Tuesday College Roundup: Gators ‘Break The Spell’



It was a particularly rich Tuesday in college baseball, chock full of marquee matchups and showdowns. Here's a rundown:

• No. 1 Florida finally figured out No. 5 Florida State, earning a come-from-behind, 5-4 victory in 10 innings in Gainesville. The Seminoles had won five of the six previous meetings between the teams, and they led 4-2 in the eighth inning Tuesday, but red-hot UF outfielder Daniel Pigott delivered a game-tying two-run single up the middle in the eighth, then came through again with a walk-off RBI single up the middle off All-American Mike McGee in the 10th. "This was really big for us," Pigott, who leads Florida with a .483/.508/.707 line and 18 RBIs, said in an on-field interview at the end of the FSN broadcast. "We needed something like this just to push our team through. We needed to break the spell of not beating Florida State and them getting the best of us. So it was really good, we really needed it for the team morale, and now we can go to LSU on a really high note and be really confident in our abilities."

• No. 9 Arizona State won the opener of its two-game midweek series against No. 3 Oklahoma, 6-2, in Tempe. Sun Devils ace Brady Rodgers, sideliend for the last three weekends with arm stiffness, returned to the mound and struck out five over three innings of one-hit, shutout work. Five different Sun Devils had RBIs in a balanced attack, and three ASU pitchers held Oklahoma's potent offense to just four hits.

• Jason Esposito homered and drove in four to lead No. 2 Vanderbilt past Purdue, 9-0. Lefthander Kevin Ziomek allowed just two hits over five scoreless, and Jack Armstrong made his first appearance of the season, striking out three and walking two in a scoreless ninth. Armstrong had been sidelined with a back injury.

• Furman upset No. 4 South Carolina, 4-2, in Greenville, S.C. Taylor Johnson had three hits to lead the Paladins (7-11), while the Gamecocks mustered just six hits and lost their second straight game—matching their longest losing streak in all of 2010.

• No. 10 Texas Christian was upset for the second time in three games, falling at Texas-Arlington, 3-2. The Mavericks broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the eighth off freshman Stefan Crichton. The post-Michael Choice era is off to a solid start for the Mavericks (9-7), who won a series at Sam Houston State this past weekend and own two wins apiece against Wichita State and Dallas Baptist.

• Cal State Fullerton dropped its fourth straight game, getting blanked at Texas A&M, 2-0. Ross Stripling (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) outdueled Jake Floethe (7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), as the Aggies scored two runs when Nick Ramirez made a seventh-inning error on a routine ground ball that would have ended the inning. Shoddy defense also torpedoed the Titans this weekend at Louisiana State. Fullerton put two men on with one out in the ninth, but ace John Stilson made his first relief appearance of the season for the Aggies and picked up the final two outs.

• Arizona's bullpen couldn't hold a 5-1 lead heading into the eighth inning, as Wichita State scored two runs in each of the next two frames to force extra innings, then won it on Johnny Coy's walk-off RBI single in the 11th. Coy also started the comeback with a two-run single in the eighth. Flame-throwing lefty Bryce Bandilla (3.2 IP, 5 H< 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K) took the loss for Arizona.

• Five Texas pitchers held Texas State's potent offense to three hits in the Longhorns' 3-1 win in Austin.

• Coastal Carolina won the first of two midweek games at San Diego, 8-3. USD started stud freshman Dylan Covey, who did not pitch this weekend due to illness, and the Chanticleers battered him for five runs on six hits and four walks over three innings. Tommy La Stella led the way for Coastal, collecting three hits and three RBIs.

• Freshman Matt Grimes (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) improved to 3-1 in Georgia Tech's 4-3 win against Georgia Southern. The Yellow Jackets improved to 2-1 this season against the Eagles, with the final meeting between the two scheduled for Wednesday.

• Four Auburn pitchers held Alabama to four hits in the Tigers' 2-1 win against their bitter rivals in Montgomery. Dan Gamache's second-inning home run proved the game-winner.

• Chris Slater hit a walk-off double in the 11th inning to push Baylor past Florida International, 7-6, and give Bears coach Steve Smith his 600th career win. Baylor has won seven straight, and has three walk-off victories this yaer.

• Tulane continued its strong play despite a host of injuries, avenging an early-season loss to Southeastern Louisiana with a 7-3 win. With Robby Broach out until this weekend at least, and Alex Byo now banged up and listed as day-to-day, the Green Wave started a middle reliever for the second straight game and got five strong innings out of David Napoli (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER).



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5 Comments

With all the incredible upsets this year – Princeton winning a game at LSU, Furman winning at South Carolina, Houston Baptist beating Rice to name a few – is this business as usual and I just haven't noticed before, or is this a sign that the talent gap between elite programs and the rest is closing?

Heh, sorry, it was Houston Baptist beating TCU, not Rice.  But my question still stands.

Fullerton is really struggling with the bats. They have they arms but holy cow…Floethe pitched his A## off and has a big L next to his name…I know its early but holy cow something has to change.

hey, why isn't Matt Duffy 3rd baseman for Tennessee getting any publicity. he is ripping the cover off the ball and may be the hottest hitter in the SEC

Look for  ASU to move up in the standings after beating the Sooners twice, now that they got their Friday night starter back in Rodgers. The Devils are getting timely hits, playing outstanding defense, and their pitching IMO has been a nice surprise. Now, if only the NCAA would lift that …


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  • Aaron Fitt is the lead college writer for Baseball America. If you have questions or comments about college baseball you can e-mail him at collegeblog@baseballamerica.com.

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