Alex Panteliodis struggled with his control on Friday, but the numbers say otherwise.
The sophomore pitched a shutout and did not issue a walk despite his inability to throw his secondary pitches for strikes.
“I really didn’t have my stuff today,” he said. “I was mainly throwing fastballs today and I threw a couple of off-speed stuff, but I just wasn’t throwing them for strikes.”
But the left-hander still picked up his fourth victory of the season and turned in seven scoreless innings, the longest start of his career and of any UF starter this season, while striking out five.
His gritty performance led No. 6 Florida (10-2) past Charleston Southern (5-9) in the series opener by a score of 6-0 on Friday.
“He battled tonight,” freshman Mike Zunino said. “After having a great start in Miami, he didn’t have the stuff he had in Miami. Today was a day where he showed what he had."
Zunino played a big part in the victory too.
He hit the first home run of what would be back-to-back homers by him and center fielder Matt den Dekker to cap off a five-run second inning for the Gators.
Den Dekker’s round tripper extended his hitting streak to 21 games, while Zunino’s was part of his best game at the plate as a Gator.
“Mike’s really, really good defensively,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He understands the position and anything we get out of him offensively is a plus, and today was the best he’s swung the bat all year.”
The freshman went 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs and fell just a double short of the cycle. He hit a triple to deep center field in the seventh, but was thrown out at home while trying to extend it to an inside-the-park homer.
“I wanted it but the body was saying no. I made a bad turn around third and my cleat got stuck at home but I was giving it everything I got,” Zunino said. “It would have been nice but my legs were definitely feeling like it was the eighth inning on that one.”
That was one of the only opportunities Florida missed on Friday. It left a season-low three runners on base, which was something O’Sullivan preached to the team in practice on Thursday.
The bullpen continued its success as pitchers Jeff Barfield and Kevin Chapman each threw one scoreless inning to finish off Florida’s second-straight shutout.
Freshman Brian Johnson will start for the Gators today in the second game of the series at 4 p.m.
UF adds game against to schedule
In order to make up for the series against La Salle, which was postponed earlier in the season, the Gators added a game against Army to their schedule.
It will take place on Monday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m.
