Florida Gators
Fairfield
Balanced Effort Leads No. 3 Gators Past Fairfield, 6-1
Thursday, March 12, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Using a balanced offensive performance and solid pitching, No. 3 Florida (16-2) beat Fairfield (0-5) 6-1 on Wednesday night at McKethan Stadium. Freshman second baseman Dalton Guthrie (3-for-5) had his team-leading 10th multi-hit game of the season and left fielder Ryan Larson (1-for-2) had a pair of RBI in the eighth to provide the final margin of victory.
Florida got on the board first in the third inning. Freshman right fielder Logan Browning laced a double down the right field line and two batters later Guthrie roped the first pitch he saw down the left field line for a double to score Browning. Richie Martin followed with a double of his own to plate Guthrie (pictured) and give the Gators a 2-0 lead. 
Freshman starting pitcher Alex Faedo hit his pitch count after tossing three scoreless innings and allowing just two hits with a career-high five strikeouts. His replacement, righty Mike Vinson, picked up where he left off with a 1-2-3 fourth inning.
In the bottom half of the fourth, freshman JJ Schwarz had his second hit of the night and scored on Mike Rivera's double to the left centerfield wall. Following a walk by Larson, Guthrie picked up his third hit of the night that resulted in Rivera getting caught in a rundown but eventually scoring on a throwing error to give UF a 4-0 lead.
Vinson completed three scoreless innings on the mound, giving up just one hit on the night before being relieved by left-hander Danny Young entering the seventh. After an error allowed the Stags leadoff hitter to reach, things looked dicey following a pair of hits that got Fairfield on the board. Young limited the damage to one unearned run and the Gators held their 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Jeremy Vasquez was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and was replaced by a pinch runner. Rivera followed with a walk and Browning laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Larson took an 0-1 pitch right back up the middle to bring home both runners and give the Gators a 6-1 lead.
Lefty Bobby Poyner came on in relief in the ninth inning and blanked the Stags, securing the win for the Gators.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan:
On the pitching performance tonight:
“I think that [Alex Faedo] was a little nervous on his first start, and you could tell because he was missing arm side, but after he got through the first two innings, he struck out the side in the third inning and was really good. I am really pleased with him getting his first start, and I thought that he threw the ball very well under the circumstances. And with Mike Vincent, that is probably the best that he has thrown since he has been here and I am really pleased. I thought that Danny [Young] did a nice job with damage control after we made the error at first base. I thought that Brett [Morales] looked great and that he had life on his fastball slider that he has been working on with a different pitch form. I thought he looked good. Then Bobby [Poyner] came in and did exactly what we wanted him to do in the ninth.”
On the Gators' offensive performance tonight:
“Offensively, I thought that Dalton [Guthrie] had another big night with three hits and JJ [Schwarz] had a couple knocks as well. We got contributions from a lot of different people up and down the lineup. Overall, this was a very clean game for us other than the error from Jeremy [Vasquez] at first. We threw strikes for the most part and only walked two guys and I thought we had really crisp at bats.”
On Fairfield's performance:
“That's a really quality Fairfield team. I told their coach at the end of the game that I was really impressed with how they played the last two games and I would not be surprised if we see them playing somewhere down the road. I think that they have a chance to be a really good club. Their starting pitcher [Aaron Howell] was really good, he was throwing 89-91 mph, his misses were small and he was locating his breaking ball on both sides of the plate. I was very impressed. I know they aren't off to the start that they want, but I was very impressed with how they played here the last two days.”
Junior shortstop Richie Martin
On the series against Fairfield:
“It's good to get a test like this. It prepares us for the SEC teams. Every team in the SEC is going to be strong, and they're always going to put up a fight. This was a pretty good Fairfield team. It was nice to get this test and overcome it.”
Junior left-hander Danny Young
On getting out of the jam in the seventh inning:
“I had to slow it down. I fell behind 2-0 [in the count], and I have to do a better job. I need to slow the game down and make pitches. The ball wasn't getting hit that hard, just a couple weak singles. [Fairfield has] a good lineup. Fortunately, I was able to get out of it.”
Freshman second baseman Dalton Guthrie
On tonight's game:
“I think we had a good approach today against [starting pitcher Aaron Howell]. He was pretty good, but we tried to jump on him early. We got some knocks and strung some good innings together.”
On entering into SEC play this weekend:
“I'm excited. I've heard it gets pretty intense, and it's nothing like I've been exposed to before. I'm excited that Tennessee is coming in this weekend. The older players say it's completely different, it'll be intense and nerve-wracking, and the games are going to be closer. I'm just looking forward to good battles.”
Postgame Notes
- Freshman Logan Browning led off the third inning with a double down the right field line, the first extra-base hit of his career.
- The Gators scored two runs on three doubles in the third. (Browning, Guthrie, Martin)
- Freshman JJ Schwarz had two hits in his first two at bats, marking his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
- Guthrie had his second three-hit game of the season and team-leading 10th multi-hit game this year.
- Sophomore center fielder Buddy Reed extended his hitting streak to six games with a single in the seventh.
Up Next
The Gators open Southeastern Conference play this weekend, hosting a three-game series against the Tennessee Volunteers. All three games can be seen on the SEC Network+ digital platform and can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.
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