Hudson Randall started looking forward to Wednesday night more than a year ago. From the day he signed his name on his University of Florida letter of intent, Randall began imagining his first start as a Gator. His dream became a reality Wednesday night as Randall picked up his first collegiate win, helping the Gators to a 7-6 victory over UCF at McKethan Stadium.
Randall went five innings, allowing three hits and no runs, extending the scoreless streak to 18-1/3 innings for Florida’s starting pitchers through the first four games this season. Randall struck out three batters, comfortable to let his off-speed pitches do the work by inducing UCF hitters to pound the ball into the dirt.
A native of Dunwoody, GA , Randall worked on a pitch count of 70 and was pulled after throwing 71 in his five innings of work. Randall was locked in and finished his outing with a strikeout of UCF third baseman Michael Holmes. Of the 71 pitches Randall threw, 53 were strikes.
“He was outstanding,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Once again, I know I’m repeating myself, but he’s been doing that all offseason. When we go further in the season, we’ll extend his pitch count a little more, but he was in control of the game.”
Randall’s first start as a Gator came in dominant fashion, but it almost didn’t happen. Gainesville was struck with rain and mostly cloudy skies all afternoon and didn’t clear up until halfway through the game. There was still a steady mist falling on the field when the players first took the field.
Kevin Chapman, who got the save in Randall’s victory, kept the freshman loose before the game. His teammates played music and held ping-pong matches to keep his mind off the game.
“[It was] everything I pictured,” Randall said of the day he was waiting for. “It wasn’t the best of days, but I worked with it and did what I could. I was sitting in [the locker room] for like two hours before the game. That was a pain.”
A year ago, Chapman pitched eleven total innings. Wednesday night, O’Sullivan trusted him in the most pressure-packed environment of the season. Chapman dealt the final 1.2 innings of the game, striking out two batters on the way to clinch the victory.
“If he didn’t get that save, we were going to cut him,” O’Sullivan joked, obviously relieved from a nail-biting victory. “I just told him to locate and stay focused on what he was doing. That’s what he did.”
Chapman’s relief effort saved Nick Maronde and Greg Larson, who both struggled. The two relievers were hit hard on Sunday against USF, so O’Sullivan’s plan was to throw them back on the mound to regain their confidence.
But they were hit hard again. After going 2/3 of an inning and allowing three runs Sunday, Maronde went two innings, giving up seven hits and three runs. He also struck out three along the way. His velocity has been good, if not better than it was last season. His pitches aren’t the problem. Right now, he is struggling to finish off hitters when he gets two strikes on them.
“He’s getting two strikes,” O’Sullivan said. “I know this is going to sound pretty weird, but I thought he threw the ball better tonight. When he missed, he missed down. He’s just got to make better two-strike pitches. He got two-strike pitches up. I’m encouraged about the way he threw. Obviously, his line doesn’t show that, and sometimes that’s the way it is. He’s got good stuff, and he’s going to be fine.”
Larson relieved Maronde, and was immediately greeted with a two-run home run off the bat of Chris Duffy. The sophomore right-hander finished the game throwing 1/3 of an inning, allowing three hits and three earned runs.
Chapman saved him by ending the inning. He got the first two outs of the ninth inning before allowing a single to center field by Jonathan Griffin. Duffy then struck out looking to end the game.
Chapman closed the game Wednesday for his first career save, but he may have plenty more opportunities. O’Sullivan compared his progress to what Billy Bullock did last season. Bullock had plenty of ability, but he never nailed down a solid role until last season when he fit in as the closer and was drafted as in the second round by the Minnesota Twins after the season was over.
The road back for Chapman has been long. His innings were limited last season because of elbow surgery that forced him to miss the 2008 season. His arm still wasn’t back to normal last season, which held him back from contributing. Now he is setting himself up as the Florida closer.
“A lot of it probably has to do with health,” O’Sullivan said of Chapman’s improvement. “A lot of it is confidence. We talk about it all the time. You can drive, drive and drive, and you can’t find a 6-3 or 6-4 lefty who can throw 92-93 (mph). Once it starts getting in his head that he is very talented and starts executing, who knows how good he can be.”
While Randall was throwing zeros up on the scoreboard in the first half of the game, his offense was giving him room to work with.
Bryson Smith led off the second inning with a double down the left field line. Daniel Pigott reached on a four-pitch walk before Jonathan Pigott advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Nolan Fontana grounded out to second, scoring Smith and moving Pigott to third. Mike Zunino grounded a single up the middle to bring in Pigott. After Zunino stole second base, Matt den Dekker rolled a single into right field to push the Florida lead to 3-0 after the second inning.
Smith finished the game going 2-2 with two walks, reaching base in all four plate appearances. He was batting .111 (1-9) after the three games over the weekend, so the Florida coaches thought a boost in confidence would be necessary. He hit in the lower third of the lineup over the weekend and batted fifth on Wednesday.
“We talked about the lineup today and moved him to the five spot,” O’Sullivan said. “It was just a little way for us to show him that we have confidence in him. This weekend is over with. He’s one of our guys. I don’t know if that’s why he got two hits, but I’m sure it said something to him when he saw himself in the lineup hitting fifth instead of seventh or eighth.”
After Fontana and Zunino led off the sixth inning with back-to-back singles, Josh Adams drove them in with a one-out double to right-center field. After Preston Tucker popped out to shortstop, Austin Maddox lined a double to left field, scoring Adams and pushing the Florida advantage to 7-0 before the bullpen struggles began.
The Gators return to action Thursday night at McKethan Stadium when they host the Siena Saints at 6:30. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Tommy Toledo will make his second start of the year.