Florida baseball continued its late season push towards an NCAA Tournament berth by taking two of three games at No. 1 Texas over the weekend.
The Florida Gators (35-18, 13-14 SEC) opened the series with an 8-2 win on Friday, May 9. After losing 5-2 on Saturday, Florida responded with a 4-1 win over the Longhorns on Sunday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.
Florida won its fifth straight SEC series and is now 12-3 over its last 15 league games. Two of the five series wins have come against ranked opponents (No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas). UF delivered its first series victory against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team since sweeping No. 1 Texas A&M from April 1-3, 2016.
Overall, Florida has won 15 of its last 19 games, making a remarkable turnaround from its 1-11 start in SEC play. The win also vaulted the Gators back into the USA Today Top 25 poll at No. 21
“We told ourselves we would turn this thing around,” Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Guys battled, ,never lost confidence. We all believed we would get back here. Great lesson to learn for all of us.”
Here’s a look at what UF learned from the series win:
Florida baseball pitching starting to come around
Freshman righty Aidan King (5-2) delivered a gem on Sunday, allowing no runs on two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts. Of King’s 110 pitches, 70 went for strikes.
King earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his performance, the league announced Monday, May 12.
“I don’t remember a freshman pitching on the road like this and pitching as well as he did, and if it has happened, it hasn’t happened in a long time,” O’Sullivan said. “We talked about it before the game, what Aidan is able to bring to the table is his ability to throw the fastball on both sides of the plate. That was just a totally different look for them and their hitters to see today.”
On Saturday, UF sophomore righty Liam Peterson pitched four scoreless innings before his start was cut short due to a rain delay. On Friday, Pierce Coppola (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings to protect an early 6-0 lead and earn the win for UF. Billy Barlow also gave UF a strong effort out of the bullpen following Coppola, allowing just a run over four innings. Overall, UF’s five pitchers who appeared Friday night combined for 16 strikeouts compared to three walks.
“We’ve put ourselves in the position of being 1-11 (in the SEC) because we weren’t throwing strikes,” O’Sullivan said. “So, it’s gratifying for all the coaches that we’re starting to turn the corner on the pitching side of things, because offensively, we’ve been good, for the most part, the entire year.”
Florida baseball defense can handle playing on a different surface
Playing on the astroturf at Disch-Falk Field, Florida committed just one error in three games. That defense helped support the pitching as UF surrendered just eight runs in three games and outscored the Longhorns 14-8 over the three-game series.
Florida baseball offense can come up with timely hits with RISP
With the wind shifting and often blowing in throughout the three-game series, Florida scored 14 runs in the series despite just homering once in the three games (a solo shot by Brody Donay on Sunday). On Friday night, UF scored six runs in the top of the first on a Ty Evans RBI double, Hayden Yost two-RBI single and Justin Nadeau two-RBI single. Catcher Luke Heyman also scored in the inning on a wild pitch.
On Sunday, other than the Donay homer, Florida scored on an RBI ground out by Ashton Wilson, RBI single by Blake Cyr and a two-out, RBI single from Heyman that put UF up 4-0 in the top of the seventh.
“They had a shift on him and he hit a ball back up the middle,” O’Sullivan said. “That was a huge at bat and, you know, tacked on another run with two outs.”
Up next
No. 21 Florida hosts No. 16 Alabama to finish the regular season from May 15-17 at Condron Family Ballpark.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Pitching coming around and what else Florida baseball learned from series win at No. 1 Texas
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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