USF Baseball Takes on Florida

The USF Bulls, 27-14 (11-4), take a break from conference play, but face a huge test as they hit the road for a one game non-conference match-up against the 1st ranked Florida Gators (game starts at 7PM).  The Gators are 31-9 (11-7) on the season and are 21-4 at home, posing a huge challenge for the Bulls.  Let's see what they will be facing in this game. 

The Gators are led by junior catcher Mike Zunino (6-2 220-pounds) who is batting .336 with 11 home runs and has 41 RBIs on the season.  Junior infielder Nolan Fontana (5-11 190-pounds) is batting .311 with 7 home runs, 23 RBIs, and has 8 steals on the season (leads the team).  Junior 1B Brian Johnson (6-3 235-pounds) is batting .337 with 5 home runs and has 29 RBIs on the year.  Senior infielder Preston Tucker (6-0 220-pounds) is batting .316 with 10 home runs and has 31 RBIs on the season. The Gators have a powerful lineup that has home run threats up and down the lineup.  This will be a real challenge for the USF pitching staff.

The Gator pitching staff is led by LHP Brian Johnson who is 5-2 on the year (4.04 ERA) while working 55.2 innings, allowing 57 hits, 11 walks, and has struck out 44 batters.  Senior RHP Greg Larson (6-8 235-pounds) is 5-0 (1.78 ERA) while working 35.1innings, allowing 23 hits, 7 walks, and has struck out 29 batters.  Junior RHP Austin Maddox (6-3 235-pounds) is 2-2 on the year with 11 saves while working 42.2 innings, allowing 30 hits, 7 walks and has struck out 47 batters.  Sophomore LHP Daniel Gibson (6-3 220-pounds) is 1-0 with 1 save while working 18.2 innings, allowing 3 hits, 6 walks, and has struck out 14 batters.  The UF pitching staff is strong, so the USF hitters will have to work counts and get on base and try to move runners over to take advantage. 

This is going to be a real challenge for the Bulls.  A win like this would be huge for the team.  The Bulls will return to Tampa on Friday to take on Villanova for another big Big East series.