Lauren Haeger has been remarkable in her senior season.
And against Florida’s heated rival, Haeger once again proved her worth in the pitcher’s circle.
In an anticipated pitching matchup between two of the best pitchers in the country, Haeger was able to get the best of Florida State’s Lacey Waldrop, who was the national player of the year last season.
The pitchers came into the game with a combined 44-5 record in 55 total appearances..
But it was Haeger’s bat and Florida’s small ball that was the difference in the game as No. 1 UF (44-4) beat No. 10 FSU (37-12) 5-0 to sweep the season series between the two rivals.
The Gators outscored the Seminoles 10-1 in their two meetings this season.
Haeger went toe-to-toe against Waldrop, a pitcher who she’s struggled against at the plate.
“Lacey Waldrop is the best against me,” Haeger said. “She’s awesome, she’s a great pitcher. We had a great plan and we stuck with our plan.”
Haeger went 1-for-3 at the plate driving in the first three runs of the game. She also got her first hit against Waldrop in her career in the bottom of the inning.
Haeger’s first RBI came in the bottom of the first inning when she had a RBI groundout that scored Nicole DeWitt from third base.
DeWitt, who is now 5-for-5 against Florida State in her young career, scored two runs on Wednesday night. Her early success against the Seminoles is somewhat surprising for the freshman out of Garden Grove, California.
“No one expects that,” DeWitt said. “I’m always trying to get on base, just help the team out. Just go out there and do what I can do.”
DeWitt scored her second run of the game as Haeger hit a two RBI single that bounced over the FSU infield.
Haeger took over in the circle from there as she finished the game allowing no runs on four hits and striking out four over five innings of work.
Haeger is now 21-0 on the year with a 1.15 ERA and 146 strikeouts.
Waldrop, on the other hand, couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning as she was chased after allowing two more runs in the bottom of the inning of the frame.
Waldrop came into the game with a 1.25 ERA and held opponents to a .148 batting average. The Gators didn’t try to do too much at the plate as only one of their hits left the infield.
“At times when you’re facing different pitchers, different teams, different situations sometimes you’ve gotta do little things like that,” coach Tim Walton said. “We went with a hit and run a couple times, put on the bunt a few times, put the squeeze a few times. …gotta do little things.”
Florida finishes its regular season home schedule with a three game series against Texas A&M starting on Friday. It will be the last time the six seniors on the team will play at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the regular season.
Walton wants to give them the opportunity to go make the most of the moment.
“You want to be able to give them a good opportunity to go out on a home weekend and give them hopefully a good moment,” Walton said. “The priority number one is to win the game, so we’re going to go out with that plan and figure out a way to hopefully get all six players in this weekend.”
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
UF's Lauren Haeger pitches during Florida's 5-0 win against Florida State on April 22, 2015, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
