An avalanche prolonged Florida baseball’s path to a Super Regional.
All season, the Gators had been held together primarily by their pitching staff while their hitting struggled.
And yet, during the most pivotal time of the season, the Gators fell to Troy 16-11 and now have to square off in a winner-take-all matchup at 6 p.m. Monday, June 1.
In the past three games, Florida’s pitching has allowed 33 runs, which is the most in a three-game span this season. The previous high was 28 when Alabama swept the Gators on the road back in March.
This weekend, Florida’s pitching staff has logged a 12.91 ERA and a 2.26 WHIP, which is well above the season averages of 4.52 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. In total, UF’s pitchers gave up 40 hits, 12 walks and logged 25 strikeouts in 23 innings.
“We have been throwing the ball really well,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “For whatever reason, this weekend we have not been ourselves, and tomorrow hopefully we will be.
“We are going to be really strategic about how we use our arms.”
The illustration of Florida’s highs and lows were best seen in the sixth inning against Troy. Less than 24 hours earlier, Miami’s pitching staff imploded and allowed UF to break the game open against the Hurricanes.
Fast forward to UF’s game against Troy, and this time it was the Gators giving up seven runs due to its pitching staff walking in two runs, hitting another batter and then giving up a grand slam to allow the Trojans to pull away.
“The sixth inning was pretty much a disaster,” O’Sullivan said. “It kind of got away from us, obviously. Bottom line is that we have a chance to win a regional tomorrow.
“We just need a couple of guys to step up. It was kind of like an avalanche, it was one mistake after another in one inning.”
Where does Troy’s pitching staff stand?
Since having to come out of the losers bracket, Troy has played an extra game, which means all of the Trojans’ most impactful arms have thrown in the regional.
Six different arms have already thrown twice this weekend, which leaves Troy coach Skylar Meade simplifying his approach to the pitching staff.
“My college coach sent me a text and did this to us in a regional final,” Meade said. “He said just line the pitchers up in the bullpen and see who raises their hand.
“Maybe, I’ll do that on the bus tonight. I believe deep down, I think these guys will all raise their hands.”
The arms that have been thrown once so far are Benjamin Stubbs (5.12), who logged 99 pitches on Friday, and Hayden Smith (3.00), who threw 57 on Saturday, along with Brady Richardson (6.75), who threw 24.
Where does Florida’s pitching staff stand?
Florida has several arms it can turn to.
Cooper Walls (6.87 ERA) has yet to throw this weekend but hasn’t made an appearance since May 16 against LSU.
Caden McDonald (3.77) and Joshua Whritenour (5.08) threw 26 and 27 pitches on Friday, respectively, while Luke McNeillie (3.97) threw 34 and Ricky Reeth (4.03) logged 29 on Saturday.
Had Sunday’s game been closer, O’Sullivan said he would have gone to McDonald, leaving it safe to assume the two-way star will have a major role in the final matchup against Troy.
“We have obviously seen that Troy can hit,” McDonald said. “We just have to be confident in our stuff and really execute with two strikes. It seems like that was our issue. They were getting a lot of two-strike hits.”
Ernesto Lugo-Canchola (5.35) threw only seven pitches against Troy and 20 on Friday against Rider. Notably, starting pitchers Russell Sandefer threw 87 pitches on Friday while Aidan King logged 74.
“We know how good our pitching staff is,” McDonald said. “We just have to go out there and dominate tomorrow. I think it’s one of those weekends. Some guys are throwing the ball well and have gotten hit, and some guys have been uncharacteristic with walking people. All that’s going to matter tomorrow is how we bear down tomorrow and come back from this game.”
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at AAbadie@usatodayco.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida baseball’s pitching status before winner-take-all matchup vs Troy
Reporting by Andrew Abadie, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
