--Florida baseball avenges loss to UCF
By Pat Dooley
Gainesville SUN Staff writerPublished: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 10:06 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 10:06 p.m.
Kevin O'Sullivan's message to his Florida baseball team was simple before Wednesday's game against Central Florida.
"Good teams answer," O'Sullivan said.
Florida had an answer for the Knights on Wednesday night with a little help from its opponent.
The fourth-ranked Gators took advantage of four errors and four wild pitches — three that scored runs — in a 10-2 win over No. 13 UCF at McKethan Stadium. UCF won the first game between the two teams 4-3 in Orlando on Tuesday.
"We just focused a lot better," said freshman first baseman Christian Hicks, who had two RBIs. "We wanted to bounce back and everybody did a better job."
Florida is now 11-2 on the season and plays host to Maine for a three-game series beginning Friday night. UCF drops to 11-2.
The Gators scored in five of the first six innings. Florida finished with 11 hits as eight of the nine starters reached base in the game.
Starter Brett Morales and reliever Kirby Snead combined to hold UCF to a run on four hits through six innings. Freshman Alex Faedo gave up a solo homer to Eugene Vazquez in the eighth. Taylor Lewis pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Florida jumped on starter Eric Hepple, who allowed five of the nine batters he faced to reach base. Buddy Reed doubled in the first and scored when UCF catcher Jordan Savinon threw a one-hopper to second as Harrison Bader stole the base.
Bader, who walked six times in the two-game series, later scored on a wild pitch to give Florida a 2-0 lead. Josh Tobias continued his torrid hitting pace with a triple in the second and scored on Christian Hicks' ground out.
"I thought it was a single," Tobias said. "But it skipped off the grass (to the fence)."
Tobias has 10 hits, five for extra bases, in his last four games.
Sidewinder Tanner Olson replaced Hepple with two out in the second. In the third inning, he gave up a line-drive homer to left by Bader. The no-doubt homer was the sixth of the year for the junior and he now has 20 RBIs this season.
Morales retired the first nine batters he faced but was hit hard in the fourth. He gave up a solo homer to Dylan Moore, two sharp singles and the only two outs he recorded were line drives. Snead replaced him with two out in the fourth and got out of the inning after loading the bases with a walk.
"That's been an Achilles' heel for our pen, we've been falling behind," O'Sullivan said.
Said Snead, "The walk was disappointing, but he left me in and I just had to attack the hitters."
Tobias singled in the fourth, went to third on a two-base error by pitcher Ryan Meyer and scored on a Hicks' single to left. The Gators scored twice more in the inning including one on a rundown where second baseman Kyle Marsh missed the tag on Hicks between third and home.
UF added three runs in the sixth as Richie Martin and JJ Schwarz had RBI singles.
NOTES: Former Florida coach Joe Arnold was elected to the 2015 National College Baseball Hall of Fame induction class on Wednesday. Arnold coached at UF from 1984-94, won 434 games at Florida and guided the Gators to their first two College World Series appearances in 1988 and '91 … UCF started seven seniors in the game Wednesday night. Florida has had four senior players in the last three seasons including two on the current squad — Tobias and Bobby Poyner.
Sent From Shane's iPhoneGo Gators! & Skål Vikes!ALPCA #8756Europlate #1045
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GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007)
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