I was one of the few in attendance Wednesday as rain fell and the temperature plummeted at McKethan stadium to see Florida outlast Central Florida.  Florida built an early 7-0 lead before holding on to win 7-6 over the Golden Knights.  With drizzling rain that forced a 30 minute delay and fell well into the middle of the game, Florida was able to get just enough from the bullpen to hang on, as Kevin Chapman struck out Chris Duffy (LF) with one on in the 9^th to end it and earn his first career save.  Duffy was 3-4 at the time, and had hit a two run homer in the 8^th to cut the Gator lead to 7-5.

Florida starter Hudson Randall (1-0) went five strong innings and allowed only 3 hits all singles while striking out 3 and walking none.  The freshman continued a trend as the Florida starters have yet to allow an extra base hit or an earned run this season in 18.1 innings.  He was lifted to start the 6^th with a 4-0 lead.  Randall was extremely efficient, throwing 53 of his 71 pitches for strikes.

Nick Maronde relieved to start the 6^th and although he allowed singles to leadoff hitter Ronnie Richardson (CF) and cleanup hitter Beau Taylor (C), he escaped the inning unscathed.   It was in the 7^th that Maronde’s early season struggles reared their ugly head.  He allowed 5 hits (all singles) and 3 runs in the frame.  Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan choose to leave Maronde in with the large lead to try and work out of his struggles, visiting him on the mound but returning to the dugout alone.  The sophomore lefty finished with a line of 2 innings pitched, 7 hits, 3 runs all earned.  Amazingly this performance actually lowered his ERA which tells you how bad his last appearance was.

O’Sullivan turned to another reliever who had struggled in his last outing to start the 8^th.  Greg Larsen started the inning and showed he was still struggling as well as things went south quickly.  Jonathan Griffin (1B) led off with a single before Duffy hit the aforementioned home run to draw UCF to 7-5.  Larsen was able to strike out Austin Johnston (2B) before allowing a single to Chris Taladay (DH) which got O’Sullivan out of the dugout for a pitching change.  Chapman came on and had Michael Holmes (3B) sacrifice bunt Taladay to 2B to get to two outs.  Richardson then singled but a fielding error by Florida freshman right fielder Kamm Washington (PH 5^th for D. Pigott) allowed Richardson to come all the way around to third.  With the tying run only 90 feet from home, Chapman induced a fly ball to center by Darnell Sweeny (SS) to retire the side. 

In the 9^th Chapman got two quick outs before Griffin singled to bring the winning run to the plate.  Chapman struck out Duffy to end a game that had begun to feel like it was slipping away, and move Florida to 4-0.

The Gators continued their trend of scoring first, as they plated 3 runs in the 2^nd inning.  Bryson Smith (3B) lead off the inning with a double.  Daniel Pigott (RF) walked before Jonathan Pigott sacrifice bunted to move both runners into scoring position.  An RBI 4-3 ground out by Nolan Fontana (SS) scored Smith to open the scoring.  Mike Zunino (C) followed with his second consecutive two out RBI single (he won Sunday’s game against USF with two outs in the 10^th) to score Daniel Pigott.  Zunino then stole 2B on an aggressive play taking advantage of the rainy conditions.  Matt den Dekker (CF) then got his second single of the day to score Zunino. 

UF was able to make a two out rally in the 3^rd.  Smith was again central to the action as he singled with two outs.  Daniel Pigott then doubled to put runners on second and third.  Jonathan Pigott hit a sharp grounder to third that Holmes couldn’t handle but was ruled an infield hit to score Smith.  Fontana grounded to first to end the inning.

The Gators added their final 3 runs in the 6^th.  Fontana and Zunino both singled and den Dekker struck out to start the inning.  Adams doubled to score both base runners.  After Preston Tucker (1B) popped up to short, freshman Austin Maddox doubled to score Adams.  Smith walked but Washington grounded to first to end the inning.