Freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor,
Fla.) was 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and No. 2 Florida (32-10)
scored in seven-consecutive innings to defeat Bethune-Cookman (24-18), 10-1, on
Wednesday night at McKethan Stadium.
Sophomore Karsten Whitson (Chipley,
Fla.) (3-0) fired four scoreless innings in a pre-determined start, senior Preston
Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, junior Brian
Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) was 2-for-4 and freshman Brandon Sedell
(Davie, Fla.) belted his first career homer as the Gators improved to 27-0
all-time against the Wildcats.
“I
was really pleased with our offense tonight,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan
said. “We scored in every inning but one and we had a lot of different guys
contribute. I thought Jeff Moyer had a really good night and made a great play
to start the ballgame. Pitching-wise, it was great to get Karsten Whitson out
there. I thought he looked really, really sharp. We extended him a little bit
and kept his pitch count down. We used five different pitchers, averaged less
than 15 pitches per inning and we didn’t walk anybody. Brandon Sedell hit his
first home run, a lot of guys contributed and I thought it was a great effort
both offensively and pitching-wise.”
In the first inning, junior Brandon Turner
(3-for-4) had a one-out single into left field after a nine-pitch at bat
against Whitson and then moved to second with his team-leading 12th
stolen base. A grounder by senior Jairo Acevedo moved Turner to third and Whitson
had junior David Lee ground out to end the frame.
Junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden,
Fla.) drew a leadoff walk from sophomore Montana Durapau (2-5) and stole second
base with one down, his ninth theft in nine attempts this season. A wild pitch
moved Fontana to third but Durapau had Johnson fly out to straightaway center
field.
Senior Brashad Johnson (2-for-4) opened the
second with a base-hit up the middle for the Wildcats and was sacrificed to
second on a bunt by senior Nick Johnson. Whitson struck out freshman Jordan
Taylor and had freshman Juan Pizarro ground out to complete the inning.
The Gators grabbed a 2-0 lead in the home
part of the inning on an RBI single by junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville,
Fla.) and a throwing error. Senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.)
started things off with a double into the left-field corner and Turgeon singled
for two runners aboard. Maddox opened the scoring with a base-knock into right
center that scored Pigott. Durapau had freshman Justin Shafer (Lake
Wales, Fla.) line into a double play at first base and then walked senior Jeff
Moyer (Winter Springs, Fla.) with two down. A failed pickoff attempt by
Durapau enabled Moyer to reach second and Turgeon to come across with the
second run.
Freshman Jake Welch (2-for-3) began the third
with a single and junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) gunned down the
base-runner attempting to steal second base. Moyer made a strong defensive play
at third base to retire sophomore Josh Johnson and Turner collected his second
hit of the contest with a two-out single into left field. Whitson had Acevedo
ground out to end the inning.
Turgeon came through with a two-out single in
the bottom of the stanza to give the Gators a 3-0 advantage. Tucker opened the inning
with a bloop single into right field and Johnson rifled a one-out single before
Pigott advanced both of his teammates into scoring position with a grounder. Turgeon
put the hosts up by three runs with an infield single and stole second base
before Durapau stranded the runners with an inning-ending strikeout of Maddox.
After Shafer singled to open UF’s fourth and
stole second base, Moyer moved him to third with a grounder. Fontana lofted his
first sacrifice fly of the year to bring home Shafer for a 4-0 margin.
Working on a pitch count, Whitson yielded
four singles over four scoreless innings before sophomore Daniel Gibson
(Lutz, Fla.) pitched a scoreless fifth.
Florida tacked on another run in the fifth to
build a 5-0 lead. Johnson collected his second single to start the frame and
was sacrificed to second by Pigott. Turgeon’s third hit of the night gave the
Gators runners on the corners and a wild pitch by Durapau allowed Johnson to
score and Turgeon to take second. Although Turgeon swiped third and Maddox drew
a walk, Durapau worked out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
A two-out RBI single by Brashad Johnson in
the sixth put the Wildcats on the board. A leadoff single by Turner prompted a
pitching change, as senior Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) came in for
Gibson (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R). Junior Carlos Delgado laid down a sacrifice bunt to
push Turner over and a grounder by Lee advanced his teammate to third. Brashad Johnson
had a base-hit up the middle to drive in Turner and then swiped second base before
Nick Johnson singled for runners on the corners. Larson had Taylor fly out to
deep center, where Pigott made a nice catch to end the inning.
Sophomore Bryan Rivera relieved Durapau (5.0
IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 K, 4 BB) and issued a walk to Fontana to open the Gator sixth.
Tucker followed with his 11th homer of the year, a laser over the right-field
wall that was his third career blast against the Wildcats, for a 7-1 margin.
“All-in-all,
I think we played great game today,” Tucker said. “Hopefully, that will carry
on through this weekend against Arkansas. Karsten Whitson was outstanding. It’s
always great to see him pitch the way we know he can. His fast balls were there
and some off-speed stuff. On the homer, I was just trying to cover my basics
with two strikes. I tried to hit the breaking ball the other way, put the
barrel on it, and kept it fair.”
UF added two more runs in the seventh on an
RBI single by Moyer and another sacrifice fly by Fontana. Turgeon reached on an
error to begin the inning, stole second for his third theft of the night and
Maddox drew a walk before freshman pinch hitter Taylor Gushue (Boca
Raton, Fla.) went down swinging on strikes. However, a wild pitch on the play by
Rivera enabled both Gators to move into scoring position. Moyer scored Turgeon
with a single through the right side for his first hit and first RBI of the year
and went to second on the relay throw to the plate. Fontana followed with his
second sacrifice fly of the contest into right field to balloon the lead to
9-1.
Sedell clubbed his first career homer into
the left-field bleachers as a pinch hitter to lead off Florida’s eighth for a
10-1 advantage. It was his second hit of the year after having a triple against
Florida A&M on March 7.
Freshman Corey Stump (Lakeland, Fla.)
tossed a perfect eighth and freshman Ryan Harris (Jupiter, Fla.) kept
the Wildcats scoreless in the ninth to end the contest. Florida had a 12-9
advantage in hits and did not commit any errors.
