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Florida Eliminated from College World Series
OMAHA, Neb. - Kent State
(47-19) worked out of bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning to edge
Florida (47-20), 5-4, and eliminate the Gators from the 2012 NCAA
College World Series on Monday at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. With the
victory, the Golden Flashes advance to play the loser of tonight’s
winner’s bracket contest between Arkansas (45-20) and South Carolina
(46-17) on Wednesday night.
With Florida trailing by a run
and down to its final three outs in the top of the ninth since it was
the designated visiting team, senior Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.)
(1-for-3) and junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) (2-for-4, two RBI)
began the frame with consecutive walks from redshirt sophomore Michael
Clark (0.1 IP, 3 BB). Redshirt freshman Josh Pierce was summoned from
the bullpen and junior pinch hitter Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.)
moved his teammates into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Senior
Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.) was then plunked on a 2-0 pitch to
fill the bags with one down. However, Pierce struck out freshman Casey
Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and had freshman Justin Shafer (Lake Wales,
Fla.) fly out to right field to complete the contest and nail down his
third save. Junior Ryan Bores (10-3) collected the win by limiting UF
to two runs over six innings.
The Golden Flashes had
seized a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by
junior George Roberts (2-for-4, two RBI). Senior Jimmy Rider (2-for-5,
three runs) had reached on a one-out throwing error by junior shortstop
Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) and went to third on a single into
right center by senior David Lyon (3-for-5). Roberts stroked a base-hit
into right field that scored Rider and a grounder by sophomore T.J.
Sutton pushed his teammates into scoring position. Junior Hudson
Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) pitched out of the jam with a strikeout of
freshman Sawyer Polen (2-for-4).
Junior Brian Johnson (Cocoa
Beach, Fla.) led off the second with an infield single and was able to
take second base on Turgeon’s fielder’s choice, as sophomore Derek
Toadvine committed a throwing error. Bores induced an inning-ending
1-4-6-3 double play by Shafer.
Kent State increased its
lead to 4-0 in the second inning with three unearned runs on four hits.
Randall (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R) needed to be taken out prior to the frame
and junior Jason Bagoly (2-for-3) greeted sophomore Jonathon Crawford
(Okeechobee, Fla.) with a single up the middle. Freshman Alex Miklos
laid down a bunt but freshman third baseman Josh Tobias (Greensboro,
N.C.) committed an error to enable the Golden Flashes to have two
runners aboard with none out. Toadvine sacrificed his teammates into
scoring position and Crawford responded with a strikeout of junior Evan
Campbell. Rider legged out a single up the third-base line to bring
home Bagoly and both Lyon and Roberts followed with RBI singles to give
KSU a four-run lead.
Zunino narrowed the gap to 4-1 with a
two-out RBI single in the third inning. Tobias started the stanza by
being hit by a pitch and Fontana drew a one-out walk. After Tucker
fouled out to the catcher, Zunino roped a 3-2 offering up the middle to
put the Gators on the board. With runners on the corners, Bores escaped
further issues with a strikeout of Johnson.
Kent
State took advantage of a double and a pair of wild pitches to build a
5-1 margin in the fourth. Rider doubled to left field with one down and
went to third on an errant pitch. Crawford fanned Lyon but then
uncorked another wild pitch to score Rider with the fifth run.
Sutton
and Polen had back-to-back singles to begin Kent State’s fifth, ending
the afternoon for Crawford (3.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 K). Senior Greg
Larson (Longwood, Fla.) came in and Bagoly advanced his teammates into
scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. A fielder’s choice by Miklos
was scooped up by Turgeon, who threw out Sutton at the plate for the
second out. Larson kept the Golden Flashes scoreless by having Toadvine
ground out.
Shafer’s second double of the afternoon
plated Pigott in the sixth for a 5-2 Gator deficit. Pigott had singled
through the left side of the infield and Shafer connected on a two-out,
two-bagger to the wall in right center to score his teammate all the
way from first base.
The Gators closed the gap to 5-4 in
the seventh with two runs on three hits. Freshman Brian Clark replaced
Bores prior to the inning after the KSU starter yielded six hits and
two runs over six innings. Freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.)
earned a leadoff walk and Fontana and Tucker each followed with singles
into right field to load the bases. Zunino came through with an RBI
single into center field to bring home Gushue and Johnson hit into a
4-6-3 double play, scoring Fontana for a 5-4 count. Junior Casey Wilson
relieved Clark (0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R) and had Pigott line out to second
base.
Larson recorded the first two outs in the home
part of the inning before Bagoly stroked a double to straightaway
center field. After issuing a walk to Miklos, Larson (2.2 IP, 2 H) was
replaced by junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.). The right-hander
had Toadvine fly out to right field to strand the runners.
Turgeon
started the eighth with a single into center field and Shafer flew out
to left center for the first out. A fielder’s choice by Tobias forced
Turgeon at second base and Michael Clark came in for Wilson (1.0 IP, 1
H). The southpaw walked Gushue for two Gators aboard and kept UF at bay
by having Fontana pop up to shortstop. Maddox put the Golden Flashes
down in order in the bottom of the eighth to put the Orange and Blue in
position for the ninth.
Kent State had a 12-10 advantage in hits, while the teams combined to leave 22 runners on base (12-UF, 10-KSU).
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