The fifth ranked Florida baseball team is no longer unbeaten as it fell to number eight Miami 7-2 Saturday night in front of 6,081 fans, second largest crowd in school history.
The Hurricanes got on the board quickly in this game scoring in four of the first five innings. Sophomore AJ Puk started off strong on the mound for the Gators retiring the first five batters before giving up back-to-back walks and hitting a batter in the second. Puk gave up three runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings.
The Gators got into a deeper hole in the fourth when Miami added three more runs to go up 6-0. Zack Collins hit a three-run blast off reliever Aaron Rhodes and the Gators never bounced back from the deficit.
Offensively the Gators stalled getting just six hits despite making good contact all night. Freshmen Dalton Guthrie was a spark for the Gators getting two hits, the only player with more than one in the game..
Guthrie says his hits just so happened to fall for the team tonight.
“We had some decent balls bit, but mine happened to fall. It’s just the luck of the game. I don’t think we can get to upset about our hitting. I think we need to focus more on our approach against a guy like that. I don’t think we did a terrible job, I think they just did a good job keeping us off-balance all night.”
Miami’s starter Thomas Woodrey was dealing for the Hurricanes, giving up five hits and one earned run, a home run by Florida freshmen JJ Schwarz. Woodrey pitched six and two thirds innings.
The series is tied 1-1 now with these two teams going up against each other on Sunday. Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan says Sunday should be another good match up..
“Tomorrow is game seven. I would expect us to come out and play well and the same for Miami. I think its going to be a really good game.”
First pitch from McKethan Stadium tomorrow is at 1 but tune into ESPN 850 WRUF at 12:55 for all your live coverage.