No.10 Florida Baseball Wins Another Series At No. 17 Miami

The spring party continues in South Beach. No. 10 Florida baseball defeated No. 17 Miami 8-4 to again win a series against its state rival at Mark Light Field.

Florida (11-1) used a strong performance from its bullpen and clutch hitting to clinch its fifth-straight series against the Hurricanes (10-2) and its sixth consecutive in Coral Gables. The Gators, winners of 11 consecutive games, Florida have won 11 of the last 12 series against Miami.

The atmosphere was just as hot as the weather, as it was a one-run game until the ninth inning after Miami scored three in the first and Florida took a 4-3 lead with four runs in the second.

Florida had a 5-4 lead going into the ninth inning after Miami tied it at 4-all with a run in the fifth and the Gators took that one-run lead with a run in the seventh.

The was before Ethan Surowiec homered to deep left field to settle the final margin. Surowiec’s third homer of the season followed a double by Kyle Jones and an intentional walk to Brendan Lawson.

The Gators bullpen was elite against the Hurricanes in tossing 62/3 frames of one-run ball on four hits and two walks. Ricky Reeth, Ernesto Lugo-Canchola and Joshua Whitenhour were the firemen out of the pen.

“I think we’re about eight pitchers deep that I trust,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “And that gives us so much flexibility to be able to use Jackson [Barberi] last night for three innings, knowing he’s going to be done for the weekend. And then, Josh comes in in a situation like that and that’s the second really good outing for him. There’s no doubting his stuff, but he was outstanding. And we overcame some adversity tonight.”

Reeth delivered four strong innings after starter Aidan King went out with what O’Sullivan called “cramping, so, it’s nothing serious” in the third. Reeth allowed just one run and struck out five to earn his second win of the season. 

“Ricky Reeth was just outstanding,” O’Sullivan said. “Made some big pitches to get out of that inning.”

Lugo-Canchola followed and Joshua Whritenour closed the game.

Jones (2-for-5) drove in two runs and scored once. Cash Strayer (2-for-3) hit a double and scored two runs. 

Sunday’s series finale is set for a 1 p.m. start. Florida is scheduled to pitch righty Cooper Walls (1-0, 1.69 ERA) and UM will start right-hander Tate DeRias (1-0, 4.50). Coverage begins at 12:55 on 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF and at 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

Category: Baseball, College Baseball, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Baseball