Following each weekend series this season, Gator Country’s Adam Pincus will give a rundown of the top nine points that stuck out to him in the previous week of Florida Gators baseball.
1. Injuries piling up for Florida
Every team catches the injury bug, but who would’ve thought that the invincible Gators would have a case this early in 2012?
All-American Mike Zunino tweaked a hamstring going back to first base on a pickoff attempt in the eighth inning of game two in the William & Mary sweep.
Zunino limped off the field Saturday night, but coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game that the catcher should be fine this weekend against Miami.
“Yeah, I think it is a little tweaked,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, we will look at it and it kind of went one way and went back the other. I’m sure he will be fine, but we probably will be very, very cautious with him tomorrow.”
Freshman backup catcher Taylor Gushue started the Sunday game, which left the Gators wounded with two key players going down with injuries.
Starting pitcher Karsten Whitson, blessed with an arm that delivers mid-90s fastballs, didn’t look comfortable on the mound Sunday.
The usual fastballs that register in the mid-90s were about 5 mph slower and lasted only 13 pitches in 2/3 of an inning when O’Sullivan pulled him.
A groin injury in the fall kept Whitson from participating in preseason scrimmages.
“Once you get back into the spring, there’s not a whole lot of time,” O’Sullivan said of Whitson. “He threw the ball extremely well in the early part of the spring. I think it’s just normal, early season arm stuff. I don’t see it being anything serious. When you have a special arm like that, you don’t want to take any chances.”
Caution continued during the rainy playing conditions on Sunday.
After freshman Casey Turgeon hit an RBI double down the right field line in the fourth inning, O’Sullivan pinch ran him for Cody Dent.
O’Sullivan said the hamstring had been an issue for Turgeon and taking him out of the wet conditions was also precautionary measure.
The Gators next play in Coral Gables versus Miami. A week off between games couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Little, nagging stuff,” he said. “I think this is as good a time to not have any midweeks so we could get some guys back to 100 percent.”
O’Sullivan said Turgeon and Tucker are ready to go for the Miami series this weekend.
2. Preston Tucker on pace for historic season
Believe it or not, Preston Tucker struggled in the Cape Cod league the summer going into his junior season at Florida.
The league, in existence since 1885, pits the best amateur talent against each other for an entire summer.
Tucker looked for a solution to his down hitting summer.
“I hit with batting gloves my first two years here. I struggled a little bit in the Cape,” Tucker said. “I wanted to try something different. I was messing around during batting practice. Took gloves off for a few rounds. It felt good, so I decided to try it out for the game and I hit really well for the next three or four games.”
Although he finished batting .113, he caught fire in the playoffs.
Fast-forward to his senior season at Florida and Tucker still rocks the no batting gloves at the plate and crushing the ball this year.
Pitchers beware.
Tucker just broke the Florida career RBI record and is on pace to shatter five other offensive milestones.
His five home runs through the first eight games puts Tucker on pace for 35 and the five long balls are the most in his career at this point in the season.
If Tucker continues on this pace, he will have the school record in home runs as well.
And he continues to do it without batting gloves.
3. Young starters solid in midweek games
The Gators returned the entire weekend rotation and seven of nine defensive starters, but one key pitcher decided to leave Florida for the MLB.
Alex Panteliodis (6-2, 3.71), hampered by a hip injury last season, made 12 starts in 2011 and came through for Florida in the postseason.
His departure opened the door for a young group of starters to earn innings this year. Two pitchers have already gotten their turn on the mound.
Freshman Johnny Magliozzi (0-0, 5.79) and sophomore Jonathon Crawford (1-1, 6.43) started the Tuesday and Wednesday games this past week. Florida won both games.
Magliozzi threw 3.2 innings and allowed three earned runs, which isn’t too shabby for a freshman making his debut as a starting pitcher.
Florida catcher Mike Zunino didn’t start behind the plate on Tuesday, but said Magliozzi and the two other freshmen, Bobby Poyner and Justin Shafer who saw the mound against Bethune-Cookman, need to keep the ball lower in the zone.
Crawford did one better in his first career start Wednesday by pitching five scoreless innings and surrendering two hits.
At first glance, a five-inning shutout by Crawford didn’t look possible after a disastrous outing Sunday against Cal State Fullerton in which the sophomore gave up four runs in a third of an inning.
O’Sullivan was confident that Crawford could get the job done.
