Obviously gotta take 2/3 this weekend but first: Beat Stetson. Not even sure who we start. Either Manning or Pogue but they’ve gotta throw strikes. Tennessee and Barco- gotta take 2/3 but what do we know about Barco? If he’s not healthy that really changes things. After Tennessee things get easier as we face a different schedule down the stretch w Missouri, Kentucky, and South Carolina. These are all teams we will be expected to take the series from. Mississippi State a toss up but avoid total collapse against UT and our schedule sets up favorably.
Gators vs. Stetson Tuesday, 6 pm on SEC+. The Hatters enter the midweek matchup with an 18-17 record on the year, although they are just 5-10 in conference play. Stetson is batting .259 as a team and own a 4.30 staff ERA backed by a .967 fielding percentage. LHP Jonathan Gonzalez (3-5, 5.24 ERA) starting for Stetson. UF starter not yet named, although Gatorswire is saying Karl Hartman is the probable starter. He's only pitched 11.2 innings, 0-0 record with a 9.26 ERA. The Gators are 8-1 in midweek games and 10-2 vs. in-state teams this season (three top-25 wins in-state).
Hartman has pitched well his last couple times out of memory serves and he has great looking stuff. If he can be used out of the pen on the weekends, that would be terrific.
Agreed. If he continues with the focus he has shown his last 2-3 times out it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to turn in a clean 3 innings going through their lineup one time. Anything above that would surely be a plus.
UF baseball improves to 23-14 by beating Stetson 10-8. Good thing the bats were hot tonight because it was another poor pitching performance from the Gator staff. Karl Hartman went 2 innings as the starter, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk. Nic Ficarrotta (who was credited with the win) gave up a HR to the first batter he faced with 2 of Hartman's runners on base, then gave up another run in his 3 innings. Nick Pogue was very good in his 1.2 innings, getting 5 outs on 22 pitches with only a hit batter during his time on the mound. He was charged with a run because his hit batter scored when Philip Abner gave up a double to the first batter he faced, which scored Pogue's runner. Abner faced 3 batters and gave up a walk and 2 hits. Anthony Ursetti got 3 clean outs, Garrett Milchin pitched the 8th and faced the minimum. Then Blake Purnell got the save, although he gave up a run in the 9th. On offense Florida got 13 hits, with Wyatt Langford going 2-4 with a HR and 4 RBI, Sterlin Thompson went 3-5 with 2 RBI, Jud Fabian went 2-3 with a 2-run HR and Josh Rivera went 2-3 with a HR. The Gators have the bats to compete with Tennessee, but the pitching has got to be much better to give us a chance.
Averages in conference play going into Tennessee game: Langford 333 Riopelle 328 Guscette 304 Sterlin 276 Rivera 268 Armstrong 250 Calilao 245 Jud 228 Halter 194 Fabian 163
Win kept UF 10th in RPI. Some sad news, apparently someone GT has played moved into Q1 meaning they now have the most Q1 wins at 14. UF is now #2. UF is still top 5 in Q1 losses as well. BC has 15. GT and one other have 14 Q1 losses. Regardless, a 13-13 Q1 record feels pretty good for a team everyone is quite frustrated with.
Jud’s 16th HR against Stetson tonight should place him #2 in the country behind Kevin Parada of GT (with 18) pending a couple other games around the country. Matt LaPorta I believe was the last Gator to lead the nation (2005 with 26 UF memory serves).
Thoughts and prayers to Barco, my favorite on this team. This kid deserved to play during Sully's good years.
OK. Gator baseball is down to Tennessee 7-0 in the bottom of the 3rd. Starting pitcher Ryan Slater has given up all the runs on 7 hits (including a HR) and 3 walks and a hit batter. We look inept against them, at least so far. And yet: Here are the rankings for Florida's recruiting classes per D1 baseball: 2021 - #2 2020 - #6 2019 - #1 2018 - #10 2017 - #2 2016 - #5 2015 - #2 I know that Tennessee's recruiting class for 2021 was ranked #5 and they were well behind us in all the prior years. In fact I just read an article from a UT website that said their 2020 signing class was ranked in the Top 20 (not Top 10), the first of the Vitello era and that last year's #5 class was their first Top 10 class since 2005. And yet their team seems so much better. Hard to understand, isn't it?
Gator baseball lost their opener vs. #1 Tennessee 8-2 in a game that was decided in the 2nd inning when the Vols scored 7 runs. Ryan Slater went 4.1 innings giving up 8 runs on 7 hits, 4 walks, 2 HBP and a wild pitch. Anthony Ursitti, Karl Hartman & Fisher Jameson finished the game on the mound, only giving up 2 hits and a walk. Florida only had 3 hits for the game, with Mac Guscette hitting a solo HR. Game #2 is at 6:30 Saturday on SEC+. Brandon Sproat needs to pitch well and the bats need to wake up.
Moving Forward- Praying tomorrow we go for broke and do whatever it takes to get the win. Hoping for changes in line up. Guys hitting under 180 and 150 in league play. More ok going for broke- we are 12th in the league in on base percentage. We either have to be more patient at the plate or start bunting more… Or maybe both but something has to change. With our pitching staff, trying to play long ball all the time at the plate is not the approach to have. Ursitti deserves much more time. Another SW Florida boy. Arguably the 2nd best arm on the team. Hopefully down the stretch he gets used more because his stuff is absolutely filthy. Did I see Coppola in uniform? Jud- love the patience we are seeing. Super impressive!
At this point, I was hoping that he had already gone ahead with his back surgery and was well on his way to rehabbing for next season.
Having to figure why I still have a Gainesville Sun subscription. I liked it for the old NYT crossword but now we only get the Sunday one.
