Alex Panteliodis wasn’t sharp to start Friday night’s SEC opener against Mississippi State. His location was average and he was usually up in the strike zone, but the sophomore lefty kept grinding away and lasted a career-high 7-1/3 innings to lead the Florida Gators (14-3, 1-0) to a 7-2 victory over the Bulldogs at McKethan Stadium.
“I don’t think he had his best stuff tonight,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He had a lot of hard hit balls right at people. The positive A.P. can take out of this outing is he didn’t have his best stuff, but he still got a win.”
Panteliodis moved to 5-0 on the season, allowing four hits and two runs. Although he didn’t have his best control to begin the game, he battled each hitter and allowed only one walk and that was to the leadoff hitter in the first inning.
He was helped by stellar defense in left field from Tyler Thompson, made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Conner Powers of a home run in the third inning and a running catch to steal at least a double from Sam Frost in the fifth inning.
“I wasn’t sure if it was going to be out or not,” Thompson said of the shot off Powers’ bat. “I was just feeling for the [warning] track and listening for [center fielder Matt] den Dekker, too. He told me to jump, so I jumped up and made the catch.”
After a third inning home run by Nick Vickerson, Panteliodis (5-0, 1.52) never ran into much trouble. At one point he set down ten-straight batters, broken when Wes Thigpen led off the eighth with a home run.
Even though his command wasn’t great, Panteliodis still managed to throw 66 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
“I wouldn’t put it up with one of my greatest performances,” Panteliodis said. “I just wasn’t focusing enough I guess.”
The Florida offense took the pressure off Panteliodis from the beginning. After Josh Adams walked with one out in the first inning, Preston Tucker singled to right field and Austin Maddox doubled to the right-center field gap to score both runners for an early, 2-0, Florida lead. Maddox has eight multi-RBI games this season.
It was the sixth inning when the Gators took control with a five-run outburst.
Tucker got things started when he got the green light on a 2-0 count and drove the pitch over the fence in right-center field. Maddox hit the very next pitch, a hanging breaking ball, into the left field bleachers, the second time this season the Gators have hit back-to-back home runs. Nolan Fontana then worked a walk, which knocked Mississippi State starting pitcher Kendall Graveman from the game. Submarine right-hander Caleb Reed then hit Kamm Washington with a pitch. Bryson Smith tried to lay down a bunt, but Reed’s wildness turned that into a walk, loading the bases with no outs.
Thompson hit an 0-2 fastball back up the middle to drive home two runs and send Smith to third. One out later, den Dekker hit a sacrifice fly to the left field warning track, scoring Smith.
The home run for Tucker marked his third straight game going out of the yard. Just as he did last year, the sophomore first baseman is in a groove where the baseball looks as big as a beach ball.
“One day it clicks where you just see the ball real well,” Tucker said. “Whether you’re hitting the balls hard in (batting practice) or in the games you’re driving balls. Even if you’re making outs, you’re still driving the ball.”
Greg Larson threw the final 1-2/3 innings, allowing one hit and recording two strikeouts. It was a great sign after the sophomore right-hander has struggled for most of the season.
“I had a talk with him a couple days ago,” O’Sullivan said. “The bottom line is, he needs to be good for us to be good. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him, and he’s had a lot of success in this league before. The first 15 games didn’t go quite his way, but shoot, this is a new season in SEC play.”
The Gators attempt to clinch a series victory on Saturday when they take on Mississippi State at 7 p.m. It will be a battle of freshmen, with Florida throwing left-hander Brian Johnson (1-1, 5.52) against Bulldogs right-hander Chris Stratton (2-2, 2.95).