Florida Gators Bait & Bits: Basebrawl in Jax, WBB Season Ends, and Scottie’s Recent Honors

Mandatory Credit: ©Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Bait & Bits, a series on Hail Florida Hail that will feature one “bait” about an opposing school and some bits about the Gators. Have any links that you want on Bait & Bits? Tweet it at us @HailFloridaHail or @BrettKaplan13 or email it to us at BrettKaplanHFH@gmail.com.

Bait

Florida State Baseball. The Gators took their second game in seven days against the top-ranked Seminole baseball squad. With the win Florida takes the season series with their arch-rival. But it wasn’t just their play on the field that got both teams riled up. In the top of the eighth, FSU’s DJ Stewart hit a weak grounder towards first which Danny Young attempted to pick up. Stewart trucked Young and first baseman Zack Powers didn’t like it. This resulted in the benches clearing. There were reports of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and FSU closer Jameis Winston getting punched in the face, but those proved to be false. I guess Florida State just can’t handle losing to the mighty Gators. You can see the video with some classy FSU fans and Winston being restrained below:

Bits

Women’s Basketball Season Ends. It was a great campaign for the Florida women’s basketball team, making it to the second round as an 11-seed and placing fifth in the tough SEC. But their season ended Tuesday night as they lost to Penn State 83-61. For seniors Jaterra Bonds and Lily Svete, it their final game in a Gators uniform. Bonds scored 14 points and Kayla Lewis added 20 points in the effort. Bonds and Svete enjoyed four straight 20-win seasons, two trips to the NCAA Tournament, and Bonds ended up seventh on UF’s all-time scoring list with 1,602 points. Congrats to the seniors on great careers and to all the Gators on a wonderful season.

Scottie Wilbekin Named Third-Team All-American. The honors keep rolling in for Scottie Wilbekin and deservedly so. He’s arguably the best point guard in the nation and his most recent honor affirmed that. Wilbekin was named a National Association of Basketball Coaches Third Team All-American Tuesday. He’s the first Gator to have NABC All-American honors since Al Horford and Joakim Noah in 2007.

Shannon Gilroy Named ALC Offensive Player of the Week. Shannon Gilroy is having a fantastic season for the fourth-ranked Gators lacrosse team. She picked up the ALC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time Tuesday. Gilroy notched 10 goals, nine draw controls, five caused turnovers, and three ground balls this past week. Her efforts came in wins over Dartmouth and at No. 20 Ohio State. Gilroy broke her own record for goals scored, scoring 53 times so far this season.

Two Gators Finish in Top 10 at Valspar Invitational. J.D. Tomlinson and Richard Donegan each finished in the top-10 at the Valspar Invitational at the Floridian. Tomlinson shot 4-under par, good for sixth, while Donegan placed 10th with a 3-under par effort. Florida as a team finished 15th overall.

Today’s Schedule:
Track & Field @ Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays
6:00pm Softball @ UCF
7:00pm Lacrosse @ Stetson

For more on the Gators make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@HailFloridaHail and @BrettKaplan13).