Tag: FAMU Rattlers

Kowacie Reeves returns to Florida lineup, Gators cruise past FAMU

You know it’s a good game when Alex Klatsky and Jack May get to play. Florida routed Florida A&M, 102-62, Wednesday night.

Florida needed to make a statement after falling to West Virginia by 29 points in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament, and the Gators answered with a 40-point rout of the Florida A&M Rattlers that ended 102-62.

The Gators came out of the gate hot and never really looked back against a lesser opponent. The big story coming into the game was how many minutes [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag] would get after playing minimal time in Portland. Injuries to Florida’s starting guards, [autotag]Kyle Lofton[/autotag] and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag], forced Reeves back in the starting lineup, and the sophomore shined… at least in the first half.

[autotag]Trey Bonham[/autotag], who started at point guard, was lights out from three-point range, setting a school record on 7-of-7 shooting from deep, and he led all scorers with 23 points. [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] wasn’t the dominant big man he was earlier in the season, but [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag] made up for it off the bench with a double-double.

Even [autotag]Jack May[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Klatsky[/autotag] got some playing time against FAMU, which is the hallmark of a blowout Gators win. Florida needed this one badly, but it won’t mean much in the long run.

Stetson is up next on Sunday, and then it’s time for another test as Connecticut comes to town on Wednesday.

Florida hoping to bounce back against FAMU after sloppy tournament performance

Florida’s performance in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament left a lot to be desired, but the Gators are back at home Wednesday night against the FAMU Rattlers.

After an ugly performance at the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament in Portland, Oregon, that saw Florida drop two of three games, the Gators are back in the O’Connell Center for a three-game home stand and are hoping to kick things off with a win over Florida A&M Wednesday night.

The big story coming into this one is sophomore wing [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag], who played just eight minutes for Florida in the recent tournament. Head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] took responsibility for Reeves’ lack of minutes saying he lost track of the rotations and accidentally kept Reeves out of the game, but that isn’t clicking with everyone in Gator Nation.

Golden’s niche is tracking stats, and to think that he simply forgot about a player that shows tremendous upside and started the first four games for Florida just doesn’t seem believable. The first thing that comes to mind is that Reeves is being disciplined for something, but Golden has gone on record saying that there’s nothing punitive about the change in minutes. He also said that Reeves would be back on the court Wednesday night, so those who follow the team closely will want to keep an eye on when Reeves checks in and checks out against a fairly beatable opponent.

Speaking of Florida A&M, the Rattlers are off to a rough start this season. A 1-4 record leaves plenty to be desired, but the alarming statistic here is that FAMU was held to 54 points or less through its first three games of the year. The Rattlers put up 61 in a 26-point loss to Miami and 70 in a win over Albany State University, but it’s safe to say that scoring is not their forte.

FAMU might also struggle to contain Florida’s big man, [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag]. The Rattlers lack a true big man to match up with Castleton’s height, which should get him back on track in the scoring column. His production plummeted in Portland and his scoring average dropped from a near 25 points per game to just under nine over the tournament. Still, Castleton has had back-to-back 30-point games this season against similar competition, so this would be his bounce-back game if ever there was one.

Florida enters the game as the heavy favorite and should come out victorious, but the margin of victory matters here. A 20-point win is expected and anything less could indicate bigger problems for the team. That said, expect Todd Golden to use this stretch to figure out his lineup and rotation issues.

Tip-off is at 8 p.m. EST in the O’Connell Center in Gainesville.

Projected Starting Lineups:

FLORIDA

Player Pos H/W Class
CJ Felder F 6-7 / 240 Senior
Colin Castleton F 6-11 / 250 5th Year
[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] G 6-4 / 206 Sophomore
[autotag]Kyle Lofton[/autotag] G 6-3 / 188 Graduate
Trey Bonham G 6-0 / 170 Junior

FLORIDA A&M

Player Pos H/W Class
Jaylen Bates F 6-7 / 215 Junior
Chase Barrs F 6-9 / 210 Senior
Byron Smith G 6-2 / 185 Junior
Jordan Chatman G 6-5 / 208 Sophomore
Jordan Tillmon G 6-2 / 180 Junior

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Gators looking to complete season sweep of FAMU Tuesday

Last time it was 17-0 in favor of the Gators and things shouldn’t be much different in Tuesday’s rematch against FAMU.

