Almost nothing went the Gators’ way in their series finale against Seton Hall on Sunday. Their pitching staff gave up 12 hits, walked five batters and plunked two more. They gave up three runs with two outs.
Offensively, the Gators mustered only seven hits and struck out 11 times. They committed a costly error on defense that halted their comeback attempt.
It all added up to the Pirates’ first win of the season, as they defeated No. 11 Florida, 6-4.
“We’re figuring out who we can count on and who we can’t going into SEC play,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’ve been playing for a month now, and we’ve been giving some guys some opportunities. Our first two starters have been really solid for us. We’ll figure out Sunday. Garrett [Milchin’s] been throwing the ball good. I think [Ryan] Slater’s been throwing the ball good. He’s got starter stuff. You guys have seen Nick [Ficarrotta] and [Blake] Purnell. I think [Brandon] Neely’s been throwing the ball good.
“We just need a little bit more help. We’ll figure it out. I guess that’s the only positive is coming into SEC play you have a handle of who can do what.”
O’Sullivan thinks that the Gators’ struggles on Sunday actually started in game two on Saturday when they gave up six runs in the ninth inning.
“We gave them some momentum,” he said. “We had a big lead; they scored six there in the ninth, and we gave them some belief that they could come in here and win a game, and they did, so credit them.”
Nick Pogue made the start on the mound for UF (13-4) in his first action since 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery prior to last season. As could be expected, he didn’t look like his former self in his first time back out there.
He walked a batter and gave up a hard-hit single up the middle in the first inning but was fortunate to not give up any runs thanks to a caught stealing and a 4-6-3 double play.
Pogue wasn’t as fortunate in the second. He walked Will Gale with one out. Staus Poklovsky followed with a single to left on a hit-and-run that moved Gale to third. Collin Sheehan plated Gale with a sacrifice bunt to second.
Pogue walked Steve Grober to end his outing. In 1 2/3 innings, he gave up one run on three hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
O’Sullivan handed the ball to Timmy Manning, who had been a weekend starter during the first three series. O’Sullivan was likely hoping to get at least five innings out of him.
Instead, he only got three outs from him. Manning got out of the second inning without any further damage but got into his own trouble in the third.
A bunt single and a hit batter put two runners on with two outs. Gale singled to left field to score a run, and back-to-back walks scored another run to make it 3-0 and end Manning’s day.
Ficarrotta recorded the final out of the third and gave up just one run in his three full innings of work, which allowed the Gators to mount a comeback.
Wyatt Langford got them on the board in the fourth with a long home run to left-center field off of starter Brennan O’Neill.
UF struck for two more runs in the sixth to make it a 4-3 game. Jud Fabian led off with a walk, and Sterlin Thompson smoked a single into right to put runners on the corners. Fabian scored on a wild pitch, and Kendrick Calilao later hit a sacrifice fly to right field off of reliever Zane Probst to cut the deficit to one.
That momentum lasted only a few minutes. Pat D’Amico, Oscar Murray and Gale notched three consecutive singles against Neely to score a run. Purnell came in out of the bullpen and appeared to get the double play ball that the Gators needed to keep it a two-run game. Instead, third baseman Deric Fabian let the ball go right through his legs, and a run scored to make it 6-3.
Just like that, the Gators’ offensive outburst in the sixth inning was canceled out.
The Gators put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth against Joe Cinnella and scored one run on Jud Fabian’s sacrifice fly, but Thompson grounded out to second to end the game.
O’Neill was outstanding in five innings for Seton Hall (1-12). He surrendered four hits, issued just one walk and struck out nine batters. He was charged with three earned runs, but two of them were inherited runners that Probst allowed to score.
“You’ve got to congratulate their starter,” O’Sullivan said. “He came in with 10 walks in 10 innings pitched and threw strike after strike. Offensively, we weren’t very good the first half of the ballgame; I think we struck out nine times in the first five innings.
“Their starter kept throwing strike after strike and the wind was blowing in, so everything hit in the air was going to have a really hard time getting out of the yard. Credit them. They played really well. Their shortstop made a really nice play to start one of the innings in the six-hole. We just fell behind, and we had a hard time catching up.”
Zack Sylvester, D’Amico, Murray, Gale and Pokrovsky all turned in multi-hit games for the Pirates, and Gale and Sheehan both had two RBI.
Langford was the only Gator to have a huge day at the plate. He went 3-for-4 with the home run.
Purnell ran his streak of scoreless innings to start the season to 17 2/3 with 1 2/3 innings on Sunday.
The Gators must shake off this upset loss quickly. No. 8 Florida State visits Florida Ballpark on Tuesday evening for the first of three midweek matchups this season, weather permitting. Then SEC play begins next weekend with a road trip to Alabama.