Gator Baseball Drops Midweek Contest to Dolphins

The Jacksonville Dolphins always seem to play the Florida Gator baseball team tough…and Tuesday night was no different in Gainesville.

The Dolphins beat the top ranked Florida Gators 8-4 at Alfred McKethan Stadium. JU roughed up Gator pitching to the tune of 13 hits against five Florida arms.  The damage was done to starting pitcher Jack Leftwich and relievers Austin Langworthy and Nick Horvath, who have not seen a lot of action on the mound so far this season.   They may have been a bit rusty as the Gator saved their main arms for a big series at Kentucky that starts Thursday in Lexington.

Caught Looking Ahead?

The beginning of the ballgame was business as usual for Florida as they got out to an early 2-0 lead.  Wil Dalton hit a lead off home run in the second inning and an inning later Keenan Bell scored on a Jonathan India fielders choice.

India was the hottest hitter on the field for the Gators as he went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. India extended his career-long hit streak to 24 straight games.

India hit streak counter: 2️⃣4️⃣

This RBI double cut the deficit to one!

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— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 17, 2018

After three hitless innings, Jack Leftwich’s outing went south. Angel Camacho collected an RBI single on a ball hit to the right-center gap. Jacksonville would go on to score two more runs in the fourth inning, giving them a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom half of the 4th, J.J. Schwarz tied the game up when he scored on a Blake Reese fielder’s choice. Evan Fernandez wasted no time getting the lead back for JU as he hit a solo home run to left field in the top of the fifth. John Casala added some insurance with his RBI single that gave the Dolphins a two run advantage.

Over the course of the next two innings, Jacksonville scored three runs on a Nick Horvath balk and a John Casala two-run home run.

Big SEC Weekend

Florida will have to recover from the tough loss quickly as they have a date with the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington.

The number six Wildcats also lost their mid-week match-up as they lost to the Louisville Cardinals 8-2. The series opener on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The game will be live televised on the SEC Network and can be heard on the Gators IMG Sports Network.

It wasn't our night tonight. But we get to play again Thursday in another Top 10 SEC matchup.

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— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 18, 2018