In Florida’s opening weekend series against Duke, Ryan Harris was Florida’s most impressive pitcher.
He threw all of his pitches for strikes, allowing only two hits in 4.2 scoreless innings across two appearances.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan was impressed with the sophomore reliever, but he did have one concern.
“He was really good on Friday and really good today,” O’Sullivan said. “He competed. He threw the ball with conviction. Other than the leadoff walk again. We score four and walk the leadoff man.”
As No. 17 Florida (3-2) prepares to face Florida Gulf Coast (2-1) in its second weekend series of the season, O’Sullivan hopes his pitching staff can reverse a trend of giving the opposition’s leadoff batter a free pass.
Through the first 48 innings this year , Florida pitchers have walked the leadoff batter seven times. The opposing team has gone on to score two runs in the inning on three occasions.
In the Gators’ 4-3 loss to Duke on Feb. 15, starter Jonathon Crawford walked Chris Marconcini on a full count to begin the fourth inning. On the next at-bat, Duke took a 2-1 lead when Jordan Betts homered to left.
In the eighth inning, sophomore left-hander Corey Stump relieved Harris and walked Jeff Kremer to begin the inning. Mike Rosenfeld drove Kremer in on a triple, and Rosenfeld scored later in the inning.
“The leadoff walk, getting to those three-ball counts, you just can’t do it,” O’Sullivan said following the opening loss. “Obviously, you have to throw strikes in that situation.”
With the game tied 1-1, UF starter Justin Shafer walked Chase Griffin to begin the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 8-7 12-inning loss to Georgia Southern. After two singles and a sacrifice bunt, Florida was down 3-1.
“It’s unacceptable,” Shafer said. “It needs to stop for all of us, including myself. It’s not something that should be going on.”
Florida experienced the problem to a lesser extent last year, walking 11 players through five games.
Shafer said that O’Sullivan has continued to emphasize that the pitchers should attack the strike zone.
“Just throw strikes,” Shafer said when asked what advice his coach had given the staff. “First two out of three be strikes. I didn’t execute today well doing it, and as a team we didn’t. We’ll get better. We’ll keep working on it.”
The Florida pitching staff has issued 15 walks so far this season, but Florida Gulf Coast’s lineup has drawn three walks in three games. Against a less patient team, the Gators should have an easier time limiting the free passes.
However, following Wednesday’s loss to Georgia Southern. O’Sullivan chose not to dwell on the problem.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” O’Sullivan said.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Sophomore pitcher Ryan Harris throws a pitch during Florida’s 16-5 victory against Duke on Sunday at McKethan Stadium. Harris and the UF pitching staff have issued seven leadoff walks in 48 innings this season. Three of the free passes have sparked two-run innings by the opposition.
