June 24, 2011
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Men’s College World Series Notes – Game 11 – June 24, 2011
Florida 6, Vanderbilt 4
Attendance: 20,087 | MCWS total 243,230 (Avg.22,112)
Time – 3:13
Florida advances to the MCWS Championship Finals beginning Monday night against the winner of South Carolina and Virginia.Vanderbilt finishes its season with a 54-11 record and a third-place finish in its first-ever MCWS appearance.
*-The eight triples in the 2011 MCWS equals the highest triples total in 20 years (also 2006 and 2008). The last time there were more triples in an entire MCWS was in 1991 (11 triples).
*-The last time there were more triples than homers in the MCWS was in 1973 (9 triples, 8 homers). It has happened 19 times all-time in the MCWS. After 11 games, there have been eight triples and seven homers.
*-The Florida-Vanderbilt contest is the 14th MCWS game between two SEC schools since 1996.
*-The team that has led after six innings is 9-0 in the 2011 MCWS following Florida’s win this afternoon.
*-This is the sixth meeting between Florida and Vanderbilt this season with Florida winning five of the six matchups, including the last four meetings.
*-The 11 pitchers used by both teams (Florida 6, Vanderbilt 5) is one shy of the MCWS top-five single-game list. There has been only five games in MCWS history where more pitchers were used.
Florida
*-Florida now has a school-record 53 wins this season to extend their own school record. Over the last two seasons, Florida has 100 wins which is the highest two-year stretch in school history.
*-Florida advances to the MCWS Championship Finals for the second time in school history and the first since 2005. The Gators are the fourth program to appear in multiple MCWS Championship Finals since the best-of-three finals began in 2003. The other schools are Texas (2004-05, 09); Oregon State (2006-07) and North Carolina (2006-07). South Carolina can become the fifth team to make multiple MCWS Championship Finals with a win over Virginia either tonight or tomorrow.
*-Florida is now two wins away from its first MCWS title in school history. The Gators could be the first program in SEC history to win national titles in football, men’s basketball and baseball.
*-Florida is now 3-5 all-time against SEC teams in the MCWS
*-The Gators are 33-1 this season when scoring more than five runs and 43-3 when out-hitting an opponent.
*-Florida entered today’s game hitting just .206 in its first two contests (13-for-20) before equaling that total against Vanderbilt on Friday.
*-In the first five games against Vanderbilt, Florida hit just .214 and was out-hit 49-36. All nine Florida starters had at least one hit today as Florida totaled 13 hits.
*-With two RBI today, Preston Tucker has 19 RBI in the NCAA Tournament, easily the most of any player. Chad Bunting (Cal) and Joey DeMichele (Arizona State) are tied for second in the 2011 NCAA Tournament with 12 RBI apiece. He also leads all MCWS players with six RBI.
*-Florida starters have not allowed more than three earned runs in its last 15 contests dating back to the final regular-season game against Kentucky on May 21.
*-Alex Panteliodis allowed one run over 6.0 innings against Vanderbilt on Friday, marking the third time this season – and second time in the 2011 NCAA Tournament – that he has gone at least six innings. He went a season-high 6.2 innings against Miami in the Gainesville Regional on June 5. He
*-Nolan Fontana’s two-out, two-run single in the fourth inning snapped a 0-17 skid. His last hit was a homer on June 10 in Game 1 of the Super Regional against Mississippi State.
*-Prior to two walks in the seventh inning, Florida pitching had walked only two batters in 24 innings in the MCWS and just 12 hitters in 77 innings during the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
*-The Gators improved to 19-9, including 10-4 against top-five teams this season.
*- Bryson Smith extended his hit streak to 13 games and is hitting .481 (26-for-54) in that stretch.
*-Florida was 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position, but just 1-for-13 over the first seven innings. The Gators are hitting .250 with runners in scoring position in Omaha.
Vanderbilt
*-Vanderbilt finishes the 2011 season with a 54-12 record, as five of the 12 losses came against Florida. The Commodores 54 wins is second nationally and matches the school record. The team’s 13 losses are the fewest in a season in school history.
*-Vanderbilt has lost only six games since May 7th with five of those losses coming to Florida. The Gators handed Vanderbilt its only losses at the SEC Tournament and in the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt falls to 7-2 in NCAA play and 27-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
*-Sonny Gray’s 7.0 inning effort against Florida is his longest outing since going 8.0 innings against Kentucky on May 6. He has gone seven or more innings in nine of his 19 starts this season. The six runs Grey has allowed is a season-high (previous high was four vs. Georgia on May 19). It is the only time in 19 starts he has allowed more than four runs in a start. Grey is 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA in two starts at the MCWS.
*-Gray now ranks first on Vanderbilt’s single-season list in wins (12, tied), second in innings pitched (126.0), and third in strikeouts (132)
*-With his first-inning homer Aaron Westlake has now hit five homers in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, tying Florida’s Preston Tucker for the lead in that category.
*-Jason Esposito’s eighth-inning single snapped an 0-for-20 dryspell – including 0-for-15 at the MCWS – dating back to a two-hit game against Oregon State in the Super Regional opener on June 10.
*-Connor Harrell’s RBI single in the seventh inning was his sixth RBI of the MCWS, tying Preston Tucker for the lead in Omaha. Harrell hit .417 (5-for-12) with six RBIs in four MCWS contests.
*-Vanderbilt was looking to become the eighth team to win a MCWS title in its first appearance, and would be the first since Minnesota in 1956. The other teams to win an MCWS title in their first appearance in Omaha are California (1947), Southern California (1948); Texas (1949); Oklahoma (1951); Holy Cross (1952) and Michigan (1953). The last first-time qualifier to play for a national title is Georgia Tech in 1994.
