Florida freshman Chas Spottswood (Key West, Fla.) limited UNC Greensboro to three hits and a run
over six innings and sophomore Brandon
McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-out
RBI single in the sixth to lift the 13th-ranked Gators to a 2-1 win on Tuesday
night at McKethan Stadium. It was a night of firsts
for Florida (10-6), as Spottswood
(1-0) was victorious in his collegiate starting debut and sophomore Josh Edmondson (LaGrange, Ga.)
collected his first save.
“It was
another great baseball game tonight,” said head coach Pat McMahon. “Chas (Spottswood) pitched
very well for us, and I was excited to see a freshman throw a terrific game
like he did. Our approach was better, we had timely hits and showed good
composure out there.”
Florida had a golden chance to open the scoring in the second, as
junior Brian Jeroloman
(Wellington, Fla.)
and Gavin Dickey (Tallahassee, Fla.)
were hit by senior Jonathan Nichols to start the frame. The right-hander worked
out of the jam by having sophomore Matt Gaski (Greensboro,
N.C.) ground into a 4-6-3
double play and McArthur tap out to third.
A
bases-loaded grounder in the third by junior Austin Pride (Longwood,
Fla.) gave the Gators a 1-0
lead. Senior Chris Woods (Gainesville, Fla.)
reached on an error to start things off and junior Adam Davis (Fort Myers, Fla.) followed with
a single into left center off rookie reliever Greg Martin. Senior Stephen Barton (Miami, Fla.)
laid down a bunt to advance the runners and junior Brian Leclerc (Clearwater,
Fla.) was
walked intentionally. Pride’s grounder to short scored Woods but Martin had Jeroloman fly out to center to strand the runners.
The
Spartans tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth on an RBI grounder by junior Guy
Welsh. Sophomore Greg Feltes had smashed a leadoff
double off Spottswood and moved to third on a sacrifice
bunt by junior Jermaine Mitchell before Welsh drove
him in.
In the
bottom of the inning, McArthur came through with a two-out single off senior
Patrick Currin (1-2) to bring across Jeroloman with the eventual winning run. After Jeroloman poked his third double of the season, the reliever
retired Dickey and Gaski on back-to-back lineouts.
Junior David Hurst (Jacksonville, Fla.)
took over for Spottswood at the outset of the seventh
and put down the first five Spartans he faced before Feltes
singled. The southpaw then had Mitchell pop up to center for the last out in
the top of the eighth. The two-inning stint matched the longest of Hurst’s Gator career, originally set against Missouri on Feb. 24, and
he notched two strikeouts.
Edmondson
entered the game in the ninth and induced a foul pop up by Welsh before junior
Greg Matson reached on a throwing error. The right-hander had sophomore Adam Deleo ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to close
the game.
McArthur
was 2-for-3 as Florida
out-hit UNC Greensboro, 5-4. UF will send freshman J.K. LaCoste (Jacksonville, Fla.) to the hill in tomorrow’s series
finale at 6:30 p.m. The left-hander is 1-1 with a 1.80 earned run average.
Game Notes
- The Gators were hit three more
times tonight, giving them 30 HBP on the season.
- Matt LaPorta
was sidelined for the eighth straight game and has now missed half of UF’s season.
- Florida improved to 3-2 in one-run games.
-UF-
