USF Bulls at Florida Gators

[Brad]

Courtesy USF SID Office

USF Bulls (14-11, 5-1 BIG EAST)

at

Florida Gators (17-11, 2-4 SEC)

Date: March 29

Location: Alfred A. McKethan Stadium (5,000), Gainesville, Fla.

Television: None

Radio: GRN/WRUF

Rankings: The Florida Gators are ranked No. 15 in this week’s “Baseball America” Top 25; No. 20 in this week’s “USA Today/ESPN” Top 25 and No. 18 in this week’s NCBWA Top 30.

Live Stats: GameTracker; www.gatorzone.com

Projected Starters

Game No. 26 - Wednesday, March 29 - 6:30 p.m.

USF - No. 29 Yuri Higgins, junior, RHP (3-2, 4.25 ERA, 28 K)

Florida - No. 28 Kris Gawriluk, junior, RHP (0-2, 4.70 ERA, 5 K)

USF Travels To Gainesville For Mid-Week, Non-Conference Game Versus Florida

The University of South Florida baseball team (14-11, 5-1 BIG EAST) travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face in-state foe Florida in a mid-week, non-conference outing on Wednesday, March 29. USF has won its last five games, including its first-ever BIG EAST series sweep this past weekend. Wednesday’s contest will mark the first road game for the Bulls since Feb. 26. Since then USF has hosted 15-straight home games, finishing that stretch 10-5. USF’s trip to Gainesville will kick off a four-game road swing, including a three-game series at Cincinnati beginning Friday, March 31.

USF enters Wednesday’s game hitting .294 with five home runs and 124 RBI. Freshman Addison Maruszak leads all USF hitters, batting .359 with 16 RBI and 18 runs scored. The Pinellas Park, Fla., native is coming off a career outing, registering a career-high four RBI on 3-for-5 hitting, including two doubles and three runs scored versus Seton Hall (3/26). Sophomore Joey Angelberger, who is batting .284 with one home run and a team-high 20 RBI, recorded tied his career high in RBI with five versus Seton Hall (3/26), hitting 3-for-5, including his first-career triple. Senior Brian Baisley improved his season average to .316, after hitting 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. Baisley has notched two home runs and 14 RBI in 2006.

The Bull’s pitching staff improved its team ERA to .364 following this past weekend’s sweep of Seton Hall. USF has registered a BIG EAST-leading 210 strikeouts this season in 235 innings of action. Taking the mound for the Bulls on Wednesday will be junior Yuri Higgins. The right-hander recorded his third win of the season, allowing no runs on no hits in one inning on relief on Sunday. Higgins has tallied 28 strikeouts in 29 and two-thirds innings pitched while compiling a 4.25 ERA. Wednesday’s start will mark the fourth of the season for the Tampa native.

The Gators enter Wednesday’s game having lost their last four outings, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks. Florida is batting .259 as a team with 26 home runs and 171 RBI. Leading the way offensively for the Gators is Brian LeClerc, who is batting .289 with one home run and 18 RBI. Gavin Dickey leads Florida with seven home runs and 24 RBI. UF’s pitching staff has registered a 3.65 ERA in 2006. On the mound for the Gators on Wednesday will be right-handed hurler Kris Gawriluk. The Deltona, Fla., native has notched an 0-2 record with a 4.70 ERA in seven appearances this season.

Despite trailing the series history, 42-24, USF has won the last two outing versus the Gators, winning both meetings last season (8-7 on May 10 in Gainesville & 11-5 on May 11 in Tampa).

[Knight_Light]

Go Bulls! Beat 'dem Gators!!

[smazza]

can bulls pull off upset?

[CyberBull]

Go Bulls! Beat 'dem Gators!!

Did hell just get a little frosty? KL rooting for the Bulls?

What's next SirGally showing up to take his medicine?

[Matt]

i know the gators just got SPANKED by South Carolina over the weekend.  I don't know what the final ending up but when i saw it was in the 5th inning and the cocks were winning 20-3

[TyBull]

Radio in Tampa?

[Brad]

Radio in Tampa?

It does not appear to be in Tampa.  But there is a an online feed at that disgusting Gatorzone.com site.

