Freshman left-hander Nick Maronde benefitted from some good two-out hitting by his teammates and earned his first collegiate victory as No. 17 Florida beat Duquesne, 5-3, Saturday before 2,487 fans at McKethan Stadium.
Maronde (1-1) scattered five hits while allowing two unearned runs and struck out three without walking anyone in six solid innings of work for coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators, now 8-4. Justin Poovey relieved Maronde in the seventh and went 2.1 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run with three strikeouts before junior Jeff Barfield came in to record his first save, allowing a hit but striking out two.
But what was more pleasing to O’Sullivan was Florida’s two-out hitting. The Gators scored four runs in the second and another in the seventh, all with two outs.
“I was pleased that all five of our runs were scored with two out today,” O’Sullivan said. “We pitched fairly well this afternoon, with only one earned run and one walk. We have to continue to work on swinging the bats better and improve our defense to be successful. Jeff (Barfield) made quality pitches at the end of the game to close it out for us.”
Duquesne (0-10) scored an unearned run in each of the first two innings with the help of throwing errors by third baseman Clayton Pisani. But the Gators scored four runs in the bottom of the second to wipe out the 2-0 lead.
Daniel Pigott singled but was still on first two outs later. With Teddy Foster at the plate, Pigott stole second. Foster then was hit by a pitch by starter Ryan Juran (0-2) and Tyler Thompson walked to load the bases.
Avery Barnes then delivered a triple down the right-field line to put Florida ahead to stay, 3-2, and Barnes scored on Mike Mooney’s single.
In the seventh, Mooney started things with a two-out double to right center and Preston Tucker walked. That ended the day for Juran. He was replaced by Jim Devine, who was greeted by Brandon McArthur’s single to left that made it 5-2.
The Gators managed seven hits, with Mooney finishing 3-for-3 with an RBI and McArthur finishing with a pair of hits.
Florida goes for the three-game sweep today at noon. In a matchup of right-handers, senior Patrick Keating of Florida (1-2, 3.52 ERA) will oppose either Paul Bugajski (0-1, 12.86 ERA) or Johnny Elms (0-0, 2.57 ERA).