It was a freshman who stole the show on the No. 11 Florida baseball team’s Senior Day at McKethan Stadium. And it was one no one expected.
Tyler Thompson wasn’t even in the starting lineup. He pinch-hit for Daniel Pigott, who jammed his right hand diving back to first base, in the fourth inning. The Jupiter, Fla. freshman finished the day 4-for-4 with a home run, a double, three runs scored and three RBI, leading the Gators to a 13-9 victory over Kentucky in the regular-season finale.
“Recently I’ve worked with coach Craig (Bell) a little bit,” Thompson said. “I’m getting rid of all the strikeouts I had before. I’m putting together better at-bats and seeing the ball a lot better.”
Thompson had 10 hits coming into the game. His biggest swing was the 2-run home run in the fifth inning that broke a 5-5 tie. The home run cleared the 400-foot fence in center field with ease.
“I couldn’t wait to get my first one,” Thompson said. “It was a fastball. I sat on a curveball the at-bat before, so I was sitting fastball.”
The freshman did not have a double or home run coming into the game, but he left the game with both. He also became the first pinch-hitter in school history to end a game 4-for-4.
“He had a heck of a day,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He uses the whole field. He uses the right-center gap and then hits the double down the left-field line.
The standout performance from Thompson was close to O’Sullivan’s heart. The freshman graduated from Jupiter High School, which is the same school the Florida head coach attended. Thompson is also the son of former Gators baseball player Robby Thompson, who was selected in the first round by the San Francisco Giants in 1983.
“I’ve known Tyler for a long time,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s from my hometown. He’s been around a baseball family his whole life. I’ve known about Tyler for a long time and I always knew he was going to be a good player.”
Florida scored a run in each of their final five innings. Senior Avery Barnes drove in one with a single after Thompson scored on a balk.
Jonathan Pigott singled in Josh Adams in the fifth inning after Thompson hit his 2-run home run.
Adams singled home Barnes in the sixth inning, but the biggest inning came in the seventh. Mike Mooney singled up the middle with the bases loaded to score two, which broke an 8-8 tie. Preston Tucker drove in two more runs with his second double of the game, giving him six RBI on the weekend and 71 on the season. The school record is 80 set by Ryan Shealy in 2002.
“The first two games didn’t go my way, but I feel confident about today’s game,” Tucker said. “Everybody is swinging the bat well and gave me more chances to get up there and hit.”
The single from Mooney was redemption for him, after his sixth-inning error prolonged the inning, allowing Kentucky to score two more runs. It was his first error since April 24 against South Carolina.
“I felt like I had to do something after making that error earlier in the game and costing us a couple runs,” O’Sullivan said. “I came through. I feel a lot better than I would have if we had come out on the losing end of this game.”
Despite all the runs being scored, Kentucky’s pitchers struck out 15 batters, including a career-high 12 by starting pitcher Alex Meyer in only five innings of work. He ended the game allowing eight hits and seven runs, six of which were earned.
Florida’s starting pitcher didn’t do much better. Left-hander Nick Maronde, a native of Lexington, Ky., allowed five runs in 4.1 innings of work on six hits. He did strike out five batters.
Freshman left-hander Alex Panteliodis picked up the win to move to 6-5 on the year. He worked 1.1 scoreless innings, and the Florida head coach liked what he saw.
“I think the seventh when AP went out and put up a zero, that really helped us with the momentum,” O’Sullivan said.
Florida bounced back with the four-run seventh inning and the game seemed over, especially as Florida rolled star closer Billy Bullock out of the bullpen. He gave up one run on a solo home run by Chad Wright but did strike out three in two innings of work.
The sights for Florida now turn to Hoover, Ala., for the SEC Tournament. With Georgia and Arkansas both losing on Saturday afternoon, the Gators, the No. 2 seed as East Division champions, will take on Arkansas in the first round Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.
O’Sullivan, now in his second season, leads the Gators into the SEC Tournament after a learning experience last season. The Gators lost back-to-back games to Vanderbilt and South Carolina and then were on their way back to Gainesville before they could even settle down.
“Hopefully we’ll stay long enough to get our gifts,” O’Sullivan said with a smirk. “Last year they had to send them to us.”
The road gets tougher as Florida will have to face Arkansas ace Dallas Keuchel (7-3, 3.89 ERA). On March 13, Keuchel threw seven innings, allowing four hits and only one run against the Gators in the SEC opening game. He also struck out nine batters. Arkansas swept the Gators in that opening series. Now, however, Arkansas has lost eight straight SEC games and has tailed off near the end of the conference season as much as the Gators have caught fire. It will be a matchup of two teams in opposite places from when they first met.
Despite the opponent, O’Sullivan is happy to take his team into the tournament.
“I’m excited about it,” O’Sullivan said. “The other coaches in the league have all told me it’s not easy to get to Hoover. We certainly won’t take it for granted. We want to play well and be able to host here at home for the NCAA regionals.”
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL
EAST SEC Pct. GB All Pct.
x-Florida 19-11 .633 — 38-18 .679
South Carolina 17-13 .567 2.0 37-19 .661
Georgia 15-15 .500 4.0 35-20 .636
Vanderbilt 12-17 .414 6.5 31-24 .564
Kentucky 12-18 .400 7.0 28-26 .519
Tennessee 11-19 .367 8.0 26-29 .473
WEST SEC Pct. GB All Pct.
y-Louisiana State 20-10 .667 — 41-15 .732
y-Mississippi 20-10 .667 — 40-15 .727
Alabama 18-11 .621 1.5 37-17 .685
Arkansas 14-15 .483 5.5 32-20 .615
Auburn 11-19 .367 9.0 31-25 .554
Mississippi State 9-20 .310 10.5 25-29 .463
x-East Division champion
y-West Division champions, co-SEC regular-season champions
REGULAR SEASON
Saturday’s games
Florida 13, Kentucky 9
South Carolina 6, Georgia 1
Tennessee 9, Vanderbilt 7 (10)
Louisiana State 15, Mississippi State 4
Mississippi 16, Arkansas 3
Auburn 3, Alabama 1 (completion of Friday game)
Alabama 13, Auburn 3
SEC TOURNAMENT
At Regions Park, Hoover, Ala.
All times Eastern
Wednesday, May 20
Game 1: (7) Arkansas (32-20) vs. (2) Florida (38-18), 11 a.m. (CSS)
Game 2: (6) Georgia (35-20) vs. (3) Mississippi (40-15), 2:30 p.m. (CSS)
Game 3: (8) Vanderbilt (31-24) vs. (1) Louisiana State, (41-15), 6 p.m. (CSS)
Game 4: (5) South Carolina (37-19) vs. (4) Alabama (37-17), 9:30 p.m. (CSS)
Thursday, May 21
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m. (CSS)
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2:30 p.m. (CSS)
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (CSS)
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 9:30 p.m. (CSS)
Friday, May 22
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, 4 p.m. (FSN)
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 7:30 p.m. (FSN)
Saturday, May 23
Game 11: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 11 a.m. (FSN)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 2:30 p.m. (FSN)
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 6 p.m. (Game 13 will be necessary if Winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11)
Game 14: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, 9:30 p.m. (Game 14 will be necessary if winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If Game 13 is not necessary, Game 15 will start at 6 p.m.)
Sunday, May 24
Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 4 p.m. (FSN)
Note: If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no Game 13 and Game 14 and the championship game would be Game 13.
NCAA TOURNAMENT
REGIONALS (May 29-June 1)
Various campus sites
SUPER REGIONALS (June 5-8)
Various campus sites
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES (June 13-24)
At Omaha, Neb.