Junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.)
belted a solo homer in the eighth inning to lift No. 5 Florida (38-14/16-11
SEC) to a 2-1 series-clinching victory over No. 25 Mississippi State
(31-20/13-14 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium.
Zunino’s team-leading 13th homer came with
one down off of freshman Jacob Lindgren (1-2) to move the Gators in front and
junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) (3-2) completed a perfect
outing by setting down the Bulldogs 1-2-3 in the ninth. In his first action
since April 29, Maddox retired all seven MSU hitters he faced and totaled two
strikeouts to pick up the win. The teams combined for six hits on the
afternoon.
“We had a lot of guys on the mound today and
each of them had to make good pitches,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan
said. “Karsten Whitson battled through some jams and I thought he made some big
pitches when he needed to. Daniel Gibson came in and did a nice job, Greg
Larson rebounded from yesterday, Steven Rodriguez did a great job and it’s
great to have Austin [Maddox] back. We hung in there today. We’ve got great
hitters and one of these days we’re going to turn the page and get this offense
going again. I truly believe that once we get this offense going, we’ll be
really, really tough to beat. The positive is that we won two out of three. I
don’t see how you could ever be disappointed in your team when you win a
weekend series.”
Mississippi State had runners on the corners
in the first inning but could not break the ice. Sophomore Adam Frazier opened
the game with a walk and moved to second on a one-out walk by junior Trey
Porter. Sophomore Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) had a fielder’s choice
by sophomore Hunter Renfroe force Porter at second base and then the righty
caught junior Mitch Slauter looking on strikes to end the frame.
The Gators threatened in the bottom of the
frame with two runners in scoring position but were kept off the board by
sophomore Evan Mitchell. Junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) drew
a leadoff walk and collected his team-leading 10th stolen base in 10 attempts
with one down. Zunino earned a free pass and Mitchell struck out junior Brian
Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) for the second out. However, a wild pitch on
the play permitted Fontana to take third base. Zunino stole second for a pair
of runners in scoring position and Mitchell responded with an inning-ending
strikeout of senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.).
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the second but
were held at bay. Senior Brent Brownlee was hit by a pitch to start the inning,
freshman Matthew Britton flew out to left field and a fielder’s choice by
redshirt freshman Wes Rea forced Brownlee at second base for the second out.
Junior Sam Frost and Frazier drew consecutive walks to load the bases and Whitson
worked out of the jam by having sophomore Taylor Stark ground out.
Renfroe connected on a one-out solo shot in
the third inning to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. His fourth homer of the
season was his seventh hit of the series. Slauter followed with a single into
right field and went to second on a wild pitch. A grounder by Brownlee pushed
Slauter to third and Whitson stranded him there with a strikeout of Britton.
Florida answered with the tying run on an RBI
grounder by senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.). Junior Vickash
Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) led off with an infield single and went to second on a
throwing error by Frazier. Fontana moved his teammate to third with a sacrifice
bunt and Tucker’s ground ball to second base brought home Ramjit. Zunino walked
with two down and advanced to third on a base-hit into right field by Johnson. A
walk to Pigott ended the afternoon for Mitchell (2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 2 K)
and MSU redshirt freshman Ross Mitchell had freshman Casey Turgeon (Palm
Harbor, Fla.) ground out to preserve the deadlock.
MSU loaded the bases with one out in the
fourth but could not take the lead. Whitson (3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 4 K) issued
a one-out walk to Frost and was replaced by sophomore Daniel Gibson
(Lutz, Fla.). Frazier singled into right field, moving Frost to third, and went
to second on a throwing error on the relay by Tucker. After an intentional walk
to Stark loaded the bases, Gibson came through with an important strikeout of
Porter and senior Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) was summoned from the
bullpen. The righty had Renfroe fly out to leave the bags full.
Brownlee reached on a one-out error in the
fifth and went to second on a grounder by Britton. Freshman Bobby Poyner
(Wellington, Fla.) took over on the mound for Larson (1.0 IP) and walked
sophomore pinch hitter Daryl Norris intentionally. Junior Steven Rodriguez
(Miami, Fla.) came in and struck out Frost.
Slauter earned a one-out walk in the seventh
and a throwing error by Rodriguez on a pickoff throw enabled the runner to take
third. Brownlee walked after an 11-pitch at bat for runners on the corners and Rodriguez
(2.0 IP, 3 K, 2 BB) whiffed Britton for the second out. Maddox took over on the
mound and struck out Norris to bring MSU’s runners left on base total to 13.
Shafer started the bottom of the inning with
a walk, snapping a stretch of seven-consecutive batters retired by Mitchell
(3.1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB). Freshman Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) greeted
senior Caleb Reed with his fourth sacrifice hit of the season to move Shafer to
second base. After a strikeout of Ramjit, Reed (0.2 IP) was replaced by Lindgren,
who struck out Fontana to keep the stalemate.
Maddox made a tremendous defensive play on a
bunt by Frost to record the first out in the eighth and then had Frazier foul
out and Stark strike out. Zunino bashed a 2-1 pitch from Lindgren into the
left-field bleachers for what turned out to be his second game-winning hit in
Florida’s last three victories.
