Led by three great performances from their freshmen, the top ranked Florida baseball team picked up its second win of the season after defeating the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 8-4 Saturday afternoon. This extends the Gators win streak over the Eagles to four games.
Florida jumped out to an early in this one in the bottom half of the second inning thanks to freshmen Jonathan India and Deacon Liput. Liput had an RBI ground out while India drove in a run with an infield single.
The Eagles wouldn’t be down long though they scored four runs off Gator starter AJ Puk to take a 4-2 lead. The runs were all unearned as the Gators made two errors in the inning that helped the Eagles score their runs. Colton Bottomley’s two run single off the left field wall was the key hit of the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth the Gators offense would strike back thanks to the bottom half of the lineup. Jeremy Vasquez led the inning off with a double and Ryan Larson followed that up with his third hit of the night putting runners on the corners. Deacon Liput drove both runners home with a triple to deep left-center giving the freshman three RBI’s on the night and putting the Gators back on top 5-4. Liput says that he was looking for a fastball up in the zone when he hit the triple.
India, Larson, and Vasquez would give the Gators insurance runs extending the lead to 8-4. The Gators seven through nine hitters went a combined 7 for-10, with seven RBI’s and four runs scored. Larson also had a career high four hits in this game.
AJ Puk started and went four innings for Florida, giving up four hits while striking out six. Freshman Brady Singer came on for relief in the top of the fifth and he found his groove quickly.
The second round pick in this years MLB draft struck out the first two hitters he faced and would go on to pitch three hitless innings in relief in his collegiate debut. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan says that Singer is a tremendous pitcher and knows how to attack hitters.
Sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo will take the mound for Florida on Sunday as the Gators try for the series sweep. Firstt pitch from McKethan stadium is set for 1 p.m. and you can catch live coverage on Country 103-7 The Gator starting at 12:55 p.m.