After playing a fairly crisp game on Friday night, the Gators made a plethora of self-inflicted mistakes in game two against Liberty on Saturday.
UF’s five pitchers combined to walk six batters and plunk five more. They allowed runners to advance on a wild pitch and a passed ball. The offense didn’t get a hit over the final four innings and stranded five runners during the third and fourth innings.
It all added up to a 6-4 loss to the Flames.
“It was all phases today,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We didn’t pitch very well, obviously. We made some freshmen mistakes, and some of these guys are going out for the first time, and our youth showed today. But we had the bases loaded in back-to-back innings, and we had some tough at bats where we could’ve opened it up a little bit more.”
Sophomore lefty Timmy Manning made the start on the mound for the No. 9 Gators and didn’t fare very well. He gave up four earned runs on five hits in just three innings. He walked two batters and hit another one.
Liberty jumped on him right away. Gray Betts led off the game with a single up the middle before Aaron Anderson blooped a single in front of right fielder Sterlin Thompson. Manning walked Stephen Hill to load the bases with nobody out.
He struck out Brady Gulakowski but then hit Cameron Foster with his first pitch to bring in the first run. Logan Mathieu followed with a hard-hit single to right to make it 2-0. Manning bounced back to strike out the next two batters and prevent a huge inning.
Manning retired the Flames in order in the second but struggled again in the third. Hill walked and Gulakowski doubled to begin the inning, and Foster plated a run with a sacrifice fly to right field. Two batters later, Derek Orndorff singled to right to make it 4-0.
“I think the two things that stick out about his start are he gave up two 0-2 hits with runners in scoring position,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, you’ve got to execute pitches when you’re up in the count like that. And then the leadoff walk in the third kind of put him in a tough spot.”
The Gators’ offense sprang to life in the bottom of the inning. BT Riopelle and Deric Fabian led off with back-to-back walks by Liberty starter Trey Gibson. Colby Halter doubled to right field to score one run and put runners on second and third with nobody out.
And, somehow, they found a way to not score again in that inning.
Jud Fabian hit a ground ball to third that wasn’t hit far enough toward the middle of the field for his younger brother to score.
Liberty opted to walk Thompson and load the bases after falling behind him 3-0. Gibson struck out Kendrick Calilao looking and got Wyatt Langford to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
A similar story played out again one inning later. The first three Gators reached to load the bases with nobody out and prompt a pitching change. David Erickson walked Deric Fabian on four pitches to bring in a run. With one out, Jud Fabian doubled off of the wall in right center field to tie the game at two.
The Gators had a chance to explode for a big inning and seize control of the game. Instead, Thompson popped out and Calilao flied out.
After pitching a perfect fourth inning, UF reliever Brandon Sproat experienced some control issues in the fifth. He walked Hill to begin the inning, and Foster doubled down the right field line to score him and give the Flames the lead back after the game had been tied for all of 10 minutes.
Langford led off the bottom of the inning with a single up the middle, and he stole second base with nobody out. He advanced to third on a groundout by Kris Armstrong but was stranded there after Rivera struck out and Guscette grounded out.
“We just did not do a very good job with runners in scoring position today,” O’Sullivan said. “Those things happen. It’s early in the season. We’ll learn from it, but the bottom line is when you have runners at third with less than two outs, you’ve got to do it early in the count. You don’t want to get to two strikes and put yourself in a situation where you potentially can strike out.”
As it turned out, Langford’s knock would be the Gators’ last hit of the game. Liberty’s tandem of Erickson, Mason Fluharty, Trey Carter and Cade Hungate retired the next 12 Gators in a row.
The Flames tacked on an insurance run off of Brandon Neely in the eighth before the Gators at least made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth.
Hungate hit Deric Fabian with a pitch to lead off the inning, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Halter fouled off a couple of 1-2 pitches before eventually grounding out weakly back to the mound. Jud Fabian popped out and Thompson went down swinging to end it.
“You’ve got to hand it to Liberty’s pitchers,” Jud Fabian said. “They pitched pretty well today, and we just had some tough ABs.
“They got the best of us today.”
Two of the few positives from the game for the Gators were the performances of Karl Hartman and Blake Purnell. Hartman tossed two scoreless and hitless innings, though he did walk a guy and hit two more.
Purnell was highly effective with his sidearm delivery and struck out two batters in 1 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings.
Florida and Liberty will decide the series on Sunday at noon. Freshman lefty Pierce Coppola will make the start on the mound for the Gators.
“It’s always important to get a series win no matter what, but especially opening weekend and playing a strong team like Liberty can really help us, basically boost us into the start of the season,” Fabian said.