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King High's Brett Morales leads Florida past USF

 
Published Feb. 19, 2015

TAMPA — In his de facto homecoming game, King High alumnus Brett Morales was perfect for Florida.

The weather and circumstances were not. As a result, Morales' quest for college baseball immortality was halted after 70 pitches.

Working on a pitch count in 50-degree temperatures in his first outing of 2015, Morales faced the minimum 18 batters in six innings, striking out seven in the Gators' 13-3 rout of USF before a bundled crowd of 2,059 at USF Baseball Stadium.

"I had a pitch count of 75, so I was only gonna go to the seventh — that was probably the furthest I'd go," said Morales, raised five minutes from USF. "It's a long season, got to stay healthy, so I respect the decision."

Freshman catcher J.J. Schwarz led a 13-hit onslaught, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs and coming a double shy of the cycle for the Gators, ranked No. 5 in the coaches poll. His two-out, two-run home run in the fifth gave UF (4-0) a 5-0 lead.

Morales "was ahead of our hitters all night with very good stuff," Bulls coach Mark Kingston said. "You do that and you can do what he did tonight."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com.