Baseball completes three-game sweep of USF

By Adam Silverstein
February 21, 2010

Defeating the South Florida Bulls 6-2 Friday night in its 2010 season opener, No. 7/9 Florida Gators baseball had the task of facing them two more times before the weekend was out. Florida (3-0) followed through, taking down USF (0-3) 9-1 on Saturday and coming from three runs down to win 7-6 in extra innings Sunday at McKethan Stadium.

Read all of the details about each game and plenty more after the break!

Saturday’s game featured Brian Johnson (1-0), a freshman left-hander who fanned three and tossed 5.2 scoreless innings for the win in his collegiate debut. Supporting him with offense was sophomore outfielder Tyler Thompson, who hit 2-5 with a career-high four RBI. Freshmen OF Kamm Washington (fourth) and designated hitter Austin Maddox (seventh) each contributed solo shots as their first collegiate hits.

Senior OF Matt den Dekker went 2-4 to continue his 11-game hitting streak, while junior second baseman Josh Adams had his own 14-game streak snapped with a 0-3 outing with two walks.

While Saturday’s contest was a bit-one sided, the Gators had to fight hard for a victory Sunday as the Bulls took them to the limit. Freshman catcher Mike Zunino’s walk-off single in the 10th gave Florida the 7-6 win and a sweep of USF.

Down three runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Gators rallied to tie the game and force extra innings. Bulls shortstop Sam Mende committed a fielding error with two-outs in the ninth which allowed Florida to score the tying run in what otherwise would have been a game-ending out.

Trailing 3-1, South Florida scored five runs in the top of the eighth to take a 6-3 lead. The Gators responded with three runs on a rally including contributions from den Dekker, Adams and sophomore first baseman Preston Tucker.

Florida has now defeated USF a school-record seven-straight times, outscoring the Bulls 22-9 and out-homering them 5-0. Den Dekker finished the series 6-13 (.462) with four runs scored, while Washington was 4-7 (.571).

The Gators stay home to face the Central Florida Knights Wed., Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m.

3 Comments

  1. Wingtee says:

    An in credible weekend for Gator sports

  2. Wingtee says:

    The swimming team are losers…. Just kidding

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