Trailing
3-2 with two outs in the seventh inning, Florida (14-16) tied the game on a
fielding error and moved in front on a wild pitch during a 5-3 victory over UCF
(18-12) on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium. In winning their third-straight
outing, the Gators had overcome a 2-0 deficit with a pair of runs in the sixth
before the Knights seized a one-run advantage in the seventh. Sophomore Ryan
Harris (Jupiter, Fla.) (4-2) had a career-high four strikeouts over two
innings to pick up the win, while sophomore Johnny Magliozzi
(East Milton, Mass.) worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to pocket his
sixth save.
“It
was a really good team win,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We got
contributions from a lot of different players tonight. Obviously, [Daniel]
Gibson came in and did an outstanding job, holding them scoreless for 4.1
innings, and I think that might be his fourth or fifth impressive outing in a
row. Ryan [Harris] came in, he hasn’t been on the mound since last week, and he
did a really nice job, and of course, Mags [Johnny Magliozzi] came in and did
his thing once again.”
“We
had some timely hitting – our first five hitters in the lineup had at least one
hit tonight. We had good situational hitting, too. We were obviously helped
with a couple of walks in the latter part of the game, but [Harrison] Bader’s
at-bat signifies who we are. We had the bases loaded there and we needed one
more run, and he put the ball in play firmly with two strikes. We played really
good defense – we didn’t make any errors. Cody Dent put down a couple of really
good bunts. Cory Reid had a nice drag [bunt] to start off the seventh. We did a
lot of different things tonight well and it was certainly a win where a lot of
players contributed.”
“Our
bullpen is going to be huge for us,” sophomore Taylor Gushue said. “[Daniel]
Gibson, [Ryan] Harris and [Johnny] Magliozzi threw awesome for us. We couldn’t
really ask anything more from them. For them to be consistent is huge for our
team. It is going to take us a long way.”
UCF
scored two runs on three hits in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Junior
Parker Webster (2-for-4) roped a ground-rule double off of freshman righty Tucker
Simpson (Oxford, Ala.) that bounced over the left-field wall. Senior Jeramy
Matos followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to open
the scoring. Senior Austin Johnston moved Matos to third base with a double
down the left-field line and sophomore Tommy Williams drew a walk to load the
bases with one down. Simpson had senior Ryan Breen line out to center field and
was replaced by junior Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.), who issued a walk to sophomore
JoMarcos Woods to bring across Matos with the second run. Gibson then struck
out sophomore James Vasquez to strand the runners.
The
Knights threatened again in the third, as redshirt senior Erik Hempe had a
leadoff single up the middle and went to third on a one-out single into left
field by Webster. Gibson had Matos ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double
play to hold the Gators’ deficit at 2-0.
Senior
Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.) legged on a bunt single to start the
home part of the frame and sophomore Eric Skoglund had sophomore Casey
Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) hit into a 6-4-3 double play and then snared a
popped up bunt by Bader to retire the side.
In
the Gator fourth, Gushue walked on four pitches and sophomore Justin Shafer
(Lake Wales, Fla.) followed with a single into center field. Skoglund had
senior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) hit into a 5-3 double play, leaving
Shafer on second base with two down. Hempe robbed reshirt sophomore Zack
Powers (Seffner, Fla.) of a hit with a diving catch in right field to
complete the inning.
Senior
Chris Taladay began the sixth with a single into left field for UCF and Gibson
had Webster bounce into a 6-4-3 double play and Matos line out to Powers at
third base.
The
Gators knotted the game at 2-2 in the home part of the inning on a two-out RBI
double off of the left-field wall by Ramjit. Turgeon had led off with a
base-hit into right center field and went to second on a groundout by freshman Harrison
Bader (Bronxville, N.Y.). Gushue cut the Gators’ deficit in half with an
RBI single into left field to score Turgeon and cause a pitching change. The
base-knock extended Gushue’s hitting streak to six games. Freshman Zac Favre
came in for Skoglund (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R) and struck out Shafer before Ramjit’s
second double of the season plated Gushue with the equalizer. Following an
intentional walk to Powers, his second of the season, Favre had sophomore Mike
Fahrman (Tampa, Fla.) ground out.
After
Gibson threw a career-high 4.1 scoreless innings and yielded three hits, Harris
took over on the mound in the seventh. The righty caught Johnston looking on
strikes and Williams delivered a double into the left-field corner. Harris
struck out Breen for the second out and Woods came through with an infield
single to score Williams with the go-ahead run. Although Woods swiped second base,
Harris fanned Vasquez to finish the frame.
Redshirt
senior Chris Matulis (3-1) replaced Favre (0.2 IP, 1 H) at the outset of the
stanza and redshirt freshman Cory Reid (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) beat out a
bunt to lead off. Dent advanced his teammate with a sacrifice bunt and Turgeon
was hit by a pitch for two Gators aboard with one down. A grounder by Bader
pushed both Reid and Turgeon into scoring position and an error by Taladay at
third base enabled Reid to come home with the tying run. Redshirt sophomore
Spencer Davis took over for Matulis (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R) and uncorked a wild
pitch that brought across Turgeon for a 4-3 Gator advantage. Shafer earned a
free pass for two Gators on base and Davis walked Ramjit to fill the sacks.
Sophomore Harrison Hukari was summoned from the bullpen and struck out Powers
to hold the margin at 4-3.
Fahrman
reached on a throwing error by Williams to start UF’s eighth and was replaced
by freshman pinch runner Richie Martin (Brandon, Fla.). Reid drew a walk
and Dent advanced both of his teammates with a sacrifice bunt. Turgeon was hit
for the second-straight plate appearance to load the bases and junior Danny
Davis took the mound for Hukari (0.2 IP). Bader expanded the Gators’ lead to
5-3 by driving in Martin on a fielder’s choice. UCF held an 8-7 advantage in
hits tonight, while Florida did not commit any errors.
