By Josh Benton
Florida sophomore Brian Johnson got the No. 1-ranked Gator baseball team off to a strong start as UF took down the University of South Florida Bulls 7-2 in Friday’s season opener.
Johnson (1-0) gave up no runs on two hits and struck out six batters in six innings, facing the minimum in his season debut. He threw 67 pitches, 51 of which were strikes.
“I just worked it in and out and threw strikes, and let them swing at it,” Johnson said. “I threw a lot of curveballs on the first pitch and it worked to my advantage. I felt great. From the first pitch I felt good.”
Johnson also did good work at the plate, with two doubles in four at-bats, one run scored and one batted in. Fellow sophomore, shortstop Nolan Fontana, had a career night offensively. Fontana went 4-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
“I saw the ball real (well) tonight,” Fontana said. “I got a couple knocks from running it out, a couple infield hits. (Opposing pitcher Randy Fontanez) is a good pitcher. He mixes it up well and he got me in my first (at-bat), so I had a little more aggressive approach going into my second (at-bat).
“The first time through (the lineup) we saw a lot of pitches and we talked about that, and the second time through we got him back-to-back-to-back and that got things started for us.”
Another Gator offensive star was junior right fielder Preston Tucker. Tucker got three hits and batted in three runs, two of which came by way of a fifth-inning home run off a struggling Fontanez (0-1).
“He threw me a changeup low and away,” Tucker said. “He’s a pretty good pitcher, and I put a good swing on it trying to get the run in from third, and, you know, good things happen. Our pitchers did a great job of not putting pressure on the hitters to get base hits, and we did a really good job at situational hitting.”
Fontanez fought through four and two thirds innings, giving up six runs, all earned. He struck out three batters, walked one and allowed nine hits. The other Gator run was scored off reliever Doug Wagner, who walked two batters and gave up three hits in an inning and a third.
The only USF (0-1) runs came in the ninth. Bulls right fielder James Ramsay hit a two-run homer over the right field fence off relief pitcher Alex Panteliodis.
“(Alex) didn’t pitch very well, but that’s why we wanted to (get him out there),” Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game. “He’s going to be a really, really good pitcher for us this year, but he hasn’t faced hitters.
He’s done it in intrasquad (games), but this was his first time live in awhile so he didn’t throw as well as he wanted to.”
5,157 fans came out to see the opening game of the season at McKethan Stadium. It was the 23rd time the Gators (1-0) have had more than 5,000 fans in attendance since McKethan Stadium opened in 1988.