-1), 1984 (2-1), 2002 (2-0), 2006 (3-0) and 2010 (2-1).
The
hosts grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Johnson on a two-run homer
by senior Peter O’Brien (2-for-4, three RBI). Sophomore Dale Carey had singled
up the middle with one down and O’Brien sent a ball over the left-field fence
for his team-leading fourth homer.
O’Brien
delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third inning to extend Miami’s
lead to 3-0. Sophomore Julian Santos (2-for-3) started things off with a double
to straightaway center field and was sacrificed to third on a bunt by sophomore
Tyler Palmer. The Gators cut down Santos at the plate on a 6-2-5-1 putout that
was started by junior shortstop Nolan Fontana (Winter Springs, Fla.),
with Carey taking second base on a fielder’s choice. O’Brien picked up his
third RBI of the night with a base-knock up the middle.
The
Gators used back-to-back homers by Johnson and Gushue off junior Eric Whaley
(1-1) to even the score at 3-3 in the fourth. Junior Mike Zunino (Cape
Coral, Fla.) raised his hitting streak to 13 games with a leadoff single into
right center and Johnson followed with a towering homer to right field for his
first big fly of the season that pulled the visitors within a run. Gushue then belted
his second homer of the year to right field to tie the contest. It was the
first time that Florida had gone deep on consecutive batters since Pigott and Vickash
Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) accomplished the feat in the second inning of the NCAA
Gainesville Super Regional against Mississippi State on June 12, 2011.
Miami
re-claimed the advantage in the home part of the stanza on a two-run homer by
junior Stephen Perez (2-for-4). Freshman Esteban Tresgallo laced a one-out
single into left center and Perez followed with his first homer of the season
to left field for a 5-3 margin. Singles by junior Chantz Mack and Santos ended
the night on the mound for Johnson (3.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R). Larson caught Palmer
looking on strikes and had Carey ground out to strand the runners and keep UF
down by two runs.
Florida
sent nine batters to the plate and erupted for five runs in the fifth to seize
an 8-5 lead, highlighted by a three-run dinger by Gushue. Fontana (3-for-5,
three runs) and Pigott opened the inning with singles and Whaley caught senior Preston
Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) looking on strikes for the first out. Junior shortstop
Michael Broad misplayed Zunino’s grounder for an error, allowing Fontana to
score and Pigott to take third. Johnson tied the game at 5-5 with an RBI single
into right field and Gushue bashed a 1-0 offering into the third level of the
parking garage overlooking right field to give the Gators their first lead. The
five-run inning was the largest for the Gators this season. Freshman Casey Turgeon
(Palm Harbor, Fla.) drew a walk to prompt a pitching change, as Whaley (4.1 IP,
10 H, 8 R) was replaced by freshman Andrew Suarez. Senior Tyler Thompson
(Tequesta, Fla.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Turgeon into scoring
position and Suarez countered by having freshman pinch hitter Josh Tobias (Greensboro,
N.C.) ground out.
Johnson
roped a two-run, bases-loaded single in the sixth to increase UF’s lead to
10-5. Fontana started the inning with a single into right field, went to second
on a passed ball and took third on Pigott’s fourth hit of the night, a single
up the middle. Tucker’s ground ball was thrown home by sophomore first baseman
Brad Fieger but Fontana alertly raced back to third and beat UM catcher O’Brien
to the bag to load the bases with none out. Suarez jammed Zunino on an infield
fly for the first out and Johnson sliced a single into right field that brought
home Fontana and Pigott. Gushue blooped a single near the right-field line to
re-load the bases but Suarez had Turgeon and Thompson each fly out to hold UM’s
deficit at five runs.
Tobias
opened the seventh with a four-pitch walk from sophomore Javi Salas and stole
his first career base before Fontana earned a free pass. The reliever retired
the next two Gators and seemed to be out of the inning when Zunino hit a
grounder to second base. However, Perez committed a fielding error and then
threw the ball away, allowing Tobias to come home for an 11-5 count.
Florida
added another run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Tobias that scored pinch
runner Ramjit, who had replaced Gushue on first base after a hit-by-pitch from
junior Alex San Juan.
The
Gators completed the scoring in the ninth at 13-5, when Fontana scored as
Zunino grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases full. Fontana had led
off with a single off junior Vince Kossak, freshman Justin Shafer (Lake
Wales, Fla.) had a pinch-hit single and Tucker was hit by a pitch to fill the
bags with none out.
Sophomore
Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) recorded the final three outs following
Larson’s brilliant performance. The teams will wrap up the series tomorrow at
1 p.m., live on Fox Sports Florida. Sophomore left-hander Bryan Radziewski
(1-0, 5.59) will draw the start for Miami against a Gator hurler to be
announced.
