It’s a mantra that UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan has repeated all season.
“The bottom line is we go as they go.”
Through weeks of good wins and a recent stretch of bad losses, O’Sullivan made it clear the Gators will only reach their potential if stars like Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker and Brian Johnson do the same. It was the reason why Johnson started on a Tuesday night in Tallahassee after opening a weekend series against LSU five days before.
“If we hadn’t been in the situation we were in, having lost five of seven, maybe things would have been different, but I thought we needed a win,” O’Sullivan said after the game.
Against No. 1 FSU, the guiding figures were there. Zunino had two hits, including a two-run homer in the fifth. Tucker had a hit, while Nolan Fontana and Johnson each notched solo homers. Johnson’s start lasted just three innings, accounting for all three FSU runs.
But climbing out of a rut took more than the Gators rolling out their list of 2012 Major League Baseball Draft prospects.
Johnson’s rough start could have spiraled into a Seminoles run-scoring derby had it not been for Ryan Harris, a previously sparingly used right-handed freshman who retired nine batters in a row and picked up the win.
Three of Harris’ previous seven appearances had come against Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M and North Florida.
Zunino’s home run wouldn’t have meant as much had freshman second baseman Casey Turgeon not singled before him. One inning later, Turgeon singled in Fontana for the go-ahead run.
“He’s a pest, man,” Zunino said of Turgeon. “I wouldn’t want to pitch against him. He just barrels everything up.”
Turgeon responded: “I mean if I’m a pest, I guess that’s a good thing.”
With the fifth-highest average (.294) on the team, Turgeon is becoming someone the Gators rely on. With eight hits in Florida’s past five games, he’s proving to be a difficult out.
Two men over, junior Cody Dent can say the exact opposite. Since he began filling in for injured third baseman Josh Tobias, Dent is 3 for 29 with 12 strikeouts and one RBI. But on Tuesday night, he found a way to factor into UF’s win.
Dent was perfect fielding five ground balls and successfully bunted Vickash Ramjit and Fontana to second and third before Turgeon’s RBI single in the sixth. It was his second successful sacrifice of the game.
“It’s awesome,” Turgeon said.
“He’s helping the team out in every way he can possibly do it.”
O’Sullivan might have to broaden his team slogan.
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan talks to the media following Tuesday night’s win against Florida State. O’Sullivan said he started junior Brian Johnson because the Gators needed a win against the Seminoles after a recent slide.
