CORAL GABLES – Sophomore left-hander Alex Panteliodis kept No. 10 Miami hitless into the fifth inning and had a career-high eight strikeouts as No. 5 Florida captured the series opener between the Sunshine State rivals on Friday night, 7-1, at Alex Rodriguez Park.
Panteliodis (3-0) gave up two hits in 5.2 innings and got support from an offense that scored four runs in the third inning and three more runs in the eighth inning. Sophomore Nick Maronde collected his first career save with seven strikeouts over 3.1 hitless innings.
“Our pitching was outstanding tonight,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Alex (Panteliodis) gave us a quality start and Nick (Maronde) was solid in relief. We need to go on the road and win Friday night games against top-notch pitchers. That is something we haven’t been able to do for the last couple of years. Our hitters shortened their swings and had a much better approach at the plate tonight. I saw a lot of progress from Tuesday night.”
Florida moved to 6-1 after losing 10-5 to No. 3 Florida State Tuesday night in Tampa. The second game of the series with Miami (6-2) is Saturday night at 7. The series finale is Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Gators opened the scoring with four runs on five hits in the third inning against Hurricane junior All-American Chris Hernandez (1-1), highlighted by two-run singles by junior Josh Adams (1-for-4) and freshman Austin Maddox (2-for-4).
Freshman Nolan Fontana blooped a one-out single into left field and would have been erased at second base on a grounder by freshman Mike Zunino. However, an errant throw by Miami sophomore third baseman Harold Martinez into the outfield left Florida with two runners aboard. After senior Matt den Dekker (2-for-5) singled to right to fill the bases, keeping alive his 16-game hitting streak, Adams put the visitors on the board with a single into left that scored both Fontana and Zunino.
Sophomore Preston Tucker was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases and Maddox increased the Gators’ lead to 4-0 with a single into right field. Although Tucker was caught in a run-down between second and third base for out number two, sophomore Daniel Pigott (2-for-4) delivered his second double of the season into the right-field corner to give Florida two runners in scoring position. Hernandez prevented further trouble with his second strikeout of sophomore Tyler Thompson.
Florida had runners on the corners with one down in the fifth, courtesy of singles by den Dekker and Tucker and den Dekker’s third theft of the year. Hernandez worked out of the jam by fanning Maddox and having Pigott force Tucker at second base with a grounder to hold the margin at 4-0. Over six innings on the hill, Hernandez permitted eight hits, registered eight strikeouts and yielded four runs (three earned).
Meanwhile, Panteliodis held the Hurricanes hitless until junior Yasmani Grandal led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to center. The left-hander retired sophomore David Villasuso for his career-best seventh strikeout before having junior Chris Pelaez force Grandal at second with a grounder. Panteliodis prevented further damage by striking out freshman Michael Broad.
A sacrifice fly by freshman Stephen Perez in the sixth brought home freshman Zeke DeVoss, who had tripled. Maronde was summoned from the bullpen to replace Panteliodis, and the reliever forced FSU senior Scott Lawson to pop up a bunt to Zunino.
Grandal drew a leadoff walk in the seventh before Maronde caught Villasuso looking on strikes. After a wild pitch pushed Grandal to second, the southpaw retired Pelaez on strikes and had Martinez ground out to short, where Fontana made a tremendous throw across the diamond to close the inning.
Florida tacked on three more runs with two down in the eighth, as Fontana was hit with the bases loaded and Zunino roped a two-run single through the left side.
Maronde was brilliant over the final 3.1 innings, whiffing seven of the 12 UM batters he faced without surrendering a hit. The Gators held a 10-2 advantage in hits and their pitching staff totaled a season-high 15 strikeouts.
Florida freshman left-hander Brian Johnson (1-0, 2.84) will oppose Miami senior right-hander Jason Santana (0-1, 10.80) Saturday night.