Florida Defeats Rival FSU in Mid-Week Baseball Game
The Florida baseball team ran its record to 24-3 on the season with a hard fought 3-2 win over Florida State in front of over 9,000 fans at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville Tuesday night. The Gators have won nine of the last 11 games played against the Seminoles.
The No. 3 #Gators emerge victorious over the No. 8 Seminoles in Jacksonville, 3-2 pic.twitter.com/Wn9AWeiy0d
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 30, 2016
The Seminoles would begin the game with a two-out homer from freshmen Cal Raleigh in the top of the first inning. The Gators wouldn’t trail for long though as Mike Rivera’s two run homer in the second inning drove in Deacon Liput, who had singled, to give the Gators a 2-1 lead. Rivera has a team best six long balls on the season.
Florida made it 3-1 in the third inning. Jonathan India walked and stole second and then Buddy Reed’s triple plated India. It would prove to be the last run the Gators would score all night.
Florida freshman starting pitcher Jackson Kowar settled down after giving up the home run to pitch into the sixth inning and get the win; he is now 3-0 on the year. Kowar got some excellent defensive help in the fourth inning as well. With two outs Jackson Lueck singled and Darren Miller doubled but Lueck was gunned down trying to score to end the inning. Brady Singer was excellent in relief of Kowar, pitching until the ninth inning.
The Seminoles used a lot of pitchers to keep the Gators in check and they would make it a 3-2 game in the eighth inning. John Sansone reached first on a Deacon Liput error, his first error of the season. Sansone would go to second on a passed ball and Quincy Nieporte’s RBI single would score the run.
O’Sullivan brought in Shaun Anderson to pitch the ninth inning and he retired the Seminoles in order to pick up his fourth save of the season. .
O’Sullivan says he’s very pleased with pitching and thinks the freshmen dominated against FSU.
Up next the Gators will host Texas A&M in a weekend series at Mckethan Stadium. O’Sullivan believes the team mirrors the Gators with a deep line up so he knows there will be tough SEC competition. The first game is Friday at 7 p.m.
Category: College Baseball, Feature Sports News, Gators Baseball, SEC
