Heading into the fifth inning of its midweek game against USF with a 2-1 lead on Tuesday, the No. 10 Florida baseball team looked to tack on some insurance runs.
Richie Martin provided just that.
After a leadoff walk to freshman Dalton Guthrie, Martin blasted a 2-1 pitch from USF’s Tommy Eveld over the left field fence for a two-run homer.
UF added one more run in the frame before both teams went cold in the final four innings to give the Gators the 5-1 win over the Bulls to close out non-conference play.
Sophomore Dane Dunning led Florida (36-13) on the mound, giving up just one run while striking out a career-high eight batters in four innings of work to earn his fifth win of the year — all of which have come in non-conference play.
In his five non-conference starts, Dunning is a perfect 5-0 with 24 strikeouts and a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings of work, a staggering total compared to the righty’s seven Southeastern Conference starts (0-2, 28.0 IP, 5.46 ERA, 25 strikeouts).
Florida’s bullpen finished off USF (29-19-1), with the duo of Kirby Snead and Eric Hanhold giving up just one hit while striking out four in five innings of action.
The Gators opened up scoring in the bottom of the second, when the trio of Harrison Bader, Buddy Reed and JJ Schwarz hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to put two runs on the board.
The Bulls cut their deficit in half on a Kevin Merrell RBI-groundout in the top of the fifth before Florida answered with three runs in the home half of the frame to close out scoring.
UF and USF went a combined 2-for-23 in the final four innings.
Florida finished its non-conference slate with a 21-4 record.
Weekend Schedule: Florida has a short turnaround, starting a three-game series against No. 6 Vanderbilt (35-14, 17-7 Southeastern Conference) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Nashville, Tennessee. The first game will be televised on ESPNU.
The series continues Friday at 7:30 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. Friday’s game will air on SEC Network+ and Sunday’s finale will be on the SEC Network.
Both the Gators and Commodores are fighting for the spot at the top of the SEC as well as a chance for a top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament.
UF and Vanderbilt are the top-two teams in the SEC East, with the Commodores holding a two-game lead with six conference games remaining. Florida sits fourth in the SEC as a whole, also behind SEC West teams LSU and Texas A&M, which are both 16-7 in conference play.
Notes: Schwarz’s RBI double in the second inning gave him 50 RBIs on the season, which leads the SEC. … Florida is 57-24 all-time against USF, including 37-9 at McKethan Stadium. ... Freshman Christian Hicks earned the start at first base over sophomore Peter Alonso, who broke his nose during batting practice. Alonso is expected to be available for the Vanderbilt series. … Sophomore Ryan Larson hit his first career triple with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
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UF's Richie Martin follows through on his swing during Florida's 14-3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks on April 11 at McKethan Stadium.
