The No. 5 Gators got off to an inauspicious start against Stetson on Wednesday night at Florida Ballpark.
Highly touted freshman lefty Timmy Manning made his first career start. The Hatters smacked him around to the tune of five runs on five hits in just 1 2/3 innings. The Gators stranded runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings. The game had the feel of one of those midweek contests that gets away from the Gators as young arms struggle to hit their spots.
“We know stuff like that happens,” catcher Nathan Hickey said. “It was Timmy’s first start. I don’t know if he got rattled or what, but he wasn’t hitting the spots and just getting hit around a little bit. Timmy’s a really good pitcher; he probably just had one of those days.”
His teammates bailed him out. Florida (11-3) scored 10 consecutive runs from the third through sixth innings and held on for a 10-7 win over the Hatters (10-4).
All three phases of the game played a role in UF’s comeback.
Six relievers combined to allow just two runs on six hits over the final 7 1/3 innings of the game. Chase Centala got the final out of the second inning to stop the bleeding after the Hatters touched Manning for four runs in the frame. He then hurled a scoreless third inning.
Brandon Sproat got credit for the win by giving up no runs in his 1 2/3 innings of work. Lefty Ryan Cabarcas made his season debut after battling an injury the last few weeks and got a big out in a left-on-left matchup with a couple of runners aboard in the sixth inning. Franco Aleman showed more signs of improvement by finishing the game in the ninth, though he did give up a towering home run to Brandon Hylton.
While the offense usually receives the most praise after a major comeback win like this one, the pitching staff was the real star of the show. They kept the Hatters off the board long enough for the offense to find themselves.
“It’s a learning experience,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s the first start for Timmy; he’ll get better. I think the biggest thing is just the command. We’ve got some guys in different roles and haven’t started in a while, so this was a good learning experience for them. Everybody kind of chipped in. [Jordan] Butler came in and did what he needed to do and Centala and Sproat, and I thought David Luethje was really good tonight, too. He kind of settled things down and got us to Franco.”
Defensively, Kendrick Calilao made a play in right field that O’Sullivan labeled as the “play of the game.”
With Stetson leading 5-3, Butler walked the leadoff batter to start the fifth inning. O’Sullivan went to the bullpen and brought in Sproat. Pinch hitter Eric Foggo blasted a 1-0 fastball deep into right field. The ball appeared as if it would sail over Calilao’s head and roll to the wall for an extra-base hit.
At least, that’s what Hernen Sardinas thought as he ran the bases. Instead, Calilao made an excellent break on the ball and caught it over his shoulder like a wide receiver running a go-route. Sardinas was already halfway to third base by this point, which resulted in an easy 9-3-4 double play. Just like that, an inning that looked like it would yield multiple runs turned into two outs with nobody on.
“That totally changed the whole momentum and the whole complexion of the ballgame,” O’Sullivan said. “If that ball gets down, I think the runner at first probably scores, and we’ve got another runner at second or third with nobody out, but it totally changed the whole complexion of the game. That would’ve made the score 6-3 and probably makes the night a little bit more difficult for us.”
The Gators immediately capitalized on the momentum by scoring four runs to take a 7-5 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Kris Armstrong started the onslaught with a leadoff home run to left field. Jacob Young drove in a run with a double, while Hickey singled home two more to give his team the lead.
Young tacked on another RBI the following inning with a sacrifice fly. Jud Fabian doubled home a run, and Hickey stroked another RBI single. A large deficit turned into a comfortable lead for the Gators in a little more than an hour.
“To fall behind five runs early in the first couple innings, I thought our team stayed into the game and engaged,” O’Sullivan said. “They had some really good at bats. Even though we didn’t have a whole lot of success against their starter early, we ended up driving up his pitch count quite a bit and got him out of the game probably sooner than he wanted to. I think he was up to 80 some-odd pitches not even through four innings. I thought offensively we did a really good job tonight.”
Hickey went a career-best 4-for-5 with three RBI, while Young went 3-for-5 with three RBI.
Hickey said his swing had gotten a bit long over the past couple of weeks, and he spent a bunch of time in batting practice this week trying to shorten his swing and hit the ball the other way. He was pleased to see his hard work pay off.
“I was definitely on a downslope,” Hickey said. “Not even like a downslope. Maybe just like a freefall for a little bit, but, yeah, it felt really good. I felt like I was seeing the ball better, and my swing just felt more compact and how it normally is.”
The Hatters had the Gators against the ropes, but they couldn’t finish the job. The comeback win validated what the Gators already thought about themselves and will give them added confidence for the future.
“We know how good we are, and we know what we can do,” Hickey said. “We’re a very talented offensive team, so we know if you go up five, we can put up five just as easily as you did. So, I feel like, even going forward, if we go down, no matter how many runs we’re down, I feel like we’re always still in it offensively.”