No. 1 Florida Rallies For Five Runs In Ninth To Sweep No. 8 Miami, 8-5
CORAL GABLES, Fla. –
Trailing 5-3 in the ninth inning and down to its final two outs, No. 1
Florida (10-1) erupted for five runs to hand No. 8 Miami (8-3) an 8-5
setback on Sunday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The Gators completed a sweep of the weekend series and increased their
winning streak over the Hurricanes to 11 games dating back to March 6,
2010. In collecting its eighth-straight victory, UF has now taken 14 of
the last 15 encounters between the Sunshine State rivals and improved
to 6-1 this year against ranked opponents.
In a wild ninth
inning that saw the Gators send 10 batters to the plate, junior Nolan
Fontana (Winter Springs, Fla.) (2-for-5, two runs) drew a leadoff walk
from Miami junior reliever E.J. Encinosa (0-1) and senior Daniel Pigott
(Ormond Beach, Fla.) was hit by a pitch. Senior Preston Tucker (Tampa,
Fla.) (2-for-5) moved his teammates into scoring position with a
grounder to second base. Junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.)
(1-for-4) picked an opportune time to extend his hitting streak to 14
games with a double into right center that brought home Fontana and
Pigott to even the contest at 5-5.
Zunino went to third on a
wild pitch and freshman Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) (1-for-3) was
plunked, putting runners on the corners with just one down. Encinosa
uncorked another wild pitch that scored Zunino for a 6-5 Florida lead
and advanced Gushue to second base. Junior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.)
pinch ran for Gushue and junior Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.)
earned a free pass to prompt a pitching move. Freshman Christian Diaz
replaced Encinosa (1.0 IP, 1 H, 5 R) and issued a walk to freshman
Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) that loaded the bases. Junior Cody
Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.) then walked on four pitches to bring home
Ramjit for a 7-5 count. Facing sophomore reliever Adam Sargent, senior
Tyler Thompson (Tequesta, Fla.) ricocheted a single off the second-base
bag into right field to score redshirt freshman pinch runner Connor
Mitchell (Tampa, Fla.) for an 8-5 Gator lead. However, Turgeon slipped
and fell rounding third base and was tagged out by senior catcher Peter
O’Brien for the second out and Fontana struck out as the 10th batter of
the inning.
For the Hurricanes in the ninth, O’Brien drew a
one-out walk from freshman Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton, Mass.) (1-0)
and sophomore Brad Fieger (3-for-5) punched a single into left field to
bring the tying run to the plate. Magliozzi and freshman Esteban
Tresgallo (2-for-5) waged an intense 10-pitch battle before the righty
had the hitter fly out to left field for the second out. Sophomore
Daniel Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) replaced Magliozzi and struck out junior
Chantz Mack to pick up his first career save in Magliozzi’s first
career win.
Fontana had opened the game with a single into left
center field off sophomore Bryan Radziewski and moved to second base on
a one-out balk. Tucker ended a 0-for-10 drought with a one-out infield
single that advanced Fontana to third but Radziewski had Zunino ground
into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Making his second
career start, sophomore Jonathon Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) struck out
the side on 13 pitches in the first inning, taking down sophomores
Tyler Palmer and Dale Carey swinging before O’Brien was caught looking.
The Gators broke the ice in the second on a wind-aided RBI
double by Turgeon that scored Gushue. Gushue had started the frame with
a walk on four pitches, went to second on a wild pitch and took third
on a fly-out to center field by Maddox. Turgeon lofted a fly ball into
left field that was caught in the swirling wind and landed just inside
of the foul line for his third two-bagger of the campaign.
Miami
answered in the home part of the inning with three runs on four hits to
take a 3-1 lead. Fieger started things off with an infield single and
Tresgallo extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a double to
center field. Mack tied the game with an RBI grounder to first base and
junior Stephen Perez dragged a sacrifice bunt up the first-base line
that brought in Tresgallo. With two down, sophomore Julian Santos
ripped a triple that carried to deep right field and freshman Jarred
Mederos (3-for-4) singled up the middle to give the Hurricanes a
two-run lead. Crawford fanned Palmer for the second time to end the
stanza.
In the third, Pigott had a one-out double and Tucker
followed with his second base-hit of the game to give the Gators
runners on the corners with one down, Radziewski caught Zunino looking
on strikes and had a fielder’s choice by Gushue force Tucker at second
base to preserve the 3-1 margin.
The Hurricanes had a runner
on third with one down in the third and Crawford came through with
consecutive strikeouts. Carey was hit by pitch and went to third base
on a groundout by O’Brien to put UM in business. Crawford struck out
Fieger and Tresgallo, giving him a career-high six K through the first
three innings.
Fontana led off the fifth with his second homer
of the season to right field to bring the Gators within 3-2. It came on
a 3-2 pitch after Radziewski had battled back from a 3-0 count.
Mederos
began UM’s fifth with a single into left field and Palmer legged out a
bunt single before Carey pushed his teammates into scoring position
with a sacrifice bunt. The Gators elected to walk O’Brien intentionally
to load the bases and Fieger smashed an infield single to score Mederos
for a 4-2 lead. Crawford responded with a strikeout of Tresgallo and
junior Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) was summoned from the bullpen.
Over 4.2 innings, Crawford registered eight K, gave up seven hits and
allowed four runs. Rodriguez caught Mack looking on strikes to strand
the trio of the runners and hold UF’s deficit at 4-2.
Freshman
Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) opened the seventh with his first career
double off the right-field fence and went to third on a grounder by
Fontana. A fielder’s choice by Pigott brought in Tobias, who eluded a
tag from O’Brien at the plate when the ball rolled away to bring the
Gators within 4-3. Tobias was originally called out but the decision
was reversed after a conference by the umpires. A grounder by Tucker
forced Pigott at second base and ended the afternoon for Radziewski,
who scattered eight hits, permitted three runs and totaled three
strikeouts in an 117-pitch outing. Junior Eric Nedeljkovic induced an
inning-ending pop fly by Zunino.
Helped by a costly Gator
throwing error, the Hurricanes added another run in the home part of
the inning on a sacrifice fly by O’Brien to take a 5-3 advantage. Carey
drew a one-out walk and went to third on an errant pickoff throw by
Rodriguez. O’Brien plated his teammate with a fly ball into left field.
Fieger reached on a fielding error by Tobias at third base, prompting a
pitching change. Maddox took over for Rodriguez (2.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 4 K)
and Tresgallo singled off the third-base bag for a pair of Hurricanes
aboard. Maddox struck out Mack to complete the inning.
In the
eighth, Gushue greeted sophomore reliever AJ Salcines with a base-hit
into left field before Maddox flew out to right field. Gushue advanced
to second on a wild pitch and Turegon walked to cause another change on
the mound. Junior pinch hitter Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) had a
grounder to Encinosa that moved both of his teammates into scoring
position and the righty struck out senior pinch hitter Jeff Moyer
(Winter Springs, Fla.) to keep Miami on top.
Freshman Bobby
Poyner (Wellington, Fla.) took over on the hill for Florida in the
eighth and recorded the first two outs before yielding a single into
left field to Mederos. Magliozzi had Palmer fly out to center field to
set the stage for the ninth-inning heroics.
The Gators begin a
stretch of 10-straight games at McKethan Stadium on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
against Florida Atlantic (8-4). In the teams’ last meeting, UF
collected a 13-2 victory over the Owls in Jupiter, Fla., on Feb. 22,
2011.
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