After Zack Powers slid into second base Friday night against Georgia, Austin Maddox found himself in a familiar spot the rest of the weekend.
Powers, the Gators’ freshman third baseman, injured his knee on the play, and UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan moved Maddox from first base to third for the final two games of the series.
“We had to tinker with the defensive alignment a little bit,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s why we worked so hard in the offseason, for something like this that might happen.”
Maddox and a handful of other Gators fielded balls at the hot corner before the season started.
As a freshman last year, Maddox started 29 games at third base for the Gators — more than he started at any other position. While he led the team with 12 errors, he still boasted a serviceable .941 fielding percentage.
This season, Maddox has mostly seen time at first while also budding into a reliable late-inning option out of the bullpen. But O’Sullivan feels comfortable with him at third — a position Florida’s skipper referred to as a “revolving door” before Powers emerged as the team’s everyday starter.
Although the freshman has struggled at the plate, hitting only .254 with seven RBIs and 17 strikeouts in 59 at-bats, O’Sullivan believed he was the team’s most reliable option at third.
However, a UF spokesman said Tuesday that Powers was on crutches with his knee wrapped at the end of the weekend. He added that the extent of the injury is still unknown, and the timetable for his return is unclear.
With No. 5 Florida (28-9, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) traveling to Orlando tonight at 6:30 to take on UCF (23-14, 5-8 Conference USA), wrapping up an eight-game road trip, Maddox is likely to see more time at the hot corner until Powers is healthy.
The shift allows Florida to move junior Preston Tucker to first base, where he played for his first two years in Gainesville.
