No. 6 Florida slips by Bethune-Cookman, 2-1

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bethune-Cookman’s foray into top-10 baseball began Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to sixth-ranked Florida before a crowd of 2,446 at McKethan Stadium.

Bethune-Cookman (15-30), who will have a three-game series with fourth-ranked Louisville beginning Friday, tied the game in the eighth when senior Bryant Munoz singled home shortstop Demetrius Sims, who led off the inning with a single.

Florida (32-10) regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Richie Martin scored his second run of the game on a two-out Josh Tobias single. Bobby Poyner worked a scoreless ninth to preserve the Gators win.

B-CU dropped to 15-30 on the season.

“On paper, no one gives us a chance to win these games,” said B-CU fourth-year head coach Jason Beverlin. “We could just stay at home and tell everyone they won, but that’s why we play them. We played to win, and I was impressed at how we changed our mental approach and played to win. A couple of miscues just went against us.”

Florida capitalized on B-CU mistakes in the sixth to break open a scoreless game.

Martin, the Gators’ best base runner, broke up the combined no-hitter of Michael Austin and Joseph Calamita, with a bunt single to lead off the sixth. He later scored from second when the Wildcats infield was unable to field a high pop-up from Buddy Reed – officially scored as a triple – that would have ended the inning.

Before that, the Wildcats squandered an offensive opportunity.

Second baseman Jameel Edney stroked his second double of the game, then Munoz was hit by a pitch to put runners on. Both advanced on a wild pitch, then redshirt senior outfielder Jordan Robinson drew a full-count walk to the load the bases.

However, on his first pitch, Gator reliever Aaron Rhodes fielded a checked swing grounder of Nathan Bond and turned the 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.

Bethune-Cookman was no-hit by the Gators when the teams met in the 2012 NCAA Gainesville [Fla.] Regional, but Edney quickly eliminated any possibility of a repeat performance with a seeing-eye double on the game’s opening pitch.

Making his first start of the season, B-CU right-hander Michael Austin received a nice round of applause from the Gators fans as he exited the game in the fifth after his no-hit stint. He walked four and struck out three in 4.1 worked and a no decision.

Clint Clymer took the loss for B-CU, falling to 0-3, as he tossed the final 2.1 frames, allowing one run and two hits while striking out two.

The win went to the Gators’ Poyner who improved to 3-1.

Offensively, Edney and Munoz finished the game with a pair of hits apiece to lead the B-CU attack.

Bethune-Cookman looks to rebound Wednesday evening when visiting the University of South Florida in Tampa at 6 p.m. USF took the previous matchup this year against the Wildcats by a count of 1-0 on March 11, in Daytona Beach.

WFTV