Now that looked more like Florida Gators baseball.
After a two-week stretch where they played about as sloppy as could be imagined, the No. 6 Gators returned to their familiar formula for success under Kevin O’Sullivan on Friday: dominant pitching, spectacular defense and timely hitting. It worked well enough for UF (8-3) to take both ends of the doubleheader from Florida A&M (0-10) by scores of 10-2 and 5-1.
“We talked to the players before we played the first game,” O’Sullivan said. “You can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to come out and play. We’ve got conference [play] starting in two weeks. We’ve got to play crisper; dugout’s got to be better; we’ve got to have more energy.”
So far, so good.
Starting pitcher Tommy Mace got the weekend started with a gusty performance in game one. He didn’t have great command for his pitches at times and got himself into some jams, but he battled through them to toss seven innings and allow just two runs on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks. He only made two large mistakes, which led to a leadoff triple to start the second inning and a leadoff home run to start the sixth inning. After giving up a run in the second, he dialed up a double play ball to escape further damage.
“I don’t think Tommy was quite as sharp as he’s been, last weekend,” O’Sullivan said. “He threw some balls in the middle of the plate. His fastball was up a little bit more today. He wasn’t quite as sharp, but he battled and gave us what he needed to give us to give us a chance to win.”
Jack Leftwich, meanwhile, was the opposite. He absolutely had his best stuff, maybe better than he’d ever had before. He struck out eight Rattlers in eight innings of work and only surrendered a solo home run to open the seventh inning. He had pinpoint command of his fastball and excellent depth on his off-speed pitches, which kept Rattlers batters off balance.
“I had all my pitches working,” Leftwich said. “My slider was way sharper. [Sully] kind of said last week that my stuff was better than Miami but still not like preseason. And so, my bullpen this week was probably one of the better bullpens I’ve had since I’ve been at school here, and I kind of found some stuff in my delivery. My tempo was a little bit slower, so I was just trying to cut the ball loose and be a little faster today, and it was a lot better.”
Perhaps the most encouraging part of the day pitching-wise, however, was the performance of Franco Aleman. The big, flame-throwing righty had struggled to get the ball over the plate in his first four appearances of the season. He entered the day with eight walks and a 14.73 earned run average in 3 2/3 innings of work. He played a large role in two of the Gators’ three losses.
He replaced Mace in the eighth inning of game one. He got himself into a little bit of trouble with back-to-back one-out singles, but he worked himself out of it with a fielder’s choice and a popout. He then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning. It was an encouraging night from a pitcher that O’Sullivan still believes will play a large role in the back end of the bullpen as the season goes on.
“I think he was probably getting in his own way a little bit, probably overthinking things,” O’Sullivan said. “You know, let’s face it, too: he’s been a starter his whole life, and we’ve now put him in a different role. It’s a learning experience.
“He got on top of some really good sliders today and let the ball go. He was very aggressive, and he’s a really sharp kid. He knows when he throws well and when he doesn’t. But the ninth inning to me was a statement for me that ‘OK, he’s starting to figure this thing out again, and he’s starting to get a little bit more confident and maybe stop thinking about things as much.’”
Defensively, Florida entered Friday having committed an error in eight of its nine games this season, including five games with multiple errors. They committed zero errors in 18 innings against the Rattlers. Not only did they not make any mistakes, but they actually shined with the glove. Third baseman Colby Halter made a diving stop of a groundball and an accurate throw to first in game one, while Sterlin Thompson made a diving catch of a sinking line drive in the nightcap.
Halter was the star of the night offensively. He hit a long grand slam in the eighth inning of game one that turned a 6-2 game into a 10-2 blowout. If you live in Hawthorne, watch out because that ball might crash into your home any second now.
“I worked a pretty good at bat, fouled off a bunch of pitches,” Halter said. “And then he threw a fastball again, and I definitely didn’t miss it. Probably one of the farthest balls [I’ve hit] for sure.
“That’s pretty special. I had my first high school grand slam just last year, so it’s only my second grand slam of my life, so it’s definitely a special moment for sure.”
After the Gators’ uninspiring performance in a loss to Florida Atlantic on Wednesday, O’Sullivan called out his team for a lack of effort and focus and accused them of letting selfishness creep into their play.
His team responded about as well as he could’ve hoped for. Their clean performance in the doubleheader sweep was exactly what the doctor ordered.
“This is an odd year, and you try to have as much patience as you can because the only thing that’s going to bother me more than anything else is the effort level, and that’s what I was upset about Wednesday night,” O’Sullivan said. “I just didn’t think the effort and focus was there. Win, lose or draw – you’re not going to win every baseball game, but you certainly want to give yourself the best chance, and we can control our effort. We can control our focus, and I thought today was better.”