Florida Gators Baseball

[Deleted]

UF followed the mid-week win over FSU with a series opening win at aTm:


Saturday March 22, 2014
Florida Baseball Takes Series Opener At Texas A&M, 5-3, In 11 Innings
College Station, Texas


Florida (15-7/3-1 SEC) plated a pair of runs in the 11th inning to defeat Texas A&M (15-8/1-3 SEC), 5-3, in game one of the teams’ weekend series on Friday night at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Junior Braden Mattson (San Antonio, Texas) (1-for-4, two RBI) delivered the go-ahead single with the bases loaded and junior Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) added insurance with a squeeze bunt single as the Gators improved to 4-0 in extra innings this season.



Led by a 3-for-4 performance from junior Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.), the Gators totaled a season-high 16 hits. Junior right-hander Ryan Harris (Jupiter, Fla.) turned in a career-long four-inning stint out of the bullpen in which he yielded one hit and zero runs, freshman A.J. Puk (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) (2-2) picked up the win and sophomore Aaron Rhodes (Venice, Fla.) retired the side and had a couple of strikeouts to finish the game and earn his third save.



With the score deadlocked at 3-3 in the 11th, junior Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) (2-for-6, two runs) led off with a base-hit up the middle off of senior Jason Jester (2-1). Sophomore Harrison Bader (Bronxville, N.Y.) laid down a bunt to advance Turgeon but a throwing error left the Gators with two runners aboard instead. After Gushue sacrificed his teammates into scoring position, freshman Peter Alonso (Tampa, Fla.) (2-for-5) was walked intentionally to fill the sacks. Mattson stepped to the plate and roped a 2-2 pitch into right field that brought across Turgeon and Shafer followed with a squeeze bunt single for the two-run advantage. All nine UF starters had at least one hit and six different players chipped in with multiple-hit outings.



The Gators opened the scoring with two runs on three hits in the first inning against junior right-hander Daniel Mendgen. After Turgeon singled through the left side with one down, Bader extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a double to left field. A fielding error by sophomore Jonathon Moroney allowed Turgeon to score and Bader to take third and Gushue followed with an RBI single into left center to bring in Bader.



Texas A&M cut the deficit in half in the second on an RBI double by Moroney (2-for-4, two RBI). Juniors Mitchell Nau (2-for-6) and Blake Allemand started the frame with consecutive singles against freshman Logan Shore (Coon Rapids, Minn.) and Moroney sliced a two-bagger down the left-field line. Although the Aggies had two runners in scoring position with none out, Shore retired the next three hitters.



Florida used a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Mattson to grab a 3-1 advantage in the third. Bader led off with a base-hit, Gushue was plunked and Alonso had singled to fill the bags for UF.



Moroney brought the Aggies within 3-2 in the bottom of the frame with a single with the sacks full before Shore kept the Gators in front with an inning-ending fielder’s choice.



UF had a golden opportunity in the sixth, as it loaded the bases with none out on singles by junior Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) (2-for-6), freshman Buddy Reed (Finksburg, Md.) (2-for-5) and sophomore Richie Martin (Brandon, Fla.). However, Mengden escaped harm’s way with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to keep the hosts down by one run.



Senior Jace Statum began the home part of the sixth with a single into left, ending the night for Shore (5.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER). Senior pinch hitter Krey Bratsen greeted freshman reliever Kirby Snead (Alachua, Fla.) with a sacrifice bunt that moved Status to second and junior Patrick McLendon’s (2-for-6) grounder advanced his teammate to third. Junior Cole Lankford tied the game with an RBI single and another hit by senior Troy Stein brought Harris in for Snead. The right-hander fanned Nau to preserve the stalemate.



Postgame Quotes

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan

On tonight’s victory:

“I am very proud with how we competed tonight, it was exciting. We had 16 hits on a Friday night, that’s pretty good stuff. We told the guys before the game to relax and have fun. We are starting to play better and I want them to show it.”



On the Gators’ pitching performance:

“I thought Logan (Shore) pitching on a Friday night and having to make stressful pitches did very well. That’s something to build on for next week. Without Ryan (Harris) tonight, we probably don’t win. He did extremely well in going a career-high four innings. It all starts on the mound and we made a lot of quality pitches with people on base when we had to.”

