Jonathan and Daniel Pigott have played together for a long time, including at Seabreeze High School near their home in Ormond Beach. But even they can’t remember a game like Wednesday night. The brothers combined to go 7-for-12 with five RBI, a triple and one home run in No. 20 Florida’s 15-4 victory over Stetson at McKethan Stadium.
“Maybe in high school we might have, but not at this level,” junior Jonathan Pigott said. “I like playing with my brother so it was pretty cool.”
Freshman Daniel Pigott went 4-for-6, with his three-run home run in the seventh inning serving as the knockout punch for Florida. He also scored three runs.
His older brother went 3-for-6, including a triple to deep center field. The Gators had 18 hits.
Daniel Pigott’s insertion to the lineup has given the Florida offense a spark. The Gator offense has scored 98 runs in their last eight games, which was about the time when Pigott became the full-time right fielder for Florida, now 25-12.
“We changed the lineup an awful lot during the first 20-25 games a year,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You give people opportunities, and once guys prove they’ve earned a position, you give them a second, third and fourth shot. We kept putting him in there and he kept proving to us that we needed him in there.”
Jonathan Pigott got the start in left field for senior Avery Barnes, who was sore from a collision with the pitcher Tuesday night against Florida State when Barnes beat out an infield single. O’Sullivan said Barnes could have played, but the coaches didn’t want to risk anything with a big SEC series against Ole Miss coming up this weekend in Gainesville.
Jonathan Pigott took advantage of his opportunity to start, and the left fielder made a key diving play down the left-field line to save two runs when the game was tied at three in the fourth inning.
“He’s been swinging the bat really good in (batting practice),” O’Sullivan said. “He made a heck of a play in left when the game was tight. He’s a great kid and an extremely hard worker.”
If Pigott didn’t go parallel to the ground to make the catch ending the fourth inning, all of the momentum would have been in Stetson’s dugout with a 5-3 lead and runners still in scoring position. The catch got pitcher Justin Poovey out of a three-run inning for the Hatters and spurred on Florida to put up 11 runs in the next three innings.
“I don’t know if (the game) turns out differently, but it certainly puts us in a much more difficult situation,” O’Sullivan said. “They take the lead and momentum shifts. Next thing you know, who knows. It certainly kept momentum on our end. That was certainly a momentum changer for us.”
Patrick Keating, who served as Florida’s ace at the beginning of the season, struggled yet again on the mound. He went 3.1 innings, allowing nine hits and three runs, although only one was earned.
“We’re going to keep throwing him out there to keep starting games,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ll say it every week until the season is over, but I still think he’s going to figure it out. He’s just got to make better two-strike pitches and jump ahead in the count.”
The Florida bullpen combined to throw 5.2 innings, allowing zero earned runs and only four hits. Poovey, Alex Panteliodis, Will Jolin, Kevin Chapman and Nick Maronde walked three batters in that time while striking out five. Panteliodis picked up the victory and is now 3-4.
Panteliodis, Jolin and Maronde are freshmen who have given O’Sullivan plenty of good innings this season, and Wednesday night was no different.
“You never know quite how freshmen are going to react, but I am awfully proud of the way they’ve pitched so far,” O’Sullivan said. “You’re recruiting them, so they better turn out good. Any time you recruit a player, you think they’re going to be able to contribute as a freshman. We knew, ability-wise, they would be successful here.”
Florida went up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning against Stetson starter Jake Hitchcock when Daniel Pigott singled and Josh Adams followed with a walk. Freshman Preston Tucker, Florida’s hottest hitter of the season, cleared the bases with his eighth home run of the season.
With the game tied at 3-3, Florida scored four times in the fifth. Brandon McArthur had a bases-loaded single. Jonathan Pigott’s grounder to third base scored a second run and Teddy Foster singled home two runs.
A seven-run sixth inning put the game out of reach. The big blow was Daniel Pigott’s 3-run homer. McArthur had a run-scoring single, Jonathan Pigott tripled home a run, Hampton Tignor doubled Jonathan Pigott home and Clayton Pisani doubled home Tignor
Tucker, McArthur and Tignor each had two hits.
The Gators are at home this weekend to take on Ole Miss. First pitch Friday night is schedule for 6:30 p.m. The projected pitching matchip is junior right-hander Jeff Barfield (2-0, 2.78 ERA) against the Rebels left-handed sophomore Drew Pomeranz (3-1, 4.01 ERA).