[TyBull]

Baseball Hosts USF In Mid-Week Matchup

Wednesday March 29, 2006

Gainesville, FL

The Gator baseball team (17-11) begins a four-game stretch at McKethan Stadium on Wednesday night by hosting in-state rival South Florida (14-11) at 6:30 p.m. No. 15 Florida has dropped its last four outings, including a road weekend sweep at the hands of No. 7 South Carolina, and is 2-4 in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulls are riding a five-game winning streak and have captured 10 of their last 12 games. USF swept Seton Hall in Tampa by scores of 2-1, 3-1 and 11-9 to improve to 5-1 in its debut season in the Big East Conference.  

Florida junior Kris Gawriluk (0-2, 4.70 ERA) is set to make his fourth start of the season versus USF. The right-hander has worked 15.1 innings in ’06 and has allowed 18 hits and nine runs, with five walks and five strikeouts. Gawriluk’s last start came in the series finale against Harvard on March 12, a 17-6 victory over the Crimson in which he gave up six hits and three runs in three innings. The Deltona, Fla., native faced one batter in the 8-7 come-from-behind win over Arkansas on March 19 and issued a walk.

           

Junior Yuri Higgins will get the starting nod for the Bulls. The righty is 3-2 with a 4.25 ERA in 13 appearances, including three starts. Over 29.2 innings, Higgins has surrendered 27 hits and 18 runs, with 28 K and 17 walks. Foes are hitting .250 against the right-hander. He was the winning pitcher in USF’s win on Sunday to complete the broom job of the Pirates.

The Gators’ four-game slide is their longest since dropping four straight from May 1-8 last season (7-2 to Tennessee, 9-4 to Florida State, 4-1 and 3-2 (10) at Arkansas. The Orange and Blue have not lost five in a row since between May 14-23, 2004, when it fell three times to Ole Miss and twice at Tennessee.

Junior Matt LaPorta (Port Charlotte, Fla.) led the Gators with a .333 (4-for-12) effort at South Carolina and is hitting .264 with 12 RBI in 15 games this season. A 0-for-8 showing against the Gamecocks lowered junior Brian Leclerc's (Clearwater, Fla.) average to team-leading .289. Junior Gavin Dickey (Tallahassee, Fla.) (.266) cranked a couple of homers on Saturday, giving him seven on the campaign, and the outfielder is tied with classmate Adam Davis (Fort Myers, Fla.) (.264, 25 runs) for the top spot with 24 RBI. Junior David Cash (Odessa, Fla.) went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs in the series finale with USC.

South Florida captured both ends of its home-and-home series with the Gators on May 10 & 11 of last season, winning in Gainesville, 8-7, before collecting an 11-5 win at Red McEwen Field. A bases-loaded triple with two outs in the eighth by senior pinch hitter Tim Orlosky lifted USF to the win in the opener at McKethan Stadium. The Bulls rallied from three different deficits to secure the victory. Davis and LaPorta cranked back-to-back homers in the first inning for the home team. USF completed the sweep the next night by erupting for seven runs in the first inning. Brian Baisley (3-for-4) and Brandin Daniel (3-for-5) led the way for USF, which totaled 14 hits. Despite drawing a dozen walks, the Gators stranded 13 runners on base and committed four errors. The 11 runs were the most UF surrendered during the regular season.

The Gators are hoping to end a stretch of 15 consecutive games in which they have committed at least one error. In 28 contests this year, Florida has been perfect in the field seven times, none since March 3, a 4-0 loss to Texas A&M. UF’s fielding percentage of .957 is tied for the lowest in the SEC and the 48 errors are the most in the league.

The contest with the Bulls will be Florida’s eighth against Sunshine State competition in 2006. UF swept Miami and handled both Florida A&M and UCF but fell to Florida State and Stetson for a record of 5-2 (.714). The Gators lead the all-time series against the Bulls, 41-23, including a 25-8 advantage in Gainesville. USF is seeking its third consecutive win over the Gators, something that it has not done since the series began in 1969. The Bulls have taken back-to-back outings from Florida on five occasions.

--UF--

[OracleCamunas]

Gators are already up 1-0 on a Adam Davis first inning home run.  Davis hit a homerun in the first inning of the first of two games the Bulls faced Florida in 2005.

[OracleCamunas]

Higgins hits Matt LaPorta with the bases loaded bring home Matt Gaski. 2-0 Gators.