Florida Gators hold off Maine, complete sweep

The No. 2 Florida Gators (14-2) held off a scrappy Maine team on Sunday to finish off the series sweep with a 5-3 win.

The Gators’ bats struggled without junior Harrison Bader hitting in the middle of the lineup leaving a season high 15 runners on base. Florida scored a run in the first and second innings but left the bases loaded in each of the first two frames. Despite pounding out 13 hits, the runner left on base and the opportunities missed left a sour taste in their mouth.

“We’re very unsatisfied, we should have had at least 10 runs on the board,” shortstop Richie Martin said after the game. “We didn’t execute when we needed to with runners on third and less than two outs or with runners in scoring position. We need to get better at that and we can work on that tomorrow.”

Martin and freshman second baseman Dalton Guthrie shined in the series finale. Guthrie had three hits and scored a run, while Richie Martin was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, adding a run and a RBI to his total.

Florida got another solid start on the mound from sophomore Dane Dunning, who earned the win to push his record to 4-0 on the season. Dunning needed just over 40 pitches to throw four innings of one-hit, shutout baseball. The sophomore was pounding the zone, pitching to contact and letting his defense (a unit that has one error in their last 75 innings played) do the work for him.

“It’s unbelievable having a defense like this,” said Dunning. “Knowing that any ball hit can be caught is just a great feeling.”

Dunning assumed the role as the Sunday starter and his 4-0 record with a paltry ERA of just 1.29 is second on the team only to Logan Shore (0.00). Dunning’s emergence at the back end of the weekend has allowed the Gators to finish out every weekend series with a win and Dunning credits his success to a new maturity on the mound.

“It’s a big difference from last year. Last year I was a little immature,” he said. “I kind of calmed down and was able to start throwing strikes. I just wasn’t confident in my stuff last year. Now I’m more confident and able to do my own thing.”

Dunning cruised through four innings but got himself into trouble in the fifth. After back-to-back one-out singles, Dunning let a breaking ball slip out of his hand, hitting the batter to load the bases. An infield single four pitches later gave Maine their first run of the game and new life. Dunning would get an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to get out of the jam but worked himself into trouble, yet again, in the sixth.

After walking the leadoff batter, O’Sullivan yanked the starter, even though the sophomore had thrown just 67 pitches.

“I was actually surprised,” Dunning said. “To me, personally, I don’t think I pitched bad at all. I went out and attacked hitters and had a low pitch count. [Sully’s] gotta do what’s best for the team though.”

The decision to pull Dunning had less to do with how he was throwing and more to do with the lineup that Maine brought to the game.

“We wish we could have gotten another inning out of him but it was a tough lineup to throw to, to be honest with you,” said O’Sullivan. “They had seven left-handers in the lineup and we had Poyner on four days rest. We wanted to make sure that we got him back out there.”

Poyner got out of the sixth unscathed but gave up a leadoff home run in the seventh and another run on a two-out double in the inning as well, which made it a one run game with Maine holding all of the momentum, trying to stave off a sweep.

Freshman Mike Rivera came through in the clutch with a two-out double to plate an insurance run.

“He’s clutch. He seems to get the runs in every time he’s in a RBI situation. I think that just shows something about his character,” Guthrie said after the game. “He was a RBI machine [in high school]. He’s just a big time player, a clutch guy. That’s just his personality.”

Taylor Lewis came into the game in the ninth and retired the Black Bears in order to earn his team-high fourth save.

Notes:

  • Dalton Guthrie’s three hits marks the eight time the freshman has had a multi-hit game. That total leads the team.
  • Senior Josh Tobias extended his hitting streak to eight games and led the team with a .455 (5-11) batting average this weekend.
  • The Gators have not committed an error the past two weekends.
  • The weekend starters have put up a stellar performance, as the Gators get ready for SEC play this weekend against Tennessee. Together, Logan Shore A.J. Puk and Dane Dunning have combined for this line: 10-1, 1.66 ERA. 59.2 IP, 36 H, 11 ER, 18 BB, 47 K.
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

2 COMMENTS

  1. I think it was Dunning that let a breaking ball slip – not Guthrie, and O’sully pulled Dunning – not Guthrie, and it was O’sully talking about Rivera not Guthrie. Your computer is autocorrecting every name to Guthrie :)