[Deleted]

LSU is 20-4 right now with a chance to sweep UGA today.   Then a midweek game with Tulane, and after that, on to Gainesville to take on the Gators.   That ought to be a good series, since LSU seems to have found some pitchers and their defensive play is extremely incredible.

I won't make any predictions about next weekend, except it will be fun, and the games should be tight.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2014 7:25:29 GMT -5 @muttmk2 said:

LSU is 20-4 right now with a chance to sweep UGA today.   Then a midweek game with Tulane, and after that, on to Gainesville to take on the Gators.   That ought to be a good series, since LSU seems to have found some pitchers and their defensive play is extremely incredible.

I won't make any predictions about next weekend, except it will be fun, and the games should be tight.

UF dropped the second game at aTm 5-4 - rubber game today. If UF can win the series on the road, that will be a sign of good things to come. The Gators rallied from down 5-1, but came up short.

I haven't looked to see who UF plays this mid-week, but I was aware LSU was coming to Gainesville.

[Deleted]

Gators (15-9 & 3-3) lost the rubber game at aTm 4-3 in 11 innings.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2014 17:31:39 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

Gators (15-9 & 3-3) lost the rubber game at aTm 4-3 in 11 innings.

Maybe there is hope for LSU next weekend, after all.   Tigers ended up with a tie today. 
UGA series went 2 - 0 - 1.

[Deleted]

Gators down #1 nolies 4-1 in Jax - lead mid-week series 2-0 with a game to be played in Tallahassee:


Tuesday March 25, 2014
Florida Takes Down No. 1 Florida State, 4-1, To Clinch Season Series
Jacksonville, Fla.

Sophomore Danny Young picked up the win as the Gators knocked off No. 1 FSU for the second week in a row.


Florida (16-9) defeated No. 1 Florida State (19-5), 4-1, on Tuesday night in front of 10,125 fans at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville to secure the teams’ regular-season series. The Gators had upended the top-ranked Seminoles, 3-1, in Gainesville last Tuesday night and will visit Tallahassee on April 8.



In his first start of the season, junior right-hander Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) fired four shutout innings, giving up two hits, with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. Sophomore southpaw Danny Young (Boca Raton, Fla.) (3-0) threw 3.2 scoreless frames and totaled four strikeouts to collect the victory, while junior right-hander Ryan Harris (Jupiter, Fla.) recorded the final four outs to collect his team-leading fourth save. The Seminoles avoided their first shutout loss to the Gators since March 3, 1994, with a leadoff homer in the ninth by junior Jose Brizuela.



Junior Braden Mattson (San Antonio, Texas) (2-for-4) opened the scoring with a bases-loaded single in the first inning against senior Peter Miller (1-2). Junior Casey Turgeon (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and sophomore Richie Martin (Brandon, Fla.) drew consecutive walks and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. After junior Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) was walked intentionally with one down, Mattson sliced a base-hit into right field. Miller prevented further damage with back-to-back strikeouts.



The Gators added two more runs in the sixth to build a 3-0 advantage. Mattson legged out an infield hit, went to second on a wild pitch and scored when Shafer’s bunt was thrown away by Miller (5.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K). Junior Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.) greeted senior Gage Smith was a sacrifice bunt that advanced Shafter to third and freshman John Sternagel (Rockledge, Fla.) (1-for-3, two RBI) delivered a fielder’s choice to drive in Shafer with the third run.



Sternagel provided UF with a 4-0 lead in the eighth by roping an RBI single up the middle off of sophomore Kenny Burkhead that plated Shafer. Shafer had led off with a single into right field and was sacrificed into scoring position on a bunt by freshman Ryan Larson (Orlando, Fla.).



Tuesday Notables

· Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan earned his third victory over the nation’s top-ranked team.

· Since 2008, 17 of the 24 games between the Gators and Seminoles have been decided by three runs or less.

· Florida improved its mark to 3-2 against ranked teams in 2014.

· The Gators played error-free baseball and are now 8-2 this year when committing zero errors.

