GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Sophomore Logan Shore and senior Bobby Poyner combined on a three-hitter and freshman JJ Schwarz drove in the game’s only run with a sixth-inning double to lift No. 3 Florida (8-1) to a 1-0 victory against Stony Brook (2-5) on Friday night at McKethan Stadium. The triumph was the 300th for eighth-year Gator head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who reached the plateau the fastest in school history.
Junior Jack Parenty led off the game with a double down the left-field line for the Seawolves and took third on a wild pitch. However, Shore (2-0) had a fielder’s choice by senior Robert Chavarria cut down Parenty and had senior Cole Peragine line into an inning-ending double play. That was the lone hit allowed by the Florida right-hander over 6.1 innings.
Schwarz broke the scoreless tie in the sixth with a double into the left-field corner that scored junior Harrison Bader (3-for-4), who had opened the frame with an infield single. Freshman Kevin Kernan replaced junior Tim Knesnik (0-2, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R) and a fielder’s choice by freshman Mike Rivera latererased Schwarz on a 5-2-6-1-5 putout. With Rivera at second base, Kernan had junior pinch hitter Mike Fahrman fly out to center field to hold the Seawolves’ deficit at a run.
Shore issued a one-out walk in the seventh to Peragine and Poyner was summoned from the bullpen. The left-hander caught sophomore Casey Baker looking on strikes and had a grounder by Johnny Caputo force the runner at second to complete the stanza.
After junior Richie Martin was hit by a pitch and Bader singled into right field to begin UF’s eighth, the Seawolves called upon junior Chad Lee. The righty retired the next three Gators to hold his team’s deficit at 1-0. Poyner yielded a one-out single to Chavarria in the ninth but then had Peragine hit into a game-ending 4-3 double play, the third turned by the hosts. The southpaw worked 2.2 scoreless innings to notch his first save of the year.
