Florida Gators

      Gators play to Hogs’ weaknesses

                Arkansas (8-5) opens conference play this weekend and continues their road trip to take on the Florida Gators in Gainesville.  Florida began the season splitting their first 10 games but have since won 6 of their last 7, and 5 in a row, to bring their record to 11-6 entering the series with Arkansas.  The Gators won their first series 2-1 against Maryland before going to Miami and losing 2 out of 3.  They also went 0-2 against Illinois, but swept Connecticut in 3 games last weekend.  All three games against UCONN were extra inning, 1 run games. 

                Arkansas has had a hard time winning one run games lately.  In fact, 4 of Arkansas’ 5 losses have come by 1 run, with the other loss being a 2 run margin.  They have not fared well on the road so far either, losing 3 out of 4 last week in the Cal Baseball Classic in Berkeley.  But this weekend is a new opportunity to get things going in conference play and the Hogs will look to continue their recent success against Florida.  They have won 12 of the last 18 meetings against the Gators including 5 of the last 6 in Gainesville.

                Florida comes into the series with a .257 team batting average, 4 home runs and 66 runs driven in.  The Gators get on base at a .334 clip and have stolen 11 bases in 16 attempts while committing 18 errors for a .973 fielding percentage.  They are led by leadoff sophomore shortstop Richie Martin who owns a .347 average including 25 hits, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 7 RBI, and is 6 out of 7 stolen bases.  Martin has reached base in 16 of 17 games and sports a .415 on base percentage which has helped him average a run scored per game.  Keeping Martin off the base paths will be a key to the series as he has scored almost 25% of Florida’s runs.  Junior Catcher Taylor Gushue (.306) leads the team in home runs (2) and RBI (15) while also hitting 6 doubles on the way to a .500 slugging percentage.  He does, however, have 15 strikeouts to only 5 walks, making him a dangerous feast or famine hitter. 

                Braden Mattson is a junior utility player who has spent some time at first and catcher before settling into the outfield.  He brings a .296 average to the weekend series and is 9 for 18 with runners in scoring position.  8 of his 11 RBI have come with 2 outs.  Junior third baseman Josh Tobias started the season 0 for 14 but is 10 for his last 25 (.400) to raise his average to .256.  Freshman first baseman Peter Alonso (.281) has 16 hits with a double, a triple, and 4 RBI. 

                As a team, Florida owns a 3.16 team ERA in 154 innings with a 126/49 strikeout to walk ratio and teams are hitting .243 against them.  The Gator’s will start two freshmen and a sophomore this weekend who are combined 3-3 with a 1.97 ERA over 45.2 innings.  Friday we will see freshman right hander Logan Shore take the mound.  Shore is 0-1 in 3 starts and has allowed only 1 earned run in 20 innings with 16 strikeouts to only 2 walks.  Eric Hanhold is a sophomore righty who will be making his first start of the season on Saturday.  In 10 relief appearances he is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA over 13.2 innings with 14 strikeouts.  Hitters are only batting .191 against him, including 1 for 19 with runners on base, but he has shown some problems with control at times while hitting 4 batters and walking 6.  Freshman LHP/1B A.J. Puk will make his third start of the season on Sunday.  In 5 appearances Puk has thrown 12 innings allowing 12 hits, 4 walks and 5 earned runs while striking out 15 and hitting 3 batters.  He is also 4 for 19 at the dish with 2 RBI in time as a DH. 

                The Gator bullpen has factored into most of the team’s decisions with a 9-1 record, 6 saves and 2.95 ERA.  Junior LHP Bobby Poyner has 3 starts in 7 appearances and has a 2.76 ERA over 16.1 innings with 15 strikeouts and 4 walks.  Ryan Harris, a junior RHP, has been dominant over 12 innings, allowing only 1 earned run on 6 hits and 4 strikeouts while working around 5 walks in 10 appearances.  Sophomore righty Aaron Rhodes has 8 appearances and 15.2 innings with a 2.30 ERA, 12 strikeouts and 6 walks.  Danny Young is a sophomore LHP with 1 start in 11 appearances allowing 3 earned runs over 15 innings with 14 strikeouts and 3 walks.

                Arkansas’ struggles look to play into Florida’s strengths.  The Hogs struggle to get hits with runners on base while the Gators have worked out of trouble well so far this season thanks to the effort of a strong bullpen.  Florida strikes out batters at a high rate so Arkansas will need to protect the plate and be patient to get runners in scoring position with less than two outs.  If the Hogs can continue pitching the way they have so far this season they should not have much problem keeping the game low scoring.  Keeping Martin off the base paths and the ball out of Gushue’s wheelhouse should be on the top of everyone’s scouting report.  Arkansas cannot afford to give this Gators team second chances with errors and walks.  It is a good thing Florida’s strengths are not as strong as Arkansas will face this season so the Hogs can try and catch fire this weekend and strengthen their hitting for the remaining slate.