· UF boosted its season ledger to 11-1 when scoring first.

· Freshman John Sternagel drove in the first two runs of his collegiate career.

· Florida’s pitching staff has yielded a total of two runs to FSU in 18 innings this season, with 15 strikeouts and five walks.

· Each team totaled six hits tonight.



Up Next

The Gators return to McKethan Stadium for the opener of a three-game series with No. 4 LSU (20-4-1/3-2-1 SEC) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The series can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell and the first meeting between the Gators and Tigers will be carried on CSS with Rusty Ensor and Bernie Guenther and be shown in Gainesville on Cox Communications Channel 259 and 1259 HD. Game one will be streamed on ESPN3.

[Deleted]

Benches Clearing Incident In 8TH Inning - This should make the game in Tallahassee that much more entertaining:

By Jeff Elliott
Special to Gatorsports.com

Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 9:00 p.m.


JACKSONVILLE — Florida made good use of its “small-ball” offense and survived the ejection of three players in the eighth inning in an emotionally packed 4-1 win over No. 1 Florida State on Tuesday night in front of a packed crowd of 10,125 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.



It marked the second win in the last eight days over the nation’s top-ranked team. The Gators won 3-1 in Gainesville on March 18.

The game was marred by a bench-clearing melee resulting in the ejections of three players in the top of the eighth inning. Florida State’s D.J. Stewart hit a slow roller down the first-base line that Florida pitcher Danny Young fielded in the base path of a charging Stewart. The FSU outfielder ran through Young, knocking both him and first baseman Zack Powers to the ground.

Powers jumped up and immediately confronted Stewart chest-to-chest. Stewart responded by shoving Powers away, prompting both benches to sprint toward the first-base area. There was more shoving and pushing, but the four umpires and two policemen on the field separated the teams without further damage. Powers, Young and Stewart were all ejected.

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan expressed regret over the bench-clearing incident.

“That’s not good for our sport,” he said. “We’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Florida State, they’ve got a great program. There’s really no need for that to be honest. I think tempers and emotions ride high in a game like this.

“But that’s not what we’re about and that’s not what Florida State is about. I’m disappointed that it happened. I don’t want this to be a mark of what this rivalry is about.”

[Deleted]

Gators Host LSU - get LSU's big time pitcher on Friday night:




Thursday March 27, 2014
Florida Welcomes No. 4 LSU To McKethan Stadium For Weekend Series
Gainesville, Fla.


Following their 4-1 victory over No. 1 Florida State in Jacksonville on Tuesday night, the Gators (16-9/3-3 SEC) return to SEC action by hosting No. 4 LSU (20-5-1/3-2-1 SEC) for three games this weekend at McKethan Stadium.


The entire series will be available through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell. Friday’s game will be carried on CSS/Cox Sports with Rusty Ensor and Bernie Guenther at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday’s game will be on the CBS Sports Network with Paul Byrd and Joe Castellano at 1 p.m. Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m. will be available on GatorVision through GatorZone.com. Live stats for each game will be available on GatorZone.com and fans can also follow updates of each game on @gatorzonebb, the official Twitter account of the Gator baseball team.



PITCHING PROBABLES

Florida (16-9/3-3 SEC) No. 4 LSU (20-5-1/3-2-1 SEC)

Friday: Eric Hanhold, So., RHP (3-1, 3.18) Aaron Nola, Jr., RHP (5-0, 0.22)

Saturday: Logan Shore, Fr., RHP (1-1, 1.15) Jared Poche’, Fr., LHP (5-1, 1.91)

Sunday: TBA TBA



QUICK HITS ABOUT THE GATORS

· Florida captured last Friday’s opener at Texas A&M, 5-3, in 11 innings, but then dropped a pair of one-run contests, 5-4 on Saturday and 4-3 in 11 innings on Sunday. LSU claimed the first two meetings with Georgia, 4-0 and 2-1, before tying the Bulldogs, 2-2, in 13 innings in the finale.

· Through two SEC series, the Gators are 3-3 (.500) and among the five teams tied for the top spot in the congested Eastern Division.

· With the triumph over the Seminoles, UF is now 3-2 (.600) this season against ranked opponents. LSU is No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll.

· Sophomore RHP Eric Hanhold (3-2, 3.18) will draw the first series-opening start of his career on Friday against RHP Aaron Nola (5-0, 0.22).

· Freshman RHP Logan Shore (1-1, 1.15), who has allowed only four earned runs in a team-high 31.1 innings, will get the ball on Saturday.

· During the Gators' second win over No. 1 Florida State this year on Tuesday, freshman 3B John Sternagel notched his first two collegiate RBI.

· Junior C Taylor Gushue (.337, 18 RBI) was a sizzling .636 (7-for-11) in College Station, while junior 3B Josh Tobias (.262) was 5-for-11 (.455).

· Gushue is tied for second on the squad with nine multiple-hit games and is also second with four multi-RBI games.

· The Gators batted .314 (37-for-118) in the series at Texas A&M, with three double-digit hit totals, and their bullpen permitted just one run in 16 innings for a 0.56 ERA.

· The lone Texan on Florida's roster, junior Braden Mattson (.333, 16 RBI), went 4-for-13 (.308) at TAMU and provided the go-ahead RBI single in the 11th inning on Friday night. Mattson started the scoring against FSU with a bases-loaded single in the first inning in Jacksonville.

· Junior RHP Ryan Harris (1-0, 1.02) collected his team-leading fourth save in Tuesday’s win over No. 1 FSU and has played a role in three of the Gators’ four shutouts this season.

· Sophomore RHP Aaron Rhodes (2-1, 1.93) was quite busy last week, going 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA and a save in 3 appearances spanning 10 innings. He posted career-highs in innings pitched (6.0) and strikeouts (6) in the finale with the Aggies but was the tough-luck loser.

· On the season, Gator relievers are 12-2 with 11 saves and a 2.56 ERA in 123 innings, with 110 K and 32 BB.

· After six innings this year, Florida is 9-0 (1.000) when leading, 1-9 (.100) when trailing and 6-0 (1.000) when tied.

· Fifteen of the Gators’ 25 games this season have been decided by two runs or less: UF is 6-3 (.667) in 1-run affairs and 4-2 (.667) in 2-run games.

· Florida has provided the fans with free baseball five times already and boasts a 4-1 (.800) mark.

· UF has 46 extra-bases hits this season - 36 doubles, 6 homers and 4 triples - and is 16-for-28 (.571) on stolen-base opportunities.

· The duo of sophomore Richie Martin (SS) and Casey Turgeon (2B) has started all 25 games at their respective positions.

· Eight different pitchers have accounted for Florida’s 16 wins, with Hanhold, junior LHP Bobby Poyner (3-2, 2.57) and sophomore LHP Danny Young (3-0, 2.08) tied with 3 victories apiece.



SERIES NUGGETS

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is 10-9 (.526) against LSU: 6-3 (.667) in Gainesville, 4-5 (.444) in Baton Rouge and 0-1 (.000) at the SEC Tournament. Florida has claimed five of the last eight regular-season series between the teams, emerging victorious in 2006, 2007 and 2008 by 2-1 margins and in 2010 and 2011 with sweeps. LSU swept the Gators in Baton Rouge last May after taking two of the three games at McKethan Stadium in 2012.

[Deleted]

Nola is easily LSU's best starting pitcher.  If UF can beat him in the opener, the rest of the weekend might be tough for the Tigers.

They lost to Tulane in a midweek game in extra innings due to stupid base-running errors.   They can't afford mistakes like that against the Gators.

[Deleted]

It's hard for me to appreciate this Gator team for what it is after having power Gator teams prior to last season. The 14 Gators are similar to Auggie Garrido's Texas teams, small ball/good pitching/good defense. The formula has been good enough to produce a winning record, a good RPI, and two wins scratched out against #1 FSU in mid-week games. When UF doesn't commit errors, they have a good chance of winning against anyone.

