Gator Baseball: March Recap

I want to start off this article by apologizing for taking so long to write this. I have been so busy wrapping up my pledgeship and I am now officially a brother of the Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) fraternity! In commemoration of this monumental moment in my life, I decided to celebrate and also decompress from the stress of school by writing my March recap of Gator baseball.

Since starting 13-2, the Gators have gone 11-7 in the month of March. The standout game for me was when the Gators dominated rival FSU in Gainesville with a convincing 14-8 victory on March 17th. The Gators used seven pitchers, with redshirt sophomore Mike Vinson recording the win. 

Despite the lack of pitching, the Gator offense showed up and smothered FSU. Junior outfielder Harrison Bader went 1-3 with three RBI's while freshman catcher/DH JJ Schwarz went 2-5 with a home run and 3 RBI's as well. Fellow freshman and catcher Mike Rivera led all Gators with three hits on the night.

Now, let's take a look at the stat leaders through March and very early April.

Offense

Hits: Dalton Guthrie (48) (Freshman)

RBI's: JJ Schwarz (40) (Freshman)

Home Runs: Harrison Bader/JJ Schwarz (9) (Junior/Freshman)

Batting Average: Josh Tobias (.398) (Senior)

Slugging %: Harrison Bader (.682) (Junior)

On Base %: Harrison Bader (.471) (Junior)

Stolen Bases: Buddy Reed/Richie Martin  (11) (Sophomore/Junior)

Runs Scored: Dalton Guthrie (31) (Freshman)

Strikeouts: Buddy Reed (25) (Sophomore)

Walks:  Harrison Bader (23) (Junior)

Defense

Assists: Dalton Guthrie (95) (Freshman)

Putouts: Mike Rivera (147) (Freshman)

Errors: Jeremy Vasquez (4) (Freshman)

Pitching

Wins: Logan Shore/A.J. Puk (5) (Sophomores)

Losses: A.J. Puk (3) (Sophomore)

Strikeouts: A.J. Puk (41) (Sophomore)

ERA: Starting Pitcher and Relieving Pitcher - Logan Shore (1.76) (Sophomore) Logan Browning (0.00) (Freshman)

Shutouts: Logan Shore (2) (Sophomore)

Saves: Taylor Lewis (6) (Junior)

Appearances: Taylor Lewis (15) (Junior)

The Gators ran into some trouble this month as the brunt of SEC play began. In their four SEC series thus far, they went 2-2 as they beat Tennessee and Alabama at home while losing to Ole Miss and Missouri on the road. The SEC is one of- if not the best- conferences in college baseball and every weekend series the Gators play will be a dogfight. 

Despite some bumps in conference play, the Gators are still high in the rankings and currently sit at #11. As long as they can win two out of three games in every series and at the minimum avoid getting swept, the Gators will be able to defend their SEC crown. Outside of SEC play, the Gators only lost one game, which was to #8 FSU on March 31st. FSU is also the only ranked team that the Gators faced in the month of March.

I should be able to do the April recap right when the month ends because I will be out of school by then. Hopefully I can survive this semester and make it to the 31st! Till then, stay tuned for any upcoming articles I might put out and stay tuned for my Gator baseball recap for the month of April!

*All stats accredited to Gatorzone.com