Florida Gators Hold Off Bethune-Cookman in Baseball Thriller, 5-3
Brian Harvey

(GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mar. 27, 2007)  Florida and Bethune-Cookman were tangled in one of the best battles in the series on Tuesday night, but it was the Gators of Florida coming out on top by a score of 5-3 at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

For whoever thought the University of Florida was simply going to walk to their 20th consecutive win over the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman (12-18), they were sorely mistaken.

“That is a great ball team we beat, and we have a lot of respect for that program because they are very-well coached and play great baseball,” stated UF head coach Pat McMahon.  “They really have a good team, and we came into this game knowing it would be a tight game, and it was.”

However, for Bethune-Cookman, it would be the same old story in the end.  The ‘Cats had one of their best hitters in the form of Angel Negron with runners on first and second.  But a long fly ball to straight away centerfield ended the threat of the possible win in the end.

The Gators (15-13) put up a big sixth inning for the second consecutive year against the ‘Cats when Brian Leclerc doubled to right field, allowing teammate Matt LaPorta to single to centerfield for the tying score at 2-2.

Florida went out on top just three batters later when, following another Hiram Burgos strikeout, designated hitter Austin Pride registered his sixth homerun of the year with a shot just over the right field wall to put the Gators out in front, 4-2.

B-CU cut the lead in the eighth frame when they threatened hard with runners on the corner with one out.  But that was after sophomore catcher Alejandro Jimenez collected an RBI on a ground out that scored Angel Mercado.  Mercado reached safely to start the inning with a single, followed by a single from Angel Negron.

With the score sitting at 4-3 in favor of Florida, back-to-back tough plays helped the Gators hole onto the lead.

Pinch hitter Orlando Bacon recorded a swinging chop that stayed fair right in front of the plate, but unfortunately Negron had taken off for the plate.  That allowed relief pitcher Patrick Keating to record the out.  Following that play, third baseman Luis Gonzalez hit a rocket down the first base line … but it was snagged off the glove/show of LaPorta as he reached in front and just tagged the base in time to keep the tying run off the plate with the out.

That’s when Florida cushioned their lead once again as a leadoff homerun by the hero of the game, LaPorta, advanced UF’s lead to 5-3.  The homerun came off relief pitcher Phil Enright, who entered the game for Felix Machado.

Trailing 1-0 after three innings of play, B-CU gained the lead when designated hitter Michael Range collected his fourth RBI if the year with a two-run single up the middle that plated Angel Negron and Chris Brown for the 2-1 advantage.  Negron reached base on a throwing error charged to the Gators infield, while Brown singled to right field.

UF jumped on the board first in the bottom of the third inning when starting pitcher Hiram Burgos allowed the first three batters to reach safely via two hits and a walk.  That’s when right fielder Brian Leclerc hit into the second double play of the day turned by the ‘Cats, but it did allow Cody Neer to cross the game’s opening run, 1-0.

“We didn’t come in here just to play well,” stated B-CU head coach Mervyl Melendez.  “We came in prepared for a win, and once again we were in a perfect situation to pull off another big win for our team and this program tonight.”

The win went to Tom Davis out of the bullpen for the Gators, improving his record to 1-0 on the year.  For UF, they used six pitchers on the night in an attempt to keep the Wildcats bats off-balance.  But B-CU was prepared as they mustered up the three runs on eight team hits.

B-CU’s Burgos took the tough loss tonight, dropping his record to 1-4 on the campaign.  Patrick Keating collected his second save for the Gators.

Doing damage at the plate for the Wildcats was shortstop Chris Henault with a 2-for-4 night, as well as designated hitter Michael Range with a 1-for-1 night and two RBI.

For the Gators of UF, it was Leclerc doing the work as he went 2-for-4 with one run scored.  Also performing well at the dish was LaPorta with a 2-for-4 night including two runs and two RBI.

For the ‘Cats it was their fourth game this year they lost with the go-ahead run either at the plate or on the bases.

With the loss tonight, Bethune-Cookman remains winless against their intrastate foes from Gainesville with a 0-for-20 count.  Florida State, Florida and Miami remain the only teams in Florida the Wildcats have yet to taste victory against all-time.

B-CU gets back to the field very shortly when they board up and head to the Midwest this weekend for a three-game set with Oral Roberts University on Mar. 30.  The Wildcats will be traveling to Tulsa, Ok. for the second consecutive year after making the trek last season.  The Golden Eagles took the series against the ‘Cats, 2-1, with B-CU winning the final game of the series.

--BCU--