Russell Sandefer delivered one of the best pitching performances in recent memory on Saturday night at Condron Family Ballpark, but it ended in a heartbreaking 5–2 loss to Ole Miss as Florida dropped the series.
The Gators were three outs from back-to-back shutouts and a series win, but Florida’s bullpen collapsed as the Rebels erupted for five ninth inning runs off four different UF pitchers.
It wasted a career performance from Sandefer, who threw a career-high seven shutout innings on 93 pitches, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 11 batters.
“Felt great. Command of the strike zone very well. I had four pitches that were all effective. Defense made some great plays behind me as well,” Sandefer said postgame. “I knew after that first inning it was going to be a good day. If I can command the strike zone like that, it’s going to be a very good year.”
Despite a career day in front of MLB scouts, Sandefer was distraught after the loss.
“Definitely very bitter, emphasis on the bitter in bittersweet,” Sandefer said. “At the end of the day, we still got a lot of games to play, so there’s nothing we can do about it now. We got to move on. Obviously, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Sandefer said he wanted to win the series for Ethan Surowiec, an Ole Miss transfer who joined Florida during the offseason alongside Sandefer, who transferred from UCF.
“He’s probably one of the best teammates I’ve ever played with,” Sandefer said on Surowiec. “Wears the Gator uniform. Obviously, he went to Ole Miss last year. Especially me as a transfer, no matter how good of a relationship you have leaving, you want to win that game. I’m really upset that we didn’t do that for him.”
It’s been a unique journey for Sandefer, who began the season in a bullpen role, suffered a midseason injury, and is now relied upon as the Gators’ Sunday/Game 3 starter—where he appears to be thriving.
“I’m just trying to lay it out on the line, just cause it means more to me to be a Florida Gator than anything,” Sandefer said.
While Sandefer has found his groove, Florida can’t seem to stack good weekends. In a heartfelt and honest postgame press conference, he questioned the team’s toughness.
“This team is very talented, but at times we lack toughness, unfortunately. I think today was one of those days,” Sandefer said. “We’re a tough group I just think sometimes things get away from us. We still got a lot of baseball left to play. We still got a goal…we’re gonna remember this one for a long time.”
Florida now sits at 24-9 (7-5 SEC) on the season, with a challenging week ahead that includes a road matchup against No. 5 FSU on Tuesday and a weekend series at No. 4 Georgia.
Looking ahead to a tough week, Sandefer challenged his teammates to back up their words with action.
“I’ve always believed talk is cheap. You got to go out there and do it,” Sandefer said. “What it really comes down to is we need some guys to step up and lay it out on the line.”