HOOVER, Ala. – The Gators faced a brand new opponent Wednesday – the clock.
No. 4 Florida (40-14) saw its first-round opponent LSU (37-20) less than a month ago, but it had never been exposed to the new pitch clock that is being experimented with in this week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament.
It has been implemented in an attempt to speed things up, and it did.
In last year’s conference tourney, games lasted an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes. Two of the first three contests in this season’s tournament finished in less than 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The Gators’ game was the longest of the first three at 3 hours and 17 minutes due in part to the combined 30 hits the teams racked up.
The new clock was not expected to impact the Gators, who preach a quick and consistent rhythm on the mound.
“It didn’t affect me at all,” UF starting pitcher Brian Johnson said. “I work at a fast pace anyway.”
However, the freshman hurler struggled as he allowed nine hits in just 3.2 innings while giving up seven runs.
The new rules that come along with the clock include a 20-second timer for the pitcher. When the bases are empty, hurlers have 20 seconds to deliver each pitch. The batter is rewarded with an added ball to the count if the pitcher fails to throw before the clock expires.
UF’s game went without an incident as each pitcher worked efficiently.
In order to help give the players a better idea of the allotted time, they have added a digitalized clock in right-center field that counts down the seconds.
A fourth umpire that is not on the field controls the new timer.
Another strategy the SEC is using to make things go by faster is shortening the gap in between frames.
There will be just 108 seconds from when the last out is made and the first pitch of each half inning is thrown.
Despite all of the added regulations to control the pace of the game, coach Kevin O’Sullivan did not want to burden his players with adjustments.
“We kept it simple,” O’Sullivan said. “If the catcher makes the last out, we make sure we have the back up (catcher) in there (to catch warm-up pitches).”
If these new policies go over smoothly this week, they could become part of conference play in the regular season too.
