The Gator baseball team completed a three game sweep of Rhode Island with a 6-1 victory on Sunday.
Florida jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI double from Harrison Bader. Bader was seeing the ball well all weekend as he hit three homers and drove in 11 runs; he had only 24 runs batted in all of last season.
Gator coach Kevin O’Sullivan says Bader swung well all weekend.
”He swung the bat good, the thing about him this weekend is he had his best at bats when runners were in scoring position so it was a good weekend for him.”
Florida started five freshmen in this game with them accounting for six of the team’s nine base hits. Second baseman Dalton Guthrie may have been the biggest spark though going 4 for 5 with two doubles while scoring three runs. Guthrie talked about how he’s beginning to get comfortable with the team.
“The first night was obviously exciting; I couldn’t really feel my hands the first at bat I was a little nervous. It’s just getting comfortable, new scene, I mean I’ve been playing with the same team the last four years; it’s a little different transitioning but I’m getting more comfortable.”
AJ Puk got the win for the Orange and Blue on the mound giving up just one run and six hits through 4 2/3 innings. Rhode Island’s lone run came on a home run in the fifth inning.
Florida outscored Rhode Island 37-5 in the series and swept the opening series of the season for the first time since 2011.
The Gators have two weekday games coming up against Florida A&M at home this Tuesday and an away game against USF on Wednesday. O’Sullivan says Danny Young and Brett Morales will get the starts on the mound.
Tune into ESPN 850 WRUF for live coverage starting at 6:55 on Tuesday and 6:25 on Wednesday.
Sound from the game click below.