No. 4 Florida (26-7) rallied from a 3-0
deficit with six unanswered runs to defeat No. 1 Florida State (27-6) on
Tuesday night, 6-3, to complete a three-game sweep of the regular-season series
between the Sunshine State rivals at sold-out Dick Howser Stadium. It marked
the 15th come-from-behind effort of the year for head coach Kevin
O’Sullivan’s club. The Gators had previously emerged victorious against the
Seminoles in Gainesville on March 13 (9-2) and in Jacksonville on March 27
(4-1).
The Orange and Blue had not taken all of the
regular-season meetings from the Seminoles since 1958 (a pair of wins in
Gainesville on April 11-12 that season), notched its first victory over the
nation’s top-ranked team since a 5-4 triumph over FSU on April 18, 2007, and
picked up its first win in Tallahassee since April 14, 2009 (10-2). In
addition, Florida swept both Florida State and Miami (Fla.) in the same season
for the first time in school history. The crowd of 6,730 fans at Dick Howser
Stadium was the fourth-largest in the facility’s history and the second-most
for a UF-FSU game.
Freshman right-hander Ryan Harris
(Jupiter, Fla.) (1-0) retired all nine batters he faced over a career-high
three innings to pick up his first collegiate win, freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm
Harbor, Fla.) (3-for-5) snapped a 3-3 tie with a bases-loaded single in the
sixth and the Gator bullpen fired six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and
one hit. Junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) set down all five
Seminoles he faced and had two strikeouts over 1.2 innings to register his
ninth save. Junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (2-for-5) belted a
game-tying homer in the fifth, while juniors Nolan Fontana (Winter
Garden, Fla.) (2-for-3, three runs) and Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach,
Fla.) (2-for-5) slugged solo shots as part of a 12-hit offensive attack.
Junior Devon Travis (3-for-4) gave the
Seminoles a quick lead in the first inning with a one-out solo shot off Johnson
to straightaway center field. It was his third big fly of the year. Senior
James Ramsey (2-for-4) followed with an infield single and junior Jayce Boyd
singled up the middle before a fly ball to center field by redshirt sophomore
Stephen McGee left runners on the corners with two down. Johnson caught junior
Justin Gonzalez looking on strikes to escape the jam.
The Gators had three hits in the second
inning and loaded the bases against junior Scott Sitz but were unable to score.
Senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) led off with a single into right
field and Johnson had an infield hit to put the visitors in business. Tucker
was thrown out at third base on a sacrifice attempt by freshman Taylor
Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) for the first out and Fontana laced a single into
left field to load the bases. A fielder’s choice by junior Vickash Ramjit
(Miami, Fla.) forced Johnson at home for the second out and junior Cody Dent
(Boynton Beach, Fla.) lined out to first base to end the inning.
Although Florida filled the bags with one
down in the third inning, it was kept off the board. Senior Daniel Pigott
(Ormond Beach, Fla.) (2-for-4) led off with an infield single and went to third
on Zunino’s team-leading 13th double of the year to the left-field fence. The
Seminoles elected to walk Tucker intentionally and the move paid off when
Johnson’s comebacker to Sitz forced Pigott at home and Gushue popped up in foul
territory.
The Seminoles increased their lead to 3-0 in
the home part of the inning on two hits and an error. Travis and Ramsey had
consecutive singles to begin the frame and Johnson fanned Boyd for the first
out. The Seminoles then executed a double steal, with Travis taking third and
Ramsey swiping second. An errant relay throw down to second base by Zunino allowed
Travis to come across and Ramsey to occupy third. McGee lofted a sacrifice fly
into left field to drive in Ramsey for a three-run margin.
UF got on the board on a two-out RBI single
by Pigott in the fourth. Fontana had a 10-pitch at bat and drew a leadoff walk,
Ramjit had an infield fly to the shortstop and Fontana moved into scoring
position on a sacrifice bunt by Dent. Pigott delivered a base-hit into right
field to bring home Fontana with the Gators’ first run.
Harris replaced Johnson (3.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2
ER) prior to FSU’s fourth and worked a 1-2-3 inning with a trio of groundouts.
Zunino tied the game in the fifth with a
towering two-run homer off the scoreboard overlooking left field. Turgeon started
the inning with a single into center field and Zunino connected on his
team-leading 10th dinger to even the score at 3-3. It was his first homer since
March 24 at South Carolina.
The Gators seized a 4-3 advantage in the
sixth on an RBI single by Turgeon but left the bases full. Freshman Kyle Bird
(0-1) replaced Sitz (5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R) at the beginning of the stanza and
issued a leadoff walk to Fontana. A fielding error by Boyd at first base
enabled Ramjit to reach and Fontana to take second. Dent greeted senior
reliever Brian Busch with a sacrifice bunt that moved both of his teammates
into scoring position and FSU decided to walk Pigott intentionally to load the
bases with one down. The move backfired when Turgeon lined a single into left
field to score Fontana for a 4-3 lead for the visitors. Freshman Luke Weaver came
in from the bullpen and struck out Zunino and had Tucker pop up to the
shortstop to strand the runners.
Fontana provided Florida with a 5-3 lead by
belting his seventh homer to right field with two down in the seventh. It
marked his second-straight outing with a round-tripper after clubbing a
three-run jack on Saturday against LSU.
After Harris threw a career-high three
innings by setting down all nine hitters he faced, junior Steven Rodriguez
(Miami, Fla.) notched three-straight strikeouts, freshman Giovanny Alfonzo
looking, freshman Josh Delph swinging and Johnson looking, to preserve the
Gators’ two-run lead.
UF’s pitching staff had retired 13 Seminoles
in a row before Travis started the eighth with a double into right field.
Rodriguez answered with a strikeout of Ramsey and Maddox was summoned from the
bullpen. The righty retired Boyd on in infield fly and had McGee ground out.
Johnson finalized the scoring at 6-3 in the
ninth with the first homer allowed by junior Robert Benincasa all season. The
blast to right field was the third of the campaign for Johnson. Maddox closed
out the Seminoles with a perfect ninth that featured a pair of punchouts. The
Gators held a 12-7 advantage in hits, including four for extra bases.
This Florida-Florida State baseball game was
part of the Fresh from Florida Sunshine Showdown Series. Presented by
Fresh from Florida, its goal is to remind all fans of the importance of buying
home grown and harvested products from Florida. It supports our state’s
farmers and fishermen, and our local economies.
Florida resumes SEC action this weekend with
a series at Eastern Division rival Tennessee (20-12/6-6 SEC). Game one from
Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday will be at 6 p.m.
Game Notes
·
Tonight
was Florida’s 100th victory all-time against Florida State.
·
The
Gators collected their third win over FSU this year, something that had not
happened in the regular season since 1989, when Florida took two games in
Gainesville on Feb. 18-19 (5-1, 6-5) and then split a couple of meetings in
Tallahassee on April 11-12 (5-0, 5-7).
·
UF
is now 13-6 against ranked teams this season, including 9-3 versus top-10 foes.
·
Junior
Brian Johnson made the first mid-week start of his career and saw action in a
mid-week game for the first time since March 2, 2010, against Florida State in
Tampa.
·
Junior
Cody Dent had a pair of sacrifice bunts for the second-consecutive game.
·
Freshman
Ryan Harris had entered the game with six innings pitched in seven appearances,
none longer than two innings.
·
Freshman
Casey Turgeon had the second three-hit game of his career (at North Florida on
April 3).
