Junior Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach,
Fla.) matched his career high of five RBI as No. 1 Florida (29-8) kicked off a
nine-game stretch at McKethan Stadium with an 8-2 victory over Georgia Southern
(22-17) on Tuesday night. Johnson belted a three-run homer in the first inning
and added a two-run double in the seventh, while senior right-hander Greg
Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (4-0) earned the win and also moved to third place
on the Gators’ all-time list with his 105th appearance. All eight of UF’s runs
were scored with two outs.
“I thought this was one of the better
games that we've played,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Our
pitching was outstanding. Brian Johnson is really swinging the bat well right
now and we got a lot of contributions from different guys tonight offensively. I'm
really pleased with our effort tonight. I thought we were focused and it was
certainly a good game looking forward. It's a team effort, and, like I said, I
was pleased with our effort tonight. I thought the focus was really good, coming
off a good game we played on Sunday at Tennessee. Hopefully, we're hitting our
stride a little bit.”
Johnson (2-for-4) cranked a three-run homer
off the scoreboard overlooking right field to give the Gators a 3-0 lead in the
first inning. Junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) opened with a
single up the middle but redshirt freshman Lucas Hart (1-1) had freshman Justin
Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Senior Preston
Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) singled into right field and junior Mike Zunino
(Cape Coral, Fla.) (2-for-3) drew a walk before Johnson cranked a 2-1 offering
out of the yard for his fifth dinger of the season and his third in the past
five games.
“I feel a lot more comfortable,”
Johnson said. “I'm trying to have four or five good at-bats a game and I am just
trying to stay focused for every pitch. In the earlier part of the season, I
was just fouling those balls off and digging myself a hole. Now, I'm making
contact with the pitch.”
Hart plunked freshman Casey Turgeon
(Palm Harbor, Fla.) to start the second and was replaced by sophomore Taylor
Burke. Junior Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.) executed a hit-and-run
with a single into center field for runners on the corners, matching his
career-best hitting streak of three games. Burke pitched out of the jam by
having a fielder’s choice by Fontana cut down Turgeon at home plate before
having Shafer ground out to end the inning.
Georgia Southern narrowed the gap to 3-1 on a
two-out single by junior Michael Burruss (4-for-4) in the third. Freshman Tyler
Avera (2-for-4) led off with a base-hit into center field and was sacrificed to
second by sophomore Brent Pugh. Larson had junior Scooter Williams ground out
and Burruss sliced a base-knock up the middle to put the Eagles on the board.
Freshman Chase Griffin started the fourth
with a single, bringing sophomore Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) in for
Larson (3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 K on a pitch count). The southpaw had sophomore Stryker
Brown fly out to left field, junior T.D. Davis ground out and then struck out
freshman Hunter Thomas to complete the frame.
Avera started the fifth with an infield
single and Pugh laid down his second sacrifice of the game to advance his
teammate into scoring position. Gibson caught Williams looking on strikes and Burruss
legged out an infield single near first base for runners on the corners with
two down. Freshman Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton, Mass.) was summoned
from the bullpen for Gibson (1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K) and had senior Eric Phillips ground
out to preserve the Gators’ 3-1 advantage.
A two-out passed ball by Georgia Southern
freshman catcher Chase Griffin in the fifth inning enabled Fontana to score UF’s
fourth run. Fontana had drawn a leadoff walk from junior Josh Stevenson and
moved around the bases on grounders by Shafer and Tucker. After Fontana came in,
Zunino ripped his team-leading 15th double to the base of the left field wall
and Johnson flew out to straightaway center field.
Magliozzi plunked Griffin to open the sixth
and was replaced by junior Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.), who struck
out Brown and Davis and had a grounder by Thomas force Griffin at second base.
In the sixth, Turgeon had a one-out single
into right center and went to second on a grounder by junior Vickash Ramjit
(Miami, Fla.). A wild pitch by freshman Jared Cheek allowed Turgeon to reach
third base and another wild pitch resulted in a 5-1 lead for the hosts.
Georgia Southern threatened with two outs in
the seventh, as Williams and Burruss had consecutive singles. However,
Rodriguez induced an inning-ending fly-out by senior Eric Phillips.
Shafer singled through the left side with one
down in the home part of the frame and went to third on a two-out single by
Zunino before Johnson cleared the bases with his seventh double into the gap in
right center for a 7-1 margin. Shafer delivered a two-out RBI single in the
eighth that brought home freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.), who
had drawn a pinch-hit leadoff walk from senior Josh Adams.
Rodriguez worked two scoreless innings, with
three strikeouts and two hits, sophomore Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.)
worked a perfect eighth and junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) surrendered
a hit and a run in the ninth on an RBI grounder by sophomore pinch hitter
Garren Palmer.
