Dartmouth Falls in the 12th at No. 1 Florida, 4-3

Saturday, March 5

Gainesville, Fla.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-5

Florida

11-1

Dartmouth

Florida

Dartmouth Falls in the 12th at No. 1 Florida, 4-3

3/5/2016 7:39:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Buddy Reed blasted a walk-off home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the 12th to lift No. 1 Florida (11-1) to a 4-3 victory over visiting Dartmouth (0-5) on Saturday at McKethan Stadium.

The game went to extra innings thanks to a two-out Big Green rally in the top of the ninth. Trailing 3-2 with two gone, sophomore Justin Fowler smacked a double against reliever Kirby Snead and was lifted for pinch runner Nate Ostmo, who took third on a passed ball. Pinch hitter Joe Purritano walked on four pitches, leading to the Gators summoning Shaun Anderson from the bullpen. But Dustin Shirley's slow roller to short was thrown wide to first for an error, allowing Ostmo to score the tying run.

Dartmouth nearly took the lead when Kyle Holbrook laced a single to right field, but Nick Horvath fired a strike to the plate to gun down Purritano and preserve the 3-3 tie.

After an uneventful 10th, Florida threatened in the 11th as the first two batters reached on a walk and a hit by pitch. Junior reliever Michael Danielak induced a pop up on a bunt attempt, however, which he caught, then fired to second to double up the runner. On the next pitch, Danielak got a harmless foul pop to end the threat. But Reed jumped on his first pitch to start the 12th, sending the ball over the wall in right for his first homer of the season to end the game.

Dartmouth struck first, putting a run on the scoreboard in the second inning against heralded Florida left-hander A.J. Puk when junior Michael Ketchmark launched his first home run of the season over the fence in left on the first pitch he saw.

The Gators answered back in their half of the third after loading the bases with one out. J.J. Schwarz tied the score with a fly ball to center, deep enough to score Nelson Maldonado, who began the inning with a base hit to center.

In the fifth, the Big Green put runners on the corners with one out on a single off the bat of freshman Michael Brown — his first collegiate hit — and a single by Fowler with one out. Puk got the second out on a foul pop, but he then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Brown to scurry home.

When Dartmouth starter Jackson Bubala to into trouble in the fifth on a Christian Hicks leadoff single and a one-out walk to Reed, sophomore Patrick Peterson was brought in from the bullpen. He walked the first hitter he faced on four pitches before Peter Alonso lofted a sacrifice fly to left, knotting the score at two.

The Big Green had a golden opportunity in the sixth, putting the first two runners on base to send Puk to the showers. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, but reliever Brady Singer got a called third strike before getting the final out on a fly to right.

Peterson made way for Danielak in the seventh with a runner on second and two gone. Schwarz greeted the right-hander by lining his second pitch to left for an RBI single and a 3-2 Gator lead, setting up the ninth-inning rally.

Anderson (2-0) picked up the win with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four as he set the side down in order in the 10th, 11th and 12th. Puk struggled with his command, walking four in five-plus frames as he surrendered two runs on four hits while punching out four as well.

Danielak (0-1) suffered the loss, yielding just the one run on three hits over 4.1 innings, walking two and striking out one. The three Big Green pitchers gave up just five hits but walked nine in the game, with Bubala allowing just two knocks and two runs in 4.1 frames, although he did issue five free passes.

Fowler was the lone hitter in the game to record two hits as Dartmouth mustered just six in the game.

The two teams will conclude their three-game series on Sunday at noon with the Big Green sending sophomore right-hander Clay Chatham (0-1, 9.00) to the mound to face off against Gator right-hander Alex Faedo (2-0, 0.75).