No.4 Florida baseball is off to a 6-2 start to the 2024 season, which includes losses to St. John’s and Stetson on the young campaign. Even in Florida’s victories, a constant theme appears to be a middle innings lull offensively, which has allowed opposing teams to stay in the game a lot longer than they probably should.
The Gators have scored seven more runs in the 1st and 8th innings (41) than the other seven innings combined (34). The most recent example of this came in Florida’s most recent win over Bethune Cookman, where the Gators’ plated four in the first inning and scored just two runs over the next six innings before Florida knocked in three runs in the 8th inning to finally put the game out of reach.
“There was quite a few at bats where we had some offensive counts that we didn’t do much damage with,” Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame. “I mean we scored four in the first and then I think we just scored a couple over the next five or six innings, so we will have to continue to improve on that. I’ve been pleased with how we’ve been scoring early in the game, but we have to continue to add on. I think the 2nd inning might have been one of those innings where you just kind of scratch your head, it wasn’t a very good inning.”
Kevin O’Sullivan wasn’t pleased with Florida’s offensive approach after their 7-4 road loss to Stetson on Tuesday night and portrayed a similar message postgame.
“We got off to a tough start and honestly, three of our first five innings we had plenty of opportunities to score, not just the first,” O’Sullivan said postgame.
The Gators found all four of their runs in the 3rd inning vs the Hatters, posting zeros in the other 8 innings.
“It felt like we were not getting off really good swings on 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 counts the entire night. We didn’t hit with runners in scoring position. It was a collective group… Hopefully, it’s a learning experience for them about being on the road. It just was not a good night,” O’Sullivan said.
“Even as the game went on we kept hurting ourselves and not putting together good at bat after good at bat. I don’t understand the at bats that we had tonight. We got in a lot of 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 counts and we’re late to fastballs. We’ve got to turn it around tomorrow, but tonight is disappointing,” O’Sullivan added.
Florida struggled in the middle innings against Columbia as well after scoring 10 runs in the first inning on Friday night. The Gators would go scoreless in innings 2-6 before adding one in the 7th and four in the 8th.
“We shouldn’t have to use Slater in a game like this, so that is probably the only disappointing part,” O’Sullivan said postgame. “It kind of had a weird feel to it, too, because they brought in Parkinson and Madrigal, two of their more experienced relievers, so it felt like they kept tacking on runs. It got to be a four-run game at one point. Didn’t obviously foresee that coming the way the game started.”
The goal is to score as many runs as you possibly can, which Florida has been fine at despite significantly struggling in the middle innings of their games. The Gators have scored 75 runs this season and are averaging 9.37 runs per game. However, with competition level set to increase, the Gators are searching for more offensive production in the middle innings.
“Overall, our numbers are good, but things are going to get difficult, you know this weekend is going to be totally different than what we’ve played so far. Another road challenge for us,” O’Sullivan said on Miami.
With middle relief being a concern for the Gators in 2024, it’s important that Florida can find a consistent offensive approach for nine innings, potentially taking the stress off Florida’s pitching staff.
“Ideally you want to be able to score in all nine innings,” O’Sullivan said.
While that is far easier said than done, the last thing the Gators want to do is allow teams to continue to creep back into games after explosive starts. You also don’t want to keep relying on late inning magic to put the game out of reach, because that can be detrimental to your pitching staff regarding availability for your pitchers.
Florida baseball will travel south to Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field to take on the Miami Hurricanes in a three-game series this weekend.