‘Mr. Friday Night’ does it for Gators

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – If Alex Panteliodis keeps this up, pretty soon they are going to start calling the Florida Gators’ sophomore left-hander “Mr. Friday Night.”

Panteliodis went one batter into the ninth inning – the longest stint of his Florida career – and the Pigott brothers provided the key hits and plays as the No. 8 Gators took the first game of their three-game Southeastern Conference Eastern Division series with Tennessee by a 4-2 count before 2,519 fans at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The victory was the sixth in seven decisions for Panteliodis, who threw 96 pitches, 69 for strikes. He allowed six hits but didn’t walk anyone and struck out just two.  After surrendering a leadoff single to Khayyan Norfolk, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan replaced Panteliodis with right-hander Jeff Barfield, who surrendered a single to left field by P.J. Polk, who led Tennessee’s seven-hit attack with a pair of hits.

O’Sullivan then went back to the bullpen for junior Kevin Chapman, who got three groundouts (the second one allowing Norfolk to score) to earn the save, his sixth. The loss went to starter Bryan Morgado (2-4), who allowed four earned runs on five hits with three walks while striking out eight.

Florida (22-7, 7-3 SEC East) began an eight-game road swing with the victory and will attempt to clinch its first series victory in Knoxville since 2002 Saturday afternoon at 4 (Fox Sports Florida) when O’Sullivan sends freshman left-hander Brian Johnson (3-1, 3.09 ERA) to the mound against senior right-hander Stephen McCray (3-3, 2.08 ERA) of Tennessee (15-16, 2-8 SEC East).

The Gators jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Austin Maddox singled to left field and then took second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a flyball to left by Matt den Dekker and scored on Daniel Pigott’s sacrifice fly.

The Volunteers tied it in the bottom of the second when Cody Hawn hit a one-out double to center, scoring Matt Duffy, who had singled with one out. Panteliodis settled down to get Matt Ramsey on a pop out to first baseman Preston Tucker and then Chris Fritts on a grounder to second baseman Josh Adams.

Florida took the lead for good in the fourth when Tucker led off with a walk. Maddox reached on a fielder’s choice that wiped out Tucker at second base. Then den Dekker reached on a fielder’s choice that wiped out Maddox at second. With two outs and a 1-0 count, Daniel Pigott tripled to right field, scoring den Dekker for a 2-1 Florida lead.

The Gators doubled their lead in the fifth inning. Jonathan Pigott singled to lead off the inning and Mike Zunino singled to left field putting runners at first and second. Nolan Fontana then put down a sacrifice bunt, but catcher Blake Forsythe threw the ball away, allowing Pigott to score and sending Zunino to third and Fontana to second. After Adams struck out, Tucker singled to left, scoring Zunino for a 4-1 Florida lead.

Panteliodis, meanwhile, retired 14 consecutive batters beginning with the final two outs of the second inning before Josh Liles singled to lead off the seventh but was thrown out at second by Jonathan Pigott. Panteliodis then got Forsythe to foul out to Tucker and Duffy to ground out to third. The Florida pitcher allowed a one-out single by Ramsey in the eighth but again got the final two outs to avoid any damage.

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

Eastern Division Conference Overall

(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.


(17) South Carolina 8-2 .800 24-6 .800

(9) Florida 7-3 .700 22-7 .759

(19) Vanderbilt 5-5 .500 25-7 .781

Kentucky 3-7 .300 20-11 .645

Tennessee 2-8 .200 15-16 .484

Georgia 2-8 .200 10-20 .333

Western Division Conference Overall

(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.


(4) Louisiana State 8-2 .800 26-4 .867

(10) Arkansas 7-3 .700 24-6 .800

(18) Mississippi 6-4 .600 22-9 .710

Auburn 5-5 .500 20-11 .645

(25) Alabama 4-6 .400 20-10 .667

Mississippi State 3-7 .300 16-14 .533

(Rnk) Ranking is the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll

RESULTS

FRIDAY / April 9


Florida 4, Tennessee 2

South Carolina 3, Vanderbilt 2

Louisiana State 14, Auburn 10

Arkansas 8, Mississippi State 3

Mississippi 4, Georgia 1

Kentucky 7, Alabama 6

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY / April 10


Arkansas at Mississippi State, 3 p.m.

South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m.

Louisiana State at Auburn, 3 p.m. (SUN)

Florida at Tennessee, 4 p.m. (Fox Sports Florida)

Mississippi at Georgia, 4 p.m.

Alabama at Kentucky, 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY / April 11

Florida at Tennessee, 12:30 p.m. (CSS)

Alabama at Kentucky, 1 p.m.

Louisiana State at Auburn, 2 p.m.

Mississippi at Georgia, 2 p.m.

South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m.

Arkansas at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m.

POLLS

April 5, 2010

USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. UCLA (23-1); 4. Louisiana State (23-4); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. Florida State (21-6); 9. Florida (20-7); 10. Arkansas (22-6); 11. Clemson (20-8); 12. Texas Christian (20-6); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Miama, Fla. (20-7); 15. Oregon State (18-6); 16. Oklahoma (22-6); 17. South Carolina (22-6); 18. Mississippi (21-8); 19. Vanderbilt (24-6); 20. Kansas State (21-5); 21. UC Irvine (17-8); 22. Arizona (20-8); 23. Texas A&M (18-8-1); 24. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 25. Alabama (19-8).

BASEBALL AMERICA

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. UCLA (23-1); 4. Virginia (23-6); 5. Louisiana State (23-4); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Florida State (21-6); 8. Florida (20-7); 9. Louisville (24-3); 10. Arkansas (22-6); 11. South Carolina (22-6); 12. Texas Christian (20-6); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 15. Mississippi (21-8); 16. Clemson (20-8); 17. Oregon State (18-6); 18. UC Irvine (17-8); 19. Oklahoma (22-6); 20. Vanderbilt (24-6); 21. Western Kentucky (22-7); 22. Stanford (13-9); 23. Texas A&M (18-8); 24. Alabama (19-8); 25. Virginia Tech (20-10).

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. UCLA (23-1); 3. Georgia Tech (25-3); 4. Louisiana State (23-4); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. South Carolina (22-6); 9. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 10. Oregon State (18-6); 11. Florida State (21-6); 12. Oklahoma (22-6); 13. Florida (20-7); 14. Coastal Carolina (23-6); 15. Clemson (20-8); 16. Arkansas (22-6); 17. Mississippi (21-8); 18. Texas Christian (20-6); 19. UC Irvine (17-8); 20. New Mexico State (22-10); 21. Kansas State (21-5); 22. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 23. Vanderbilt (24-6); 24. Western Kentucky (22-7); 25. Rice (17-12); 26. Cal State Fullerton (15-11); 27. Charlotte (19-6); 28. North Carolina State (18-10); 29. Virginia Military Institute (23-5); 30. California (16-10).

NATIONAL COLLEGE BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. Louisiana State (23-4); 4. UCLA (23-1); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. Florida State (21-6); 9. Arkansas (22-6); 10. Florida (20-7); 11. Texas Christian (20-6); 12. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Clemson (20-8); 15. Oregon State (18-6); 16. South Carolina (22-6); 17. Oklahoma (22-6); 18. Mississippi (21-8); 19. Vanderbilt (24-6); 20. North Carolina (20-10); 21. UC Irvine (17-8); 22. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 23. Arizona (20-8); 24. Western Kentucky (22-7); 25. Alabama (19-8); 26. College of Charleston (23-7); 27. East Carolina (18-11); 28. Stanford (13-9); 29. Rice (17-12); 30. Kansas State (21-5).