[Deleted]

Mar 27, 2014 17:23:32 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

It's hard for me to appreciate this Gator team for what it is after having power Gator teams prior to last season. The 14 Gators are similar to Auggie Garrido's Texas teams, small ball/good pitching/good defense. The formula has been good enough to produce a winning record, a good RPI, and two wins scratched out against #1 FSU in mid-week games. When UF doesn't commit errors, they have a good chance of winning against anyone.

Errors could very well make the difference this weekend.  I'll be pleased if LSU can take 2 of 3 in an away series against a good team.

[Deleted]

Gators take game one 2-1 with walkoff homerun by Justin Shafer. It's LSU's Aaron Nola's first loss. He came in 5-0 with a 0.22 ERA.

Casey Turgeon hit a homerun in the 3rd inning for UF's other run.

LSU hit a homerun in the top of the 1st inning.

The game was a pitching duel decided by UF's 2 homeruns to LSU's 1 homerun.

Game two of the day coming up in about 30 minutes. The final game will be Sunday afternoon.

Box Score:


2014 University of Florida Baseball
#4 LSU at Florida (Game 1)
Mar 29, 2014 at Gainesville, FL (McKethan Stadium)


LSU 1 (20-6-1,3-3-1 SEC)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Alex Bregman ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1
Mark Laird rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0
Kade Scivicque dh 3 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
Sean McMullen lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Conner Hale 1b 4 0 2 0 0 0 8 2 1
Andrew Stevenson cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 1
Christian Ibarra 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 0
Kramer Robertson 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
Chris Chinea c 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 2
Aaron Nola p 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0
Totals 31 1 7 1 2 4 26 11 7



Florida 2 (17-9,4-3 SEC)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Casey Turgeon 2b 4 1 1 1 0 0 4 6 0
Richie Martin ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 5 0
Harrison Bader cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Taylor Gushue c 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 1 1
Braden Mattson 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 0
Justin Shafer lf 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 0 0
John Sternagel 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2
Peter Alonso dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Buddy Reed rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Eric Hanhold p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Danny Young p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Aaron Rhodes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 2 6 2 1 5 27 16 5


Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
LSU................. 100 000 000 - 1 7 1
Florida............. 001 000 001 - 2 6 0
-------------------------------------------


Note: 2 outs, 0 runners LOB when the game ended.


E - Ibarra(2). DP - Gators 2. LOB - Tigers 7; Gators 5. 2B - Martin(7). HR - Scivicque(3); Turgeon(2); Shafer(1). HBP - Chinea; Bader. SH - Stevenson(6). SB - Bader(2). CS - Shafer(3).



LSU ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
Aaron Nola L,5-1 8.2 6 2 2 1 5 0 0 1 0 31 33 10 9 116

Florida ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
Eric Hanhold 7.1 7 1 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 27 30 5 12 100

Danny Young 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 13

Aaron Rhodes W,3-1 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 10




Win - Rhodes (3-1). Loss - Nola (5-1). Save - None. HBP - by Nola (Bader); by Hanhold (Chinea). Inherited runners/scored: Young 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Nola 116/78; Hanhold 100/70; Young 13/7; Rhodes 10/6.
Umpires - HP: Scott Kennedy 1B: Darren Spagnardi 2B: David Savage 3B: Steve
Start: 4:02 pm Time: 2:30 Attendance: 2998
Weather: Sunny, 70; Wind: SSW 11 mph

[Deleted]

UF won the second game of the doubleheader 6-2 to take the weekend series over #4 LSU. The Gators are now 18-9 (5-3) on the season. With the mid-week win over #1 FSU and the doubleheader sweep of #4 LSU, UF has now won 3 in a row over top 4 ranked teams. The Gators take out the brooms Sunday afternoon.

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2014 20:32:47 GMT -5 ETGator1 said:

UF won the second game of the doubleheader 6-2 to take the weekend series over #4 LSU. The Gators are now 18-9 (5-3) on the season. With the mid-week win over #1 FSU and the doubleheader sweep of #4 LSU, UF has now won 3 in a row over top 4 ranked teams. The Gators take out the brooms Sunday afternoon.

Congrats to the Gators on those first 2 games.  No excuses from me.   These are 2 good teams, and right now it seems Florida is a bit better.  I hope LSU can save face with a win tomorrow, even though UF has already clinched the series.

