With three outs remaining, Miami’s Christopher Barr stepped up to the plate looking to spoil the Gators’ chance at a no-hitter.
For eight innings, UF starting pitcher Alex Faedo and reliever Kirby Snead shut down Miami’s lineup, allowing no hits while striking out a combined 15 hitters and walking three Hurricanes.
And with Shaun Anderson now on the mound, Florida was looking for its first combined no-hitter since March 19, 1993, when Doug Brennan and Chris Nelson did it against Pace. On an 0-1 pitch, Barr blooped a single into left center for Miami’s first hit of the game, ruining the Gators’ chance at history.
However, No. 1 Florida (7-1) had the last laugh as it beat No. 6 Miami 7-3, taking two out of three in the series. With the win, the Gators have now won 23 of their last 28 meetings with the Hurricanes.
Faedo (2-0) was masterful in his outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters over 6.1 innings, also a career high, while throwing 95 pitches, 68 strikes and walking two Hurricanes.
“Alex was phenomenal today,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He was getting after it. Every pitch had a purpose. He didn’t leave anything in the tank and every inning was a purposeful inning … really, really impressive outing.
“He kind of grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Faedo’s 12 strikeouts are the most by a Florida starting pitcher since A.J. Puk did it last year against Vanderbilt on May 8. At one point, the Tampa native struck out five UM hitters in a row, and he showed off his fiery personality in the bottom of the fifth.
After Miami’s Johnny Ruiz reached second base on an error by Peter Alonso to start the inning, Faedo got Willie Abreu to line out. He followed that up by striking out Edgar Michelangeli and Romy Gonzalez, letting out a roar and a fist pump, ending the Hurricanes’ threat.
“He gave us a huge lift. As much as anything he gave us an emotional lift,” O’Sullivan said. “Coming off a tough loss — first loss of the season last night — and I can tell early on during BP and early game stuff, he was very very focused. I guess my only concern was making sure he kept his emotions in check.”
Florida’s offense gave Faedo early run support. Sophomore JJ Schwarz had a RBI groundout that scored Dalton Guthrie in the first inning, and then Guthrie hit a two-run single in the top of the second giving UF a 3-0 lead.
After a Mike Rivera RBI groundout in the sixth, the Gators added three runs in the seventh when Schwarz hit a two-RBI triple that was followed by a Alonso sacrifice fly, scoring Schwarz.
In all, UF finished the game with 12 hits with Guthrie, Schwarz, Alonso and freshman Deacon Liput all having two hits.
“I thought the approach at the plate was very good,” O’Sullivan said. “We had a lot of hard contact … it was a balanced attack. I thought we had a good approach.”
Miami (5-2) couldn’t figure out Snead after he replaced Faedo. Snead pitched 1.2 innings striking out three batters. The Hurricanes had their only three hits in the game in the ninth off of Anderson with Barr, Jacob Heyward and Ruiz stringing the hits.
Ruiz chased Anderson out of the game following a bases loaded double, accounting for the three runs for Miami.
Dane Dunning closed the door on the game, ensuring Florida won the weekend series.
“It was a big game today,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s one of those lessons that we learn that there’s going to be an awful lot of times that series are going to come down to Sunday.”
The Gators will play a two-game midweek series against the UCF Knights. The first game will be at UCF on Tuesday, before playing the second game at McKethan Stadium on Wednesday.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Luis Torres at ltorres@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.
Alex Faedo pitches during Florida's 12-3 win against Florida Gulf Coast on Feb. 21, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.
