No.2 Florida 5, No.1 Miami 3: ‘Canes Fall Short, Swept on Sunday

The Florida Gators finished the sweep of the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon, winning the third game of the series by a score of 5-3.

Florida immediately got on the board in the first. A double and a walk gave the Gators runners on the corners, and a two-out RBI single from Jacob Young gave UF an early lead. The inning wasn’t over there however, because a grounder that should’ve been the final out wasn’t when Anthony Vilar was too late on his throw to second base, letting Kirby McMullen score on the play to make it 2-0.

Things got worse for Miami in the top of the second, when the eighth hitter in the Florida lineup, Josh Rivera, hit a home run over the scoreboard in left field to make the score 3-0 after two innings.

Miami got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. A walk from Tony Jenkins started the inning, and Adrian Del Castillo followed with a bloop-single that pushed Jenkins to third. Ray Gil then drove a sac-fly to score Jenkins and cut Florida’s lead to two after four innings.

Florida immediately extended the lead in the fifth with a Jud Fabian solo home run. Slade Cecconi got out of the inning after that, but his second outing of the season was one to forget.

The Hurricanes had another great run-scoring chance in the fifth. Two batters hit by a pitch and a single loaded the bases with two outs for Ray Gil, but Gil struck out and the inning was over. For the third consecutive day Miami missed far too many run-scoring chances. The ‘Canes left six runners on base through just five innings.

The seventh saw another runner left stranded in scoring position for Miami. Anthony Vilar led-off the inning with a single, and advanced to second on a Jordan Lala groundout. Tony Jenkins then grounded out to end the inning and strand Miami’s seventh runner of the afternoon.

In the eighth Miami cut Florida’s lead. A walk from Adrian Del Castillo started the inning, and Ray Gil followed him by sending a ball out of the park over the left field fence to cut UF’s lead to one heading to the ninth.

Florida extended their lead in the ninth with a double and a single off of freshman Jake Garland. The Hurricanes bullpen showed weaknesses this weekend that the offense couldn’t overcome.

Jordan Lala walked with two outs in the ninth. Tony Jenkins hit a ball out of the park just foul of the left-field foul pole in the ninth, but that was the closest Miami could come to tying.

Miami will hope to get back to winning against USF next Wednesday before facing Towson next weekend.

Game Stats

Winning Pitcher: Hunter Barco (1-0, 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K)

Losing Pitcher: Slade Cecconi (1-1, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K)

Save: Ryan Cabarcas (1)

(Box Score posted when available)

Next Game

Mid-week Vs. USF

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 26, 3:00 P.M. Eastern

Hurricanes Starter: Not announced

USF Starter: Not announced

Radio: WVUM 90.5 FM

Television: ACC Network