Saturday, March 12, 2016

UF Baseball: #1 Florida Obliterates Harvard

The #1 Florida Gators (15-1) improved to their winning streak to nine games with a sound 16-5 victory over the Harvard Crimson (2-3) tonight.

Gator ace Logan Shore (4-0) got the start tonight and did not have his best stuff as Harvard tagged him for five runs on nine hits. Nearly everything the Crimson hit, regardless if it was a base hit or an out, was hit hard. Getting major run support from his offense, Shore got away with having an off game and notched his fourth win of the year. His final stat line was 96 pitches thrown in six innings of work with six strikeouts and a hit batsman.

Relieving Shore in the seventh inning was the hard throwing sophomore Scott Moss. The lefty was brilliant in his two innings of work as he allowed just one hit and struck out five batters!

Coming on in the ninth to end a long night was freshman Eddy Demurias. Besides a walk and a hit batsman, Demurias worked a clean ninth and recorded a strikeout as he shut the door on the Crimson.

The Gator offense was insane tonight as they banged out a season-high 20 hits and scored a season-high 16 runs! Eight of Florida's nine hitters had two hits or more with Deacon Liput recording a career-high four hits!

At the top of the lineup, Dalton Guthrie went 3-4 with a double, an RBI, a walk, and two runs scored. In the three-hole, JJ Schwarz was a perfect 3-3 as he doubled, knocked in two, walked, and scored thrice. In the cleanup spot, Peter Alonso was all about twos as he went 2-2 with a double, two RBI's, two walks, and two runs scored.

Along with a 4-6 performance at the plate, Deacon Liput also tied his career-high in RBI's as he drove in a four Gators and scored once as he continues to kill it in the fifth spot of the lineup. The sixth through ninth batters were all 2-4 tonight. Mike Rivera put his early season slump way behind him as he homered, doubled, plated three RBI's, walked, and scored twice.

The bottom three of Jeremy Vasquez, Nelson Maldonado, and Jonathan India all had two singles a piece, with Vasquez and India scoring once and Maldonado scoring twice. India also stole his fourth base of the season.

Final Takeaway:
The #1 Gators did a great job setting the tone for the series with a dominating Friday night victory. Before previewing the doubleheader tomorrow, here are my final tidbits from tonight's impressive win:

  • Buddy Reed was the only Gator starter to go hitless as he went 0-3 with an RBI ground out. He was removed from the game after colliding with left fielder Nelson Maldonado in the top of the fifth inning.
  • The Gators used a total of 18 players in the game tonight.
  • Mike Rivera's three-run home run tonight was his fourth of the season and moved him past JJ Schwarz for the team lead.
  • Nelson Maldonado had an assist as he gunned down Harvard's DJ Link to end the second inning. 
  • Dalton Guthrie nailed a runner at the plate as well as he cut down Trent Bryan trying to steal home.
  • Harvard used six pitchers in the contest.
  • Harvard balked in a run in the bottom of the third inning.
  • Harvard banged out 10 hits tonight. Nine of them came in the first six innings of the game.
  • Florida drew nine walks and struck out just twice as a team. Conversely, Harvard drew just two walks and struck out 12 times as a team.
  • Both JJ Schwarz and Ryan Larson were hit by a pitch tonight.

With Sunday's game being moved to Saturday night due to weather concerns, Gator fans will be treated with a good ol' fashion doubleheader! The first game is at 4 p.m. and lefty A.J. Puk (0-1) will get the start. 

The nightcap will start either at 7 p.m. or 45 minutes after the first game concludes. Alex Faedo (3-0) will get the start as he attempts to stay perfect on the year. Both games can be seen on the SEC Network. It will definitely be a long day at the ballpark for me!

*All stats accredited to FloridaGators.com

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