Florida baseball defeats USF Bulls

The Florida baseball team enjoyed a six-run fifth inning to top the USF Bulls 12-1 on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium. The Gators snapped the Bulls’ 12-game winning streak, and they’ve now won 12 of their last 15 games. With the win, Florida improves to 23-19 on the season, and USF falls to 26-5. UF is now 10-7 against teams from the Sunshine State this season.

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan gave lefty Bobby Poyner the start on the mound. Poyner went 3.1 innings, allowing four hits and one run on 56 pitches. O’Sullivan thought Poyner threw well in his third-longest outing of the season.

The Gator bullpen tossed 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of Poyner, using six pitchers in Tuesday night’s game.

The big star out of the pen was Ryan Harris, who went 1.2 innings, gave up no hits and no runs while striking out three. He came into the game with the bases loaded and no one out and didn’t allow a run. Harris said that he always comes to the ballpark ready to be called upon in a big situation.

The Gators exploded for six runs on five hits in the fifth, and they sent 10 batters to the plate to take the game by the horns. The six-run fifth was also the fourth time this season that Florida has scored six or more runs in an inning.

The 12 runs scored by Florida marks the third time this season that the Orange and Blue have scored 10 or more runs in a game, and the total is the third most scored in a game so far this season. Harris said that when the lineup is hitting well, it takes a lot of pressure off of the pitching staff.

Florida will turn its attention to this weekend’s series with the Tennessee Volunteers. You can catch all the action between the Gators and the Vols on Country 103.7 The Gator beginning 6:55 p.m. Friday.