“I told him on Sunday, he’s going to get the ball again on Wednesday,” O’Sullivan said after the UCF game. “And if tonight hadn’t gone as well as he’d wanted to, he would have gone right back out there this weekend. He’s got too good of an arm. He’s too talented and I’ve seen it enough in practice and in the fall and the spring to believe and know that it’s going to show up.”
4. Randall and Johnson back at it
Hudson Randall is the redhead technician on the mound with pinpoint accuracy and the inability to give up a walk.
Brian Johnson is the towering left-handed pitcher with a filthy changeup and occasional strike out.
Together they provide the Gators with a powerful one-two punch that gives Florida a shot to win any time they step foot on the rubber.
Last week, Florida starters had a pitch count of 60-70. This past weekend, Randall and Johnson were at 78 and 80 respectively.
The duo threw first-pitch strikes to a combined 70 percent of batters and strikes 70 percent of the time as well.
Now that’s an efficient one-two punch.
5. Karsten Whitson in limbo
He had the best stuff on a starting weekend rotation that went 27-7 a year ago.
Due to an early arm injury this season, Whitson hasn’t been able to show just how dominant he can be.
O’Sullivan updated his power pitcher’s status Wednesday.
“The most important is structurally there is no damage. He’s fine,” O’Sullivan said. “We did all the precautionary testing we needed to do with him on Monday. The second thing is he will not go on the mound again until he feels 110 percent. I expect that to be sooner than later. To speculate whether he will throw this weekend I do not know yet.”
6. Gushue gets start at first base
Gushue gives the Gators a switch-hitting power bat, but his recent contribution this past weekend in the field may be Florida’s most important asset.
The freshman made his first career start at first base Saturday versus William & Mary. Florida has five first baseman that can start on any team, but if Gushue can lock down the position, he will see more innings there in the future.
“Ideally for us if we can play Gushue at first and play Austin and Johnson as the DH and not put too much on them and let them concentrate on their pitching, it will certainly help our team out,” O’Sullivan said.
7. Maddox pitching like an All-American
Questions about Austin Maddox this preseason focused on whether the junior can regain his freshman hitting form after having a down year at the plate last season.
If he keeps pitches the way he has this year, his hitting will seem like a thing in the past.
Through eight games, Maddox leads the Gators in ERA (0.00), strikeouts (9) and hasn’t surrendered a walk this season (8.2 IP).
His value to Florida rests on the pitching mound and not at first base or in the designated hitter spot.
The Gators need a healthy Maddox right arm in order to reach Omaha for the third yer in a row.
8. Who’s Josh Adams?
This headline doesn’t do Adams justice. The do-everything player for Florida arguably had the most productive four years in school history.
He left Florida with a career .305 average and the all-time leader in games played, games started at-bats (tied with Mark Ellis) and sacrifice bunts.
A new second baseman with the No. 2 has made the Adams loss not hurt as much.
Casey Turgeon gives the Gators stability at the bottom of the order and solid defense in the field.
At the plate, Turgeon has a hit in 7 of 8 games this year, but it’s his defense that stole the show Saturday.
Turgeon dove up the middle and stopped a ground ball from getting to centerfield for a base hit in the sixth inning.
The freshman popped right up and fired a strike to Gushue at first base who scooped the throw out of the dirt to complete the stellar play.
“I take more pride in defense than hitting, because defense wins games and not hitting,” Turgeon said.
With more plays like that, a new No. 2 may rule the field for four more years.
9. Consistent lineups coming for Florida
It’s time for Florida to settle down.
O’Sullivan has used a different hitting lineup in every game.
“Once we get going into the Miami series, we will start settling in on a lineup a little bit more,” O’Sullivan said. “We played a lot of different guys here in the first eight games to try to see who we got and who can do what. As we get into the Miami series, especially at Florida Gulf Coast, you’ll see us settle in a little bit more to a consistent lineup.”
Senior left fielder Daniel Pigott has started every game and batted in his usual second spot behind shortstop Nolan Fontana, but said a consistent lineup would help other players.
“It definitely helps consistently,” Pigott said. “The more you’re in the lineup, the more comfortable you can get. It’s hard to do well when you get put in and out of the lineup. You’re not really sure if you are going to be playing. It’s nice to get consistent at-bats. We all prepare the same regardless of whether we know if we’re playing or not.”