Florida
threw out South Carolina sophomore TJ Costen diving back to third base for the
final out to seal a 3-2 victory on Thursday night at McKethan Stadium in the
opener of the series between Eastern Division rivals. With Costen on second
base and two down, senior Chase Vergason (2-for-4) had punched a single into
right field off of Gator sophomore Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton,
Mass.).
As
Costen was coming around third base, he slipped as the relay throw came in from
redshirt freshman right fielder Cory Reid (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) to
sophomore catcher Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.). Gushue then fired a
bullet to sophomore Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.), who prevented Costen
from reaching the bag to secure UF’s third-straight triumph – all over ranked
opponents. The Gators (17-18/6-7 SEC) also snapped the eighth-ranked Gamecocks’
(27-8/8-5 SEC) winning streak at four games.
“Every
win is important,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’re off
to a good start in this series with [Jonathon] Crawford – it was really good to
see him pitch into the seventh. We scratched at the plate and [Nolan] Belcher
did a really nice job keeping us off balance. He’s been doing that all year
long. He pitched a heck of a ballgame tonight, but Jonathon [Crawford] matched
him pitch-for-pitch. Other than the hiccup in the top of the third, Crawford
was really sharp tonight. He pitched off of his fastball and I thought he did a
really nice job and hung in there pretty well.”
“We
are a really young team but we are starting to play good baseball,” Crawford
said. “We just need to stay with it and play well as a team. It was a great
start for the weekend so getting this win is huge. We’ll have momentum for
Danny Young tomorrow.”
The
Gators used three hits and took advantage of a throwing error to take a 2-0
lead in the second inning. Sophomore Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.)
(2-for-4) and senior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) (2-for-3, two runs)
opened the frame with consecutive singles against senior Nolan Belcher (5-3). Tobias
attempted to sacrifice his teammates over with a bunt but an errant throw by
freshman third baseman George Iskenderian allowed Shafer to score, Ramjit to
occupy third and Tobias to reach second base. Belcher had freshman Harrison
Bader (Bronxville, N.Y.) ground out, holding the runners, and sophomore Mike
Fahrman (Tampa, Fla.) delivered a single into right field to bring across
with Ramjit with the second run. Belcher stranded the runners with consecutive
pop-ups.
South
Carolina countered with a pair of runs in the third to even the contest at 2-2.
Junior Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) (2-5) plunked sophomore
Tanner English to start the frame and junior Graham Saiko sliced a single into
left field. Vergason laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance his teammates and
Crawford struck out sophomore Joey Pankake for the second out. However, a wild
pitch enabled English to come across and senior LB Dantzler roped an RBI single
into right field to bring home Saiko with the equalizer.
Helped
by a throwing error, UF seized a 3-2 lead in the fourth. Ramjit led off with
his second hit of the night and took third when Bader singled through the left
side with one down on a hit-and-run. Bader moved into scoring position with his
team-leading seventh stolen base and Ramjit scored when sophomore Grayson
Greiner’s relay throw went into the outfield. A grounder by Fahrman nudged Bader
to third with two out and Belcher snagged a liner by senior Cody Dent
(Boynton Beach, Fla.) to complete the inning.
The
Gamecocks threatened in the sixth, as sophomore Connor Bright (2-for-4) and
Greiner (2-for-4) collected consecutive singles. Crawford responded by having
junior Brison Celek fly out to center field and Iskenderian go down looking on
strikes to keep the Gators in front.
Saiko
drew a one-out walk in the seventh and Vergason blooped a Texas Leaguer into
shallow left field. Crawford had Pankake fly out to right field, advancing
Saiko to third base and prompting a pitching change. Junior Daniel Gibson
(Lutz, Fla.) replaced Crawford (6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 5 K, 2 BB) and had Dantzler
ground out to maintain the 3-2 score.
Greiner
singled up the middle with one down in the eighth but was erased trying to
steal second base on a perfect strike by Gushue. Harris had Celek pop up to
Dent to retire the side.
Costen
earned a free pass to begin the ninth and Harris (1.0 IP, 1 H) was replaced by Magliozzi.
English advanced Costen to second base with a bunt and Magliozzi had Saiko
ground out to short, setting the stage for the game’s final play. Belcher went
the distance for the Gamecocks in the defeat, while USC held a 9-7 advantage in
hits. Magliozzi picked up his seventh save for the Orange and Blue, although
Gushue’s career-long 10-game hitting streak ended with a 0-for-4 performance.
