Florida’s dugout erupted when Taylor Gushue executed a sacrifice fly to tie the game during the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss to North Florida.
A play so routine has been anything but for the Gators.
There hasn’t been much good through nine games. Situational hitting has been atrocious. Balls are going under gloves. Pitchers can’t throw strikes. Runners are getting picked off. