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Gainesville (May 13, 2014) – USF scored a run in the first two innings but a five-run second for Florida lifted the Gators to an 8-2 victory Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium.

USF is now 25-27 on the year while Florida improves to 35-18.

"I thought most of our pitchers threw well," said head coach Lelo Prado.  Lawrence Pardo didn't pitch bad if we field some bunts. It was good to see Janick (Serrallonga) throw strikes and (Tommy) Peterson was outstanding. There are a lot of positives out there but when you hit adversity, you need to fight back and we aren't doing a good job of that right now.

Like he has all year, Kyle Teaf got the offense rolling with a base hit up the middle to lead off the game. Andres Leal followed that up with a bunt single before Luke Borders doubled in the right-centerfield gap plating Teaf.

Luke Maglich loaded the bases with a walk but a strike out, caught stealing at home on a wild pitch and ground out ended the inning with USF leading 1-0.

Florida tied the ballgame in the bottom half of the inning when Richie Martin scored on a wild pitch.

Buddy Putnam ripped a one-out triple into the right field corner to get the Bulls going in the second frame. With two outs, Teaf again delivered, this time with a RBI single into right field putting USF in front 2-1.

Miscommunication on a bunt to the second batter of the inning in the second led to the Gators tying the ballgame at two-all as Buddy Reed was able to reach third base on the play. A walk and hit by pitch loaded the bases before Harrison Bader cleared them with a double down the leftfield line. UF tacked on one more run later in the frame to take a 6-2 lead.

USF had opportunities to score in several other innings throughout the night but were unable to capitalize like in the third inning when they had a runner on third with one out and couldn't push across the runner. The Bulls picked up two hits in the sixth but a double play thwarted a potential big inning.

Florida got their final two runs on a sacrifice fly and wild pitch in the sixth and eighth inning, respectively.

Lawrence Pardo suffered the loss giving up six runs in 1.1 innings of work. Tommy Peterson made his first relief appearance since March 30 and tossed 3.1 innings of scoreless ball allowing only one hit and striking out three. Teaf, Putnam and Luke Borders each had two hits on the night for the Bulls.

Florida was led offensively by Martin who went 3-for-3 with a walk and scored three times while Bader knocked in three runs in his 2-for-3 performance. Kirby Snead improved to 3-0 as he tossed 3.1 innings of shutout ball.

USF is off tomorrow before hitting the field for a three game set at Georgia Tech to close out the regular season. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday while Saturday's game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. All three games will be televised on ESPN3.