Sunday, March 6, 2016

UF Baseball: #1 Florida Sweeps Dartmouth

The #1 Florida Gators completed their sweep of the Dartmouth Big Green with an 8-6 victory today.

Alex Faedo (3-0) took the mound for the Gators and allowed three earned runs on six hits in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out four on 78 pitches. At one point down 3-0 Faedo was pinned to get the loss, but a resurgence from the Gator lineup instead got him his third win of the year.

Pitching for the second straight day, lefty Kirby Snead entered in the sixth inning and put in a much better performance. In 1.1 innings pitched, he allowed just one hit and walked one while holding Dartmouth scoreless.

After Snead, my buddy Frank Rubio came in for 2.1 innings and had a rough outing to say the least as he allowed three earned runs on four hits, walked one, and struck out two. Frank did work out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh, and most of Dartmouth's hits against him came with just one runner on base.

After Rubio was removed with two outs in the ninth, lefty Nick Horvath came in and recorded the final out to earn his first save of the year.

Offensively, the Gators remained quiet until the fourth inning when JJ Schwarz crushed his third home run of the year over left center to cut the lead to 3-1. He finished the game 1-3 with two RBI's. In fact, the entire top of the lineup had multiple RBI's as Dalton Guthrie and Buddy Reed both had two RBI's a piece.

Buddy's clutch performance at the plate carried over from last night. In the bottom of the fifth with one out and runners on first and second, he smacked a triple down the right field line to knot the game up at three. It was his only hit of the contest, but it was also a momentum changer. Reed would score on a ball that went through the shortstop's legs to give Florida a 4-3 lead, and the Gators would keep the lead for the remainder of the game.

Final Takeaway:
The Gators have now won six games in a row and recorded their second series sweep of the season. Before giving my final analysis, here are my tidbits from Game 3:

  • Everyone in the lineup except Nelson Maldonado had at least one hit. 
  • Dalton Guthrie, Deacon Liput, and Jonathan India were the only Gators to notch two hits. All three of them doubled today. 
  • Along with JJ Schwarz, India was the only Gator to score twice.
  • Mike Rivera was the only Gator to draw a walk. He also belted his third home run of the season today in the sixth inning. It was a towering solo shot out to left field.
  • Florida and Dartmouth both banged out 12 hits a piece today.
  • Dalton Guthrie made an incredible diving catch in shallow center field in the top of the second inning with a runner on first. That play alone makes up for his throwing error last night.
  • Three Gators (JJ Schwarz, Peter Alonso, and Jonathan India) were hit by a pitch today.

With another sweep under their belt, #1 Florida (12-1) will rest tomorrow as they prepare for a home-and-home against the UNF Ospreys (6-6). The first game will be in Jacksonville on Tuesday, March 8, at 6 p.m. I have a feeling that Dane Dunning will get the start for the Gators, but honestly I have no concrete info on who Sully is going to go with. 

For Dartmouth (0-6), they are still searching for their first win of the young season. They will get a nice 10-day break before heading to Winter Haven, Florida, on March 16th for the Russ Matt Invitational. Their opponent will be the Bucknell Bison (5-5). Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.

*All stats accredited to FloridaGators.com

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