Freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) drove in five runs with a grand slam and a solo homer as Florida (3-0) completed a weekend sweep of Siena (0-3) with a 13-6 triumph on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. Freshman right-hander Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) worked five innings in his collegiate debut, totaling five strikeouts and allowing five hits and two runs, to notch the victory. It was UF’s first three-game sweep since defeating Georgia in Athens over March 30-April 1 of last season. Sophomore Clayton Pisani (Naples, Fla.) went 3-for-3 with a pair of sacrifice flies and the Gators banged out 11 hits, stole six bases and turned three double plays.   

“Any time you walk away with three wins you certainly feel good about it,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Siena has a good club and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in an NCAA Regional. Some of the things that we have been trying to implement, such as being aggressive on the basepaths and putting the ball in play, showed this weekend.”

“Fortunately, today was a good one for me,” Adams said. “It was great to come out and start swinging a little bit better and I’m glad that I could help the team this afternoon.”

Florida opened the scoring in its first at bat for the second-straight day, plating two runs on two hits off sophomore Craig Marcellus (0-1, 3.0 IP, 4 H, 6 R). Pisani singled to left with one down, advanced to second on a balk and scored on sophomore Cole Figueroa’s (Tallahassee, Fla.) base-hit up the middle. After Figueroa stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, senior Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) walked on four pitches. A fielder’s choice by senior Jon Townsend (London, Ky.) resulted in a 2-0 lead for the Gators.

Adams picked an opportune time for his first career homer, as he belted a grand slam on a 3-2 pitch with two down in third to give Florida a 6-0 cushion. Pisani doubled to left center and Figueroa followed with a walk before UF executed a double steal for a pair of runners in scoring position. After McArthur earned a free pass to fill the sacks with one down, Townsend’s grounder to Marcellus forced Pisani at home for the second out. Adams stepped to the plate and sent a ball out of the yard that cleared the wall in left center.

Siena narrowed the gap to 6-2 in the fourth on a two-run shot by junior Eric Mruczek. Senior Rick Seltzer led off with a double down the right-field line and took third on a flyout by sophomore Gary DerHagopian. Mrcuzek tagged Toledo’s next pitch over the fence in left field to end a 13-inning scoreless streak by the Saints dating back to a ninth-inning homer on Friday night.

The Gators answered in the bottom of the frame on a sacrifice fly by Pisani to build a 7-2 advantage. Back-to-back singles by sophomore Hampton Tignor (Sarasota, Fla.) and junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) set up the Orange and Blue’s second successful double steal of the game. Soon after, Pisani collected his first RBI with his squad’s first sac fly of the year.

Toledo departed after five full innings and was replaced by classmate Cody Barnes (San Mateo, Fla.). Senior Jacob Willis started things off for Siena by reaching on a throwing error by Figueroa, UF’s first defensive miscue of the year. Following a walk to Seltzer, DerHagopian stroked an RBI single to left center for an 8-3 margin. Barnes retired the next two batters before plunking junior Jason DeFilippo to load the sacks. The right-hander then uncorked consecutive wild pitches to allow both Seltzer and DerHagopian to score. After issuing a walk to senior Michael Ambury, another errant pitch from Barnes brought DeFilippo across resulted in an 8-6 score. A base on balls to freshman Kevin Quaranto and another wild pitch prompted a pitching change. Senior Josh Edmondson (LaGrange, Ga.) had senior Moises Rivera fly out to center on his first pitch to strand the runners and keep UF in front.  

The hosts rebounded with three runs in the bottom of the frame for an 11-6 lead. Tignor had drawn a one-out walk from freshman reliever Kyle Sumple and moved to third on a double into left center by Avery Barnes. Pisani’s second sac fly scored Tignor and a free pass to Figueroa gave the Gators two runners aboard before McArthur poked an RBI single on a hit-and-run play to plate Barnes. Sumple later let loose a wild pitch, enabling Figueroa to score. Pigott extended UF’s lead to 12-6 in the seventh with a run-scoring single that scored freshman Evan Chambers (Lakeland, Fla.). An RBI grounder by McArthur in the eighth that brought in Pisani finalized the 13-6 count.    

For UF, the trio of Pisani, Adams (2-for-5) and Avery Barnes (2-for-5) turned in multiple-hit outings while eight different Siena players had one hit. Edmondson (2.0 IP), sophomore Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) (0.1 IP) and freshman Travis Lawler (College Station, Texas) (1.0 IP) provided scoreless relief to close the contest.

The Gators will host Eastern Michigan (0-3) on Tuesday and Wednesday at McKethan Stadium. Both games will begin at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles dropped three games at New Mexico over the weekend by scores of 16-7, 9-8 and 13-3.

Game Notes

• The Gators’ last three-game sweep at McKethan Stadium came against George Washington (7-1, 24-4, 20-3) on March 3-4, 2007.
• The last time Florida hit a grand slam occurred twice in a 20-2 rout of Tennessee, when Avery Barnes and Cole Figueroa accomplished the feat.
• Florida was 12-for-13 on the basepaths this weekend and out-scored Siena by a 27-13 margin this weekend.
• Josh Edmondson allowed one hit over 4.1 innings of scoreless ball in two appearances.
• Cole Figueroa (.429) drew six walks, scored five runs and was 3-for-3 on stolen bases.
• Brandon McArthur led the Gators with a .455 (5-for-11) average and totaled six RBI.
• UF’s pitching staff registered 21 strikeouts and yielded nine walks.
• Freshman Evan Chambers made his first start as designated hitter and was 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.

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