Florida Downs Wildcats, 4-0, in Regional Opening Round

June 1, 2012

Box Score

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman fell to Florida in a 4-0 loss in the opening round of NCAA Regional play behind Jonathan Crawford’s solo no-hitter, the first in NCAA Tournament play since 1991.

The Wildcats (34-26) held the Gators (43-18) to a very tight contest in the early going, holding a 1-0 game through the fourth inning. However, UF began to drive up the pitch count on starter Rayan Gonzalez early.

After putting up shallow hits early, UF second baseman Casey Turgeon extended the Gators’ lead with a three-run opposite field homer to left center, on the first pitch of relief by Bryan Rivera.

Gonzalez (9-2) threw 4.2 innings with three strikeouts. After the big hit, Rivera completed 3.1 innings with two strikeouts and only allowed one additional hit.

“I definitely think we played hard all night long,” said Head Coach Jason Beverlin. “We kept fighting, we kept battling, and we’ve just got to regroup and keep fighting; live to play another day.”

B-CU made excellent contact several times, but UF made solid defensive plays to shut down the Wildcat offense.

“They shrink the field on you,” said Coach Beverlin. “The balls we did hit hard, with their defense as good as it is, they just shrink all the gaps and the space you have to get hits.”

The Wildcats return to NCAA Regional action on Saturday, facing College of Charleston (37-20) in the 1:00 p.m. game at McKethan Stadium. CofC fell to Georgia Tech in Friday’s opening game, 8-4.