UF Baseball: #2 Florida Defeats Jacksonville Again

The No. 2 Florida Gators (34-5) regained their winning aways at the Mac with a 3-1 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins (22-14). This is the second time this month that the Gators have defeated the Dolphins, with Florida winning the April 5th contest by a score of 7-2.

Jackson Kowar (3-0, 3.37 ERA) got the start and was hit around a bit as Jacksonville notched five hits off of him. The Dolphins only did damage in the first inning, when two-hole hitter Austin Hays belted a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to give Jax an early 1-0 lead. It would be their only score of the game, and Kowar would finish with a no decision on three innings pitched, two strikeouts, two hit batsmen, and one wild pitch thrown.

Relieving Kowar in the fourth was Frank Rubio, who was astounding on route to his third victory of the season. In 3.2 innings out of the bullpen, Frank allowed just two hits and struck out two. It was by far the best I had personally seen Frank pitch all season!

Rubio was masterful as he mowed down the Jacksonville lineup.

After Frank's incredible outing, Kirby Snead came in to face lefty Parker Perez and gave up a hit after a five-pitch at-bat. Without hesitation, Coach O'Sullivan pulled him for Dane Dunning.

In his first game action since last Friday (April 15th), Dunning held down the fort and retired all four batters he faced via strikeout.

In the ninth, Shaun Anderson entered in search of his eighth save of the season. He kicked off the inning with a strikeout, a groundout, a hit batter, and a strikeout of the pinch hitter to end the game and secure the victory.

Offensively, the Gators' bats were somewhat cold tonight as they only mustered three runs on seven hits. Fortunately for Florida, the lineup was jumpstarted by leadoff man Dalton Guthrie and three-hole hitter Buddy Reed.

Guthrie was the only Gator with multiple hits as he went 2-4 in the contest. Two spots down, Buddy Reed was just 1-4 on the night, but he scored two of Florida's runs! He scored the game-tying run on a wild pitch and then scored the go-ahead run on a Mike Rivera groundout.

Florida only banging out seven hits is actually okay considering they mirrored it with seven walks! Three Gators had two walks in the contest!

First was JJ Schwarz, who finished 1-2 with a double (Florida's only extra base hit of the night). Next was Nelson Maldonado, who finished 0-0 with no official at-bat and his second stolen base of the year.

Finally was Nick Horvath, who went hitless but scored an important insurance run on a Jonathan India single in the bottom of the seventh. The final batter to walk was pinch hitter Christian Hicks, who subbed in at DH for Danny Reyes.

The last thing I would like to mention about the Gator offense is Deacon Liput. Not in the starting lineup for the first time in his collegiate career, Liput entered the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh inning. Naturally, the first batter of the inning hit the ball right to him and he made the play for the first out.

When it came time for him to bat in the bottom of the eighth, Liput wasted no time as he ripped a 1-0 pitch through the right side for a single. Now 1-1 on the night, the freshman wouldn't stop there. He subsequently stole both second and third base to put himself in scoring position with one out in the inning.

Liput showcased his speed tonight, easily taking both second and third on the Jacksonville Dolphins.

Even in just three innings of playing time, Liput still found a way to make an impact on the game. If you're Coach O'Sullivan, you gotta be happy seeing that from your freshman.

Final Takeaway:
The No. 2 Florida Gators are now 15-1 against teams from the Sunshine State. Before previewing the baseball version of the "World's Greatest Cocktail Party" on the diamond, here are my final tidbits on the victory over Jacksonville:

• Deacon Liput's two stolen bases now give him a total of nine on the season. This is half of what team leader Buddy Reed has right now (18).
• Danny Reyes almost connected for his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the seventh when he smoked a ball to right field. However, the right fielder nonchalantly reached over the right field fence and took it away. It was the most undramatic robbed home run I had ever seen!
• Jacksonville made two errors in the game while Florida made none. It's hard beating the best team in the country playing a flawless game, let alone if you shoot yourself in the foot a couple of times.
• Jackson Kowar picked off Jacksonville's Parker Perez for the first out of the game. This would be huge as Kowar would give up a home run to the very next batter. 
• Contrary to Jacksonville's pitching staff, Florida did a great job not issuing any free passes as the staff walked nobody tonight!
• The Gators now hold a two-game winning streak over the Jacksonville Dolphins. This may seem irrelevant, but keep in mind that on April 22, 2014, the Jacksonville was the one who emerged from the Mac victorious by the same score of 3-1.

Like last week, the Gators are faced with another Thursday through Saturday series as the rival Georgia Bulldogs (20-18, 6-9 in SEC play) come to the Mac. The Gators currently hold a two-game winning streak over the Dawgs and, as of 2012, Florida has also won four straight home games against their old SEC rival.

Just because Georgia has nearly 20 losses and is sub .500 in SEC play doesn't mean they should be overlooked. This past weekend, they took two out of three in a home series vs the No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks (29-8, 11-4 in SEC play) before getting smacked 12-0 by Clemson (24-12) last night. Regardless, Florida needs to be on their toes for every game so another disaster like Mississippi State doesn't occur. 

The weekend rotation will be as follows: A.J. Puk (2-2, 3.41 ERA) on Thursday, Logan Shore (7-0, 2.50 ERA) on Friday, and Alex Faedo (7-1, 3.67 ERA) on Saturday. The first game is at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and I will be interested to see the attendance with final exams going on here at UF. The first game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network.

As for Jacksonville (who is 4-2 in Atlantic Sun play), they will look to end their two-game losing streak as they head home to take on the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (19-18, 5-1 in Atlantic Sun play) in a series that may shape up the regular season race for the Atlantic Sun title. Game time for the Friday night contest is 6 p.m.

*All stats accredited to FloridaGators.com