"font-family: Arial;">The Gators are playing with a newfound
confidence — Jeff Moyer called it swag.
"font-family: Arial;">Florida's renewed energy was on full display
Saturday night at McKethan Stadium as UF (33-10, 16-4 Southeastern
Conference) downed Mississippi 8-1, thanks in large part to the
standout performance of starting pitcher Brian Johnson.
"font-family: Arial;">The lefty struck out a career-high nine
batters while only giving up four hits and one walk in 6.2 innings
of work.
"font-family: Arial;">“He had a lot of confidence today,” catcher
Mike Zunino said. “His stuff was as sharp as it’s ever
been.”
"font-family: Arial;">Apart from a bases-loaded jam in a 30-pitch
third inning, Johnson (7-1, 2.40 ERA) was masterful.
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"font-family: Arial;">The sophomore sat down the Rebels (24-19,
9-11 SEC) in order in the second, fourth and fifth innings, and
would have done the same in the sixth had second baseman Josh Adams
been able to cleanly field a playable, sharp grounder with two
outs.
"font-family: Arial;">He easily retired the first two batters in
the seventh but was yanked when his pitch count reached the century
mark.
"font-family: Arial;">Johnson said he had all of his pitches
working on Saturday and benefitted from keeping the ball down in
the zone.
"font-family: Arial;">“(Umpire David Savage) was giving me the low
strikes, so might as well keep it there,” Johnson said. “You’ve got
to work around him, but he was giving them to me so I’ll take
it.”
"font-family: Arial;">Johnson also got the offense started after
Florida went 1-2-3 in the first.
"font-family: Arial;">Zunino flew out to right to start the second,
but Johnson then turned on a fastball from Ole Miss’ starter David
Goforth and striped a liner down the right field line. The ball
rattled into the corner and Johnson legged out his second triple of
the season.
"font-family: Arial;">He scored on a groundout from Austin Maddox
to put the first run on the board for Florida.
"font-family: Arial;">But for the second straight game, the bottom
of the lineup provided the offensive spark for the
Gators.
"font-family: Arial;">After Vickash Ramjit went 4 for 5 in the nine
hole on Friday, Moyer — hitting out of the eight hole — went 2 for
4 with two RBIs on Saturday.
"font-family: Arial;">In just his seventh start of the season,
Moyer made the most of it.
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"font-family: Arial;">The junior plated Josh Adams on a check-swing
dribbler in the second inning due to an errant throw to first from
Rebels catcher Taylor Hightower. He then doubled home Maddox in the
fourth and sent a towering shot to right in the sixth for his
second home run of the season.
"font-family: Arial;">“It was a 1-0 pitch, I was sitting dead red,”
Moyer said. “He threw it right where I wanted it.”
"font-family: Arial;">Through the first two games of the series,
Florida has lit up Ole Miss pitching for 28 hits and 17 runs. And
after stranding 13 runners on Friday, Florida left just five men on
base Saturday.
"font-family: Arial;">“We’re playing good right now,” coach Kevin
O’Sullivan said. “We’re seeing the ball at the plate. We’re having
quality at-bats and quality pitching from top to
bottom.”
"font-family: Arial;">Most importantly, O'Sullivan said, was the
confidence that was apparent all evening. After Florida’s recent
road-trip struggles, Moyer said the coaches and players were
looking for a motivator.
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"font-family: Arial;">“Swag kind of stuck,” Moyer said. “We’re
going to be a tough team to beat down the road when we’re playing
with that swag and that confidence.”
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