GatorBait.net - Gators prevail over instate rival

March 17, 2009

Mike Hodge
GatorBait.net Assistant Editor

A single swing ended a weekend's worth of frustration. Buddy Munroe smacked a line drive to right field Tuesday, a game-winning, walk-off hit that lifted Florida to a dramatic 5-4 victory over Florida State.

The win over the visiting Seminoles ended a three-game losing streak, a big reason why Gator players spilled on to the diamond and mobbed Munroe as he circled second before a McKethan Stadium crowd of 3,369.

Forgotten, at least for a moment, were last weekend's three losses at Arkansas. A win over a rival served as redemption.

"It's a big win," Munroe said. "It's an in-state rivalry. Hopefully, we can get it going in the right direction. We're definitely looking forward to a good streak coming up."

Munroe finished with three hits and two RBI, reaching first base each of his first three at-bats.

The ninth-inning liner scored Matt den Dekker from third. Den Dekker led off the Gators' last at-bat with a single to left, advanced to second on a wild pitch and made third on Brandon McArthur's bunt.

Riley Cooper struck out. Clayton Pisani drew an intentional walk, loading the bases for Munroe, who came through with the big hit on a 2-2 count.

"It felt great," Munroe said. "I was telling some of my teammates that I was really looking forward to it if came down to me. I delivered, so I'm happy."

Offensively, the No. 25 Gators (10-7) were led by Jerico Weitzel and McArthur, who collected two hits apiece. Josh Adams and Ben McMahan each chipped in one hit.

UF was out-hit 15-10 by FSU (9-7), but turned two bases-loaded double plays in the sixth and seventh innings and got a quality start from freshman left-hander Alex Panteliodis as well as nice work out of the bullpen by Greg Larson, Billy Bullock and Tony Davis.

"Coming off a rough weekend, we definitely wanted to step it up," McArthur said. "Hopefully, this sets us in the right mood and we can change things around."

Davis, who came on in relief of Patrick Keating, a weekend starter who has come out of the bullpen of late to rest a tired right arm, retired three straight batters after Keating had given up three straight hits to open the ninth, which allowed FSU to tie the game 4-4.

But once called upon, Davis (1-0) held firm. He allowed a sac fly to Jason Stidham and then retired the next two batters with a strikeout and flyball to right.

Florida, which committed five errors Sunday against Arkansas, did not make an error against FSU, which had four errors, three in the seventh inning, which led to two runs.

The Gators visit UCF tonight and then host Tennessee this weekend in their first SEC home series of the spring.

"This team's been down on itself lately," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We had a tough weekend. We had long talk tonight before the game. We just tried to wipe the slate clean. I thought we dealt with the adversity well. There were a lot of positives. We got a long way to go, a lot of things to work on. I think this team needed a win in the worst way. I was real proud of the way they battled tonight."


Box Score
                      2009 University of Florida Baseball
                        #17 Florida State at #25 Florida
              Mar 17, 2009 at Gainesville, Fla. (McKethan Stadium)

Florida State 4 (9-7)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Holt cf............  5  2  3  0   0  1  0  0   1
Tommy Oravetz dh.........  4  1  2  1   1  0  0  0   0
Stuart Tapley 3b.........  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  1   2
Jason Stidham 2b.........  3  0  2  1   1  0  1  3   0
Jack Posey 1b............  3  0  2  1   0  0  6  0   0
 Mike Meschke ph/1b......  2  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
Stephen Cardullo ss......  4  0  2  1   0  1  1  2   2
Ohmed Danesh lf/rf.......  4  0  0  0   0  3  2  0   2
D'Vontrey Richardson rf..  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 James Ramsey ph/lf......  1  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
 Sean Gilmartin ph/rf....  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
Rafael Lopez c...........  4  1  3  0   0  0 12  2   1
Brian Busch p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Geoff Parker p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Mike McGee p/lf.........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 John Gast p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Bo O'Dell p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Jimmy Marshall p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  4 15  4   3  9 25  9  11

Florida 5 (10-7)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Avery Barnes lf..........  5  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   5
Ben McMahan dh...........  2  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
 Tyler Thompson ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
 Jonathan Pigott ph/dh...  0  1  0  0   2  0  0  0   0
Josh Adams ss............  4  1  1  0   1  1  2  4   1
Matt den Dekker cf.......  3  2  1  0   1  1  2  0   0
Brandon McArthur 1b......  5  0  2  2   0  2  8  0   2
 Daniel Pigott pr........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Riley Cooper rf..........  4  1  0  0   1  3  2  0   1
Clayton Pisani 3b........  4  0  0  0   1  2  0  2   0
Buddy Munroe c...........  5  0  3  2   0  1 10  2   2
Jerico Weitzel 2b........  4  0  2  0   0  2  1  3   0
Alex Panteliodis p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Clint Franklin p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Kevin Chapman p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Greg Larson p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Billy Bullock p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Patrick Keating p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Tony Davis p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 37  5 10  4   6 14 27 13  14

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Florida State....... 000 002 002 -  4 15  4
Florida............. 001 001 201 -  5 10  0
-------------------------------------------

Note: 1 out, 3 runners LOB when the game ended.

E - Posey, J.(1); Cardullo, S.(7); Parker, G.(2); Gast, J.(1). DP - Gators
2. LOB - Seminoles 11; Gators 14. 2B - Holt, T.(11); Oravetz, T.(2); Posey,
J.(1); Cardullo, S.(2). HBP - Cardullo, S.. SH - Tapley, S.(1); den
Dekker(2). SF - Stidham, J.(3). SB - Cooper(2). CS - Stidham, J.(2).

Florida State          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Brian Busch.........  2.2  5  1  1  1  4 12 14  53
Geoff Parker........  2.2  0  1  1  1  5  9 10  44
Mike McGee..........  0.1  1  0  0  0  1  2  2  10
John Gast...........  0.2  1  2  0  2  1  4  6  28
Bo O'Dell...........  0.2  0  0  0  0  1  3  3   8
Jimmy Marshall......  1.1  3  1  1  2  2  7  9  42

Florida                IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Alex Panteliodis....  4.1  5  0  0  0  5 16 16  73
Clint Franklin......  1.0  1  2  2  1  1  3  5  20
Kevin Chapman.......  0.0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1   4
Greg Larson.........  1.0  4  0  0  0  0  6  7  24
Billy Bullock.......  1.2  2  0  0  0  2  6  6  28
Patrick Keating.....  0.0  3  2  2  1  0  3  4  17
Tony Davis..........  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  2  3  12

Win - T. Davis (1-0).  Loss - Marshall, J. (1-1).  Save - None.
WP - Marshall, J.(1). HBP - by Larson (Cardullo, S.). PB - Lopez, R. 2(9).
Inherited runners/scored: Parker, G. 1/0; McGee, M. 1/1; Gast, J. 1/0; O'Dell,
B. 2/1; Franklin 1/0; Chapman 2/0; Larson 3/2; Bullock 3/0; T. Davis 3/1.
Pitches/strikes: Busch, B. 53/34; Parker, G. 44/24; McGee, M. 10/7; Gast, J.
28/13; O'Dell, B. 8/6; Marshall, J. 42/23; Panteliodis 73/48; Franklin 20/11;
Chapman 4/0; Larson 24/15; Bullock 28/19; Keating 17/10; T. Davis 12/9.
Umpires - HP: David Savage  1B: Randy Watkins  3B: Arthur Schmidt
Start: 6:35 pm   Time: 3:51   Attendance: 3369
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 77; Wind: 9 NE
Chapman faced 1 batter in the 6th.
Keating faced 4 batters in the 9th.
Game: FSU1

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