The Florida Gators dropped the first game of the Gainesville Regional Final, 16-11, on Sunday night.
Florida and Troy will meet again Monday at 6 p.m. in a winner-take-all championship game.
It was another disastrous showing for Florida’s pitching staff, which has now allowed 33 runs across three games in the Gainesville Regional—the most it has surrendered in any three-game stretch this season. The previous high was 28 runs against Alabama in March.
Florida entered the NCAA Tournament with the nation’s 14th-best ERA and the second-best mark in the SEC. Nearly every pitching metric placed the Gators among the country’s elite staffs.
You wouldn’t know it from watching the Gainesville Regional.
“We’ve been throwing the ball really well. For whatever reason this weekend we haven’t been ourselves, and tomorrow hopefully we will be,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame. “Our bullen pretty much fell apart on Friday. We only got three innings out of Aidan [King] or so last night. And the start today wasn’t what Liam [Peterson] wanted. We’re just gonna have to pitch better if we want to move on.”
Junior right-handed pitcher Liam Peterson allowed nine earned runs over five innings, the most he has surrendered in a game during his three-year Florida career. Peterson gave up 10 hits, including five for extra bases.
“They were on his stuff. There wasn’t a whole lot of swing and misses, honestly,” O’Sullivan said on Peterson’s outing. “I know he’s disappointed. I know he was looking forward to this start. But if we win tomorrow, he’ll have another opportunity next weekend.”
Trailing 7-5 after Peterson’s exit, Florida’s bullpen proceeded to allow nine runs in the sixth inning. Seven of those runs were charged to the Gators’ relievers, while Peterson was responsible for the first two runs scored in the frame.
Ernesto Lugo-Canchola allowed a pair of singles, while Schuyler Sandford hit a batter and walked one to bring home a run. Billy Barlow then surrendered a grand slam as Troy’s lead ballooned.
Barlow settled in afterward, providing Florida with two scoreless innings, but the damage had already been done.
“The sixth inning was pretty much a disaster,” O’Sullivan said postgame. “Trying to manage the bullpen today was extremely difficult, because obviously we were chasing runs the entire game. It felt like we would get within two and turn around and give up another run and fall behind by three. Then we would get within two again, and we would fall behind by three or four.”
The good news for Florida is that its offense hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. The Gators scored 11 runs and hit four home runs on Sunday, bringing their regional total to 16 homers. Florida has scored 41 runs in three games this weekend and has reached double digits in consecutive contests.
“We’re swinging the bats really well. As well as we have all year long,” O’Sullivan said.
The Gainesville Regional has seen 35 baseballs leave the yard this weekend, an average of 5.83 per game. That’s unusual given that Florida’s ballpark has not historically been known as a hitter-friendly venue.
“It seems like every fly ball you kind of hold your breathe, and we don’t have a small ballpark,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s kind of head scratching a little bit, honestly.”
Looking ahead
It’s no secret that both teams will be short on pitching tomorrow. Troy will be playing its fifth game of the regional, while Florida will be playing its fourth, and neither team named a starter postgame.
It’s likely to be a pitching-by-committee approach for both clubs with a trip to the Super Regionals on the line.
“We’re gonna have to be really strategic in how we use our arms, because we’re probably gonna have to use quite a few,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re gonna have to have a bunch of guys go out there and give us two innings, and then just hand the ball off to Josh [Whritenour] at the end.”
It’s going to come down to which team competes better and which players step up in the biggest moments.
“We’ll have enough to be competitive tomorrow and have a chance to win,” O’Sullivan said on the pitching staff. “I do know that. If we keep scoring runs like we have been, we just need a couple guys to step up.”
Florida looks to punch their ticket to the Super Regionals for the third time in four years.
“Bottom line is we have a chance to win a Regional tomorrow. We did this in 2017. Had to come back on Monday and play. Got a chance to win a Regional, bottom line.”