Coming off a sweep on the road at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Florida Gators baseball team is hoping to rebound against Florida A&M University on Tuesday back at home.

The Gators took the last matchup against the Rattlers easily, 17-0, behind six home runs. UF is expected to run away with this one again but FAMU could put up a few runs this time around with [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] on the mound for the Gators. Pogue has been extremely limited since returning from Tommy John, and starting him against a team [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] his squad can hit against should give him a stress-free day.

There’s also the matter of FAMU’s starter Dallas Tease coming into the game with a sky-high ERA. Tease was the only Rattler pitcher to get through a hitless inning the last time around against Florida, but he’s had his share of poor starts throughout the season.

If Florida can produce even half the runs it did last time against FAMU, then the Gators should be able to cruise to a victory. It’s been tough lately for UF, especially on the mound, so getting the pitching staff its confidence back is order of business No. 1 for this team. A loss on Tuesday would be devastating for the Gators, but all of the numbers point to an easy win.

Young breaks hit-streak record as Gators earn a series sweep over FAMU

The Gators earned a sweep over the Rattlers with a Sunday shutout, and Jacob Young earned a hit for a school-record 30th-straight game.

Florida ended an impressive weekend of baseball by closing out its series against Florida A&M with a Sunday shutout, taking an 8-0 victory. UF earned a sweep in the series and its first shutout of the season. The series was a nice bounce-back for the Gators, who suffered a disappointing loss to No. 21 FAU on Wednesday night.

UF (9-3) got its best showing out of the year from pitcher Hunter Barco, who victimized the Rattlers (0-11) batters all afternoon. He pitched five innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine batters in the process. It was a very encouraging sign for the Day 3 pitcher, who wasn’t sharp in his first two appearances of the season against Miami and Samford.

Josh Hancock took the mound for FAMU, and his day wasn’t nearly as productive. He was out of sorts from the beginning, allowing three runs in the first inning. He gave up a two-RBI home run to Jud Fabian, which set up a sacrifice double play later in the inning. The Gators added onto their lead in the second when Nate Hickey hit a double that scored two more runs.

Things didn’t get any better for Hancock in the third, as he gave up two hits and allowed a run to score on a fielder’s choice. He was pulled after that, but Zach Morea couldn’t get out of the inning cleanly, as an unearned run scored after a throwout on a steal attempt.

The Rattlers put in Shawn Host for the fourth inning, and he finally got them through an inning without allowing any more runs. That wouldn’t last, though, as Colby Halter hit an RBI double off him in the fourth, and the Gators’ lead was stretched to 8-0.

Freshman Timmy Manning replaced Barco on the mound after five, and though he hasn’t seen a lot of action this season, his three strikeouts in just an inning of work should be exactly what coach Kevin O’Sullivan wanted to see from the young arm.

Jordan Carrion replaced Manning in the seventh, and he had some issues, loading the bases off a hit and two walks with two outs. O’Sullivan made a quick change, replacing him with Christian Scott, who evaded the danger.

Florida’s leader in batting average Jacob Young was in danger of ending his 29-game hitting streak after an 0-for-3 start to the afternoon. But with a full count in the eighth, he singled to the shortstop, who couldn’t field the ball in time to make a throw, pushing his streak to 30-straight games with a hit. That breaks the school record previously set by Tim Olson in 2000.

Franco Aleman took to the mound to close it out in the ninth, and though he’s struggled this season, he came through for the Gators, getting the first two batters to chase. The third Rattlers batter hit a ball with some carry to left field, but it was caught out near the warning track to close out the game.

After an encouraging weekend, Florida will be back in action on Tuesday for a midweek showdown against a good Georgia State team that has scored ranked wins against West Virginia, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech already this season. First pitch for that game is set for 6 p.m. EST.

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