 I met an LSU baseball player (transferee from Tulane) today who is out on IR, at my taekwondo class.  He was brought to class by a former Tulane player, who is also close friends with Will Clark, who had a pretty good career after leaving Miss. State.
I think our whole football and baseball teams should take taekwondo.  You learn agility, strength, and some great moves to remove the hands of offensive linemen who like to hold and not get caught.

A side kick can be easily modified to remove intimidate the defender as you slide into the base.

[Deleted]

Bryan, I watched most of the first game today before I switched over to the Gator basketball game. I was going back during the commercials. If I had waited one more batter, I would have seen Shafer's walkoff home run. The game was televised on the CBS Sports Network. I can't believe Sun Sports isn't showing the game tomorrow.

The fans did not show up today. Playing a doubleheader going into UF's Elite Eight basketball game did nothing for attendance. I'm sure the crowd will be out tomorrow.

This is Gatorzone's writeup of both games:


Saturday March 29, 2014
Florida Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader Against No. 4 LSU, 6-2
Gainesville, Fla.

Freshman right-hander Logan Shore (Coon Rapids, Minn.) (2-1) carried a shutout into the eighth inning as Florida (18-9/5-3 SEC) completed a doubleheader sweep of No. 4 LSU (20-7-1/3-4-1 SEC) with a 6-2 win on Saturday night at McKethan Stadium. The Gators had claimed a 2-1 victory in the opener on a two-out homer in the ninth inning by junior Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.).



UF used a pair of three-run outbursts in the fifth and sixth inning to boost its winning streak to three games, all over top-5 opponents (No. 1 Florida State and two against No. 4 LSU). With the Gators up 3-0, junior Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) increased the margin to six runs with a towering three-run homer in the sixth. By taking both ends of the double-dip today, the Orange and Blue notched its first series victory over the Tigers since 2011. Shore (8.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R) was within one out of a complete game before junior Bobby Poyner (Wellington, Fla.) recorded the game’s final out to collect his second save.



Aided by a pair of errors with the bases loaded, the Gators broke through for three runs in the fifth inning against freshman left-hander Jared Poche’ (5-2) to seize a 3-0 advantage. Gushue drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed over by junior Braden Mattson (San Antonio, Texas). After Shafer was walked intentionally, freshman John Sternagel (Rockledge, Fla.) singled through the left side to fill the sacks. A grounder by freshman Peter Alonso (Tampa, Fla.) was mishandled by freshman second baseman Kramer Robertson, allowing Gushue to score, and a throwing error on the play enabled Shafer to come home. Freshman Ryan Larson (Orlando, Fla.) extended Florida’s lead to three runs with a sacrifice fly.



The following inning, Gushue blasted a three-run homer into the last row of the left-field bleachers to increase UF’s advantage to 6-0. Sophomore Richie Martin (Brandon, Fla.) drew a leadoff walk, took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a bunt single by sophomore Harrison Bader (Bronxville, N.Y.). Gushue connected on his team-leading third homer to end the night for Poche’ (5.0 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K).



Junior Conner Hale (2-for-4) ended a stretch of 14 consecutive batters retired by Shore with a leadoff single in the eighth inning and the Tigers used back-to-back RBI grounders by senior Christian Ibarra and Robertson to finalize the 6-2 margin.



Postgame Quotes

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan

On righty starter Eric Hanhold’s performance in game one:

“I thought Eric was really, really good; he settled in well. I really thought he located; this is the best he’s located all year and he did a heck of a job. I mean, he matched (LSU’s starter pitcher Aaron) Nola pitch-for-pitch and obviously, he’s one of the best in the country. We kept it close there until the end and (Justin) Shafer was the hero (walk-off home run to win the game); he ran into one there in the bottom of the ninth inning. (I’m) really proud of how we battled in the first game against one of the best pitchers in the country.”



