Junior
Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) and
senior Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach,
Fla.) drove in four runs apiece, while junior left-hander Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) allowed one run in five innings
as top-seeded Florida (45-18) exploded for seven runs on six hits with two out
in the fifth frame on its way to a 15-3 victory over second-seeded Georgia Tech
(38-26) to claim the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Sunday night at McKethan
Stadium. The Gators set the tone by tallying four runs in the first inning and
three in the second stanza.
Freshman
second baseman Casey Turgeon (Palm
Harbor, Fla.) was voted as the event's Most Outstanding Player after batting
.600 (6-for-10) over UF's three victories, with five RBI, four runs, two
doubles, two walks and a homer.
The
Gators notched their fourth-straight Regional title under fifth-year head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan and secured their
sixth Super Regional berth in school history, all in the past nine years (2004-05-09-10-11-12). UF captured its 10th NCAA Regional and has swept the
last five Regionals it has hosted (2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).
Next weekend, UF will host the winner of the Raleigh Regional, with
Vanderbilt (35-27) and North Carolina State (42-18) playing a winner-take-all contest
tomorrow night to determine who will be coming to the Sunshine State. Start
times and dates for next weekend's eight best-of-three series around the
country will be announced by the NCAA late Monday night.
"Obviously
we're excited about moving on," O'Sullivan said. "Brian Johnson gave us a great
start, especially early on – we got out to an early 7-0 lead, and Brian kept on
throwing strikes. We kept tacking on runs there, which I thought was important.
Georgia Tech has the type of offense where they can get a walk, then a single
and the next thing you know there is a three-run homer. We needed to keep
distancing ourselves and I thought we did a nice job there. We got some work
out of the pen too. We're excited about moving forward, and just waiting to see
who we play,"
After Johnson retired
the Yellow Jackets in order to begin the game, the Gators used a pair of
two-out, two-run hits by Pigott (2-for-4) and freshman Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) off of senior Jake Davies (1-4) to
build a 4-0 lead. Senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) (2-for-4) and Zunino
(1-for-3, three runs) had drawn back-to-back one-out walks and a grounder by
Johnson advanced both runners into scoring position. Pigott opened the scoring
with his 13th double just inside of the first-base bag to drive in his
teammates andTurgeon (2-for-3)
followed with a walk. A throwing error by Davies on a failed pickoff attempt at
second base enabled Pigott to take third and Turgeon to reach second base.
Shafer chopped a single up the middle that expanded the lead to four runs.
Zunino cranked a
three-run homer into the left-field bleachers in the second inning to boost the
Gators' lead to 7-0. Junior Nolan
Fontana (2-for-4, three runs) singled into center field with one down and
Tucker sliced a single through the right side of the infield before Zunino
blasted his SEC-leading 18th dinger for his second-straight outing with a big
fly. The All-American now has seven career homers in NCAA Tournament play.
Johnson set down the
first seven Georgia Tech hitters of the contest before senior Evan Martin
(2-for-3, two runs) belted his first homer of the year to left field for a 7-1
count.
Freshman Josh
Heddinger replaced Davies prior to UF's third at bat after the starter yielded seven
runs and five hits in two innings.
Zunino collected his
fourth RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly in the fourth that increased the
Gators' margin to 8-1. Fontana had drawn a leadoff walk, stolen second for his
team-leading 13th theft in 14 attempts and advanced to third on a fly-out to
right field by Tucker. Zunino lofted Heddinger's first pitch to straightaway
center field for his team-leading ninth sacrifice fly, matching the
single-season school mark shared by Fontana (2011), Mark Kiger (2000) and Brad
Wilkerson (1997).
The Gators tacked on
seven more runs, their most in an inning this season, with two down in the
fifth to put the game out of reach. Turgeon had poked a one-out double down the
right-field line and junior Vickash
Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) drew a two-out walk before freshman Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) blooped
a double into left field to score both of his teammates. Fontana then singled
into right field to score Tobias for an 11-1 margin. A base-hit by Tucker
pushed Fontana into scoring position and Heddinger struck out Zunino on a pitch
that should have ended the inning. However, a wild pitch allowed Zunino to reach
base, filling the bags full of Gators, and Johnson earned a free pass to score
Fontana. Pigott sliced a two-run single into right field and Turgeon added
another RBI single to put Florida up 15-1 and end the night for Heddinger (2.2
IP, 6 H, 8 R).
Johnson (8-4) worked
five innings, giving up three hits and a run with four Ks, before freshman Bobby Poyner (Wellington, Fla.) took
the mound in the sixth. GT junior Sam Dove connected on his third homer of the
year with one down for a 14-2 score.
After sophomore Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) threw a
scoreless seventh with a couple of strikeouts, the Jackets completed the
scoring in the eighth on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by freshman A.J. Murray. The
sac fly brought across Martin, who had a leadoff triple off of freshman
reliever Johnny Magliozzi (East
Milton, Mass.).
Senior Greg Larson (Longwood, Fla.) (0.1 IP) and
junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.)
(1.0 IP) closed out the victory for the Gators, who held an 11-6 advantage in
hits and did not commit any errors.
