Clayton Pisani had not scored a run, and Mike Mooney had not recorded a hit all series against No. 23 Louisville. Then came the bottom of the ninth Sunday.
Down to the final out before the game ended in a tie, Pisani lined a single to center field, and catcher Buddy Munroe followed him with a two-strike single to right. Then, Mooney, 0 for 7 against Louisville to that point, walked to the plate and hit the game-winning single into left field.
"When it came off the bat, I thought I got under it a little bit because I did my first two at-bats," Mooney said. "I guess I got enough of it, and the wind helped me out. I don't know, but it ended up good."
The final game of the series provided more drama than the first two, finishing in a 3-2 victory for UF (3-0). The first two games of the weekend ended in easy Gators wins, 6-3 on Friday and 10-4 on Saturday.
But all three displayed dominant efforts by UF starting pitchers, including premier outings from two freshmen.
Alex Panteliodis (1-0, 3.00 ERA) went six innings and gave up only 2 runs Saturday. Not to be outdone, fellow newcomer Nick Maronde lasted 6 1/3 innings and allowed only two runs Sunday. Both pitchers gave up runs in the first inning before shutting down the Cardinals the rest of the game.
"The thing I was most proud of, with both (Panteliodis) and Nick, was they settled down, and they gave us a chance to win," UF coach Kevin O' Sullivan said. "Often times when you have a young pitcher out there, 2 runs turn into 3, and 3 turns into 4, and the next thing you know there is a leadoff walk, and things snowball out of control."
Before they took the mound, the two young pitchers saw their teammate show how to dominate a game.
Senior ace Patrick Keating surrendered 3 runs while striking out seven over seven innings in the Gators' season opener Friday. All three hurlers' pitch counts were at 75, making their performances even more impressive.
While Keating (1-0, 2.57) deserved the game ball Friday night, right fielder Riley Cooper stole the show Saturday. Besides going 2 for 4 at the plate, he prevented Louisville's Phil Wunderlich from tying the game in the fourth.
A wide receiver for the football team, Cooper displayed his leaping abilities by robbing Wunderlich of a home run that would have been out of his reach if it had been hit any farther.
"It was a pretty good ways (over the fence)," Cooper said. "That was the highest I could jump."
Mooney's late-game heroics trumped Cooper's catch, but he might never have gotten the chance if it weren't for another community college transfer.
UF reliever Jeff Barfield (1-0, 0.00) entered the game in the eighth inning with runners on the corners and two outs. After pitching around the Cardinals' best hitter, Chris Dominguez, to load the bases, Barfield struck out Kyle Cheesebrough to preserve the tie.
The efforts of the three new Gators completed the sweep of the Cardinals, but throughout the weekend they got contributions from most of the team: Every Gator with at least five at-bats recorded a hit.
