Florida Baseball Led by Young Faces in Another Weekend Series Sweep

The Florida Gators baseball team swept Yale on Sunday, 4-3, led by another not-so-high-school performance by freshman outfielder Jud Fabian, who hit two solo home runs on Sunday.

Fabian decided to forgo his senior season at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala, Florida and so far for the Gators, it has paid off. Fabian is leading his team with five home runs this season. He also has 12 RBI and is batting .345 from the plate. Just in this weekend’s series, Fabian went 5-8 from the plate batting a .625. He had six runs scored, four RBI and three home runs.

How Florida Got the 4-3 Win

After a 15-1 blowout win on Saturday, the Gators looked as though they were coming on with another dominant performance from the plate in the first inning. Sophomore left-handed pitcher and first baseman Jordan Butler had his second RBI of the year. Butler hit an RBI double to left centerfield to bring home McConnell and Maldonado who reached on a single and a walk, respectively.

Top of the second inning, Jud Fabian would take his 0-1 pitch and hit a solo home run over the left-field wall off of Yale right-handed starter Alex Stiegler. This gave Florida a 3-0 lead.

Yale would score in the fourth hitting when Jake Gehri homered to left field for the Bulldog’s, and Gehri’s, first of two homers on the day.

The Bulldogs would threaten the Gators lead in the sixth. Yale’s Jake Gehri smacked his second homer of the day over the left-field wall bringing home Griffin Dey. The Gators lead cut to only one.

This would be the final batter Dyson would face. Dyson finished the day striking out two and allowing six hits over his 5.1 innings pitched. Florida freshman Hunter Ruth came in for relief. Ruth would earn his first career save for Florida. The Gators held onto their 4-3 lead to win the game.

Young Arms

Florida’s lineup this year is much different from what they’ve had in the past. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan has 12 freshmen faces in the dugout.

O’Sullivan has worked to get these freshmen experience early on this season. Ruth finished the game with a phenomenal stat line. The right-handed freshman struck out five allowing only one hit over his 3.2 innings of work.

Florida Starts Strong

With this win, the Gators improved to a 20-0 record for non-conference weekend series over the last five years.

LAST 5⃣ YEARS:#Gators are 20-0 in non-conference weekend series‼

Overall record of 55-5‼ in those 20 series. pic.twitter.com/pIXfdh4Q0G

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 10, 2019

Next up, Florida will host the 13-1 Florida State Seminoles, whose sole loss came from Virginia Tech this past Saturday. They were shutout 6-0. That game will air on SEC Network and the Gators Sports Network. First pitch set for 6:30 p.m.