On how the Gators approached the game against LSU’s Aaron Nola:

“Well, he throws strikes and if you start guessing against a guy like Nola, you’re going to be in trouble. The bottom line is that we tried to stay on his fastball, obviously he’ll throw it 70% of the time; it’s a good one. But, if you start thinking about his breaking ball and his changeup, then it’s going to be a long night. He locates and throws to both sides of the plate and the ball’s got heavy sink and you look up at the end of the year and he’ll go in the top-10, 15 picks in the (MLB) Draft. It takes a special effort on the mound to hold LSU down because if you give up three or four (runs), the chance of winning against a guy like Nola aren’t very good.”



On the team’s performance in the second game to clinch the series:

“He (Florida’s starter Logan Shore) did a nice job; he was throwing his breaking ball on the inner half to righties and throwing his fastball away so he was expanding the plate on both sides. He’s throwing the ball really well and we’re just fortunate to where we have a couple of guys on and (Taylor) Gushue ran into a ball.”



“I thought Casey’s (Turgeon) at-bats all day were good and I thought Richie (Martin) had a really good day at the plate. (Harrison) Bader, (Taylor) Gushue and (John) Sternagel saw the ball well. I was really pleased. We pitched really well all day long, we played great defense - we didn’t make an error all day long, which is really hard to do in 18 innings. But, that’s what you have to do against a team like LSU; you just can’t make mistakes. Overall, if you stay focused and you execute and have a chance to take two, then it’s a heck of a day.”



Junior outfielder Justin Shafer

On hitting a game-winning home run against Aaron Nola to end the first game:

“It was great. Obviously, (Aaron) Nola is a great pitcher so for any team to score any runs on him has been a struggle all year. We just tried to put good swings on the ball and grind out some runs.”



On preparing for the Gators’ first doubleheader of the season:

“That’s what we do in the fall with Coach Paul (Chandler). All of the running and lifting and the grind that we put in there is what gets our bodies ready for days like this because you never know when it might happen.”



On the pitching performance in today’s games:

“(Logan) Shore and (Eric) Hanhold were both really good, got ahead and threw all of their pitches for strikes during both games. We couldn’t have asked for anything more out of the starting pitchers today. We are just playing with confidence right now. The pitching has been keeping us in it for so long, and now we are starting to swing the bats a little bit better. Hopefully, we can keep helping them out more.”



Freshman right-hander Logan Shore

On today’s effort by the Gators:

“(Eric) Hanhold went out there and pitched really well so we had momentum going into the second game. My arm was feeling good and I just went out there and competed and came out on top. You just get into a rhythm and the team puts up runs and everyone is hitting the ball at somebody.”



Sophomore right-hander Eric Hanhold

On throwing against LSU’s Aaron Nola in today’s opener:

“My focus was to locate the ball and keep us in the game. I didn’t want to give up a lot of runs and I knew I had to come strong today.”



On the performance of the Gators’ bullpen:

“We challenge each other all the time. There’s a lot of talk going on in the bullpen, but we keep it friendly. We just come out here and try and compete.”



On Justin Shafer’s home run:

“That was huge. To come off that and start game two right after, it was a big momentum shift.”



Junior catcher Taylor Gushue

On getting two wins today:

“It feels good to get two wins today and it’s given us a lot of confidence. It’s going to be a great game tomorrow too.”



On the pitching today:

“I feel like we matched them every single pitch. Their pitchers did a great job. Our pitchers kept the ball down and did a really good job of attacking the (strike) zone. They were just amazing tonight. These two wins are all on them because we really wouldn’t be where we are right now without them.”



On his home run tonight:

“That was the first no-doubter I’ve hit here. I enjoyed it, and I was excited. It was nice.”



Game 2 Nuggets

· Junior Casey Turgeon delivered the Gators’ first hit with a single to start the fourth inning, raising his hitting streak to a season-high six games.

· Junior Taylor Gushue’s last home run before tonight came against UConn on March 9.

· It was also the Gators’ first three-run jack of the campaign.

· Florida improved to 7-0 this season when homering in a contest.

· The Gators’ pitching staff allowed three runs in 18 innings today, with 10 strikeouts and three walks.

· UF has claimed both of its home SEC series against Western Division opponents Arkansas and LSU.



Up Next

The Gators and Tigers will conclude the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. The entire series can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell and Sunday’s finale will be available on GatorVision through GatorZone.com.