AJ Puk erases 2015 start against Missouri with 11 strikeout night

AJ Puk led the Florida Gators (20-1, 2-0 SEC) to a 6-2 win over the Missouri Tigers (14-8, 0-2 SEC) on Saturday night in Gainesville with a little help from a painful memory handed to him by Missouri just a year ago.

“Last year I basically threw these guys BP,” Puk said of his outing last season against Missouri where he gave up nine runs, all earned, over 5.1 innings of work. “The guys have been joking about it for a while. I always remember that [start].”

The first inning started off like déjà vu all over again; Connor Brumfield reached base on an error to start the game and Jake Ring singled to give the Tigers two on and one out. With his pitch count moving past 20 in just the first frame Puk was able to induce a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

Florida went quietly in its half of the first and Puk overpowered Missouri in the second with back-to-back strikeouts and a clean frame on just 14 pitches. Deacon Liput worked himself into a full count, sat back on a fastball and lifted it high and into the visiting bullpen in right center — his first career home run — to give Florida a 1-0 lead.

“He battled off of a couple really tough pitches and ran into a ball,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. I think it hit the back fence out there. You’re kind of careful with freshmen about moving them up too much in the order, but ever since we moved him up to the fifth spot, it hasn’t changed anything. He’s been still swinging the bat as well as he did the beginning of the year when he was hitting seventh or eighth.

Mike Rivera kept things rolling with a double and moved over to third on a ground our by Jeremy Vasquez. Jonathan India drove Rivera in to give Florida a 2-0 lead, more than enough for Puk.

After three rough starts to his junior campaign Puk has put together two quality outings against Dartmouth and Harvard but threw a gem against the Tigers. Puk posted a season high for innings (7.0) and strikeouts (11), while only allowing three hits and one walk. It was the return of the Puk that Florida enjoyed over the last two months of the 2015 season, and the pitcher that had scouts flocking to Gainesville all fall to watch him throw. Puk’s pitch count was hovering just over 90 after six innings, but O’Sullivan thought his lefty needed to be extended a little and challenged him to finish off one more inning.

“It could’ve been easy to take him out after six, but I told him that it was very important for him to go out there for the seventh,” said O’Sullivan. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the country; you need to go out there and finish the seventh.”

Puk did just that, striking out the side in the seventh to cap his best outing of the season.

Rivera and Pete Alonso added to Florida’s lead with a solo home run apiece and Shaun Anderson returned to the mound for the second night in a row to close out the game, which he did, throwing 1.1 innings and struck out two, facing the minimum.

Florida will go for a sweep on Sunday with Alex Faedo on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm and the game can be seen on SEC Network +

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC