Florida Gators fall to instate rival UCF

ORLANDO — On a picturesque night in Orlando, the No. 2 Florida Gators (10-2) visited the UCF Knights (11-1) in front 4,319 people — the biggest crowd to ever take in a game at Jay Bergman Field.

In the first ever matchup between the two schools where both teams were ranked inside the top-10 in the country, the Knights were able to stay hot, handing Florida their second loss of the season, 4-3.

The night started off with both pitchers trading blows and throwing zeros on the board. Florida sent out one of two seniors on the roster in Bobby Poyner to face a UCF team that has 13 seniors on their roster.

Poyner worked through the Knights like a hot knife through butter, sitting down the first nine batters he faced before getting himself into trouble in the fourth inning.

“I felt pretty good,” Poyner said. “Hit the leadoff guy and got into a little trouble there in the fourth, then threw the pickoff away, got myself into trouble.”

Poyner is referencing the bottom of the fourth inning where he hit leadoff man Dylan Moore. Poyner’s pickoff attempt of Moore sailed wide of A.J. Puk’s glove at first, allowing Moore to advance 90 feet. Poyner settled back in, striking out Derrick Salberg, bringing up Erik Barber. Barber laced a 2-2 offering into right-center to give UCF runners on the corners with just one out. A sac fly the next at bat gave the Knights a lead, one they wouldn’t give up.

“Obviously he wants back the 1-2 pitch where he ended up hitting the leadoff guy of the inning but I thought he did a great job,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of his starter. “We made some miscues at first base, on a pickoff we miss a ball we should handle, it wasn’t the best throw but certainly a ball we should catch. We have an idea that they’re stealing, we pick over, we don’t attack the ball like we should and don’t get rid of the ball with quite the urgency that we need”

UCF would score two runs in the fourth and sixth innings with a Gator run sandwiched in-between. Then, in the seventh inning, Florida made the sellout crowd inch up to the edge of their seats.

Freshman catcher Mike Rivera singled up the middle with one out to get the rally going. Josh Tobias flied out to center field but Florida has been a very good hitting team with two outs, and they proved it again this inning. After a Ryan Larson single, Dalton Guthrie stepped into the box. The freshman was 0-4 at this point of the game but he stayed back on a fist pitch fastball and rocketed a ball down the left field line. Both Rivera and Larson would come around and touch home, shrinking the UCF lead to just one.

However, the comeback wasn’t meant to be for the Gators. A Sports Center top-10 worthy play by UCF center fielder Salberg in the top of the ninth all but sealed Florida’s fate and the Gators dropped their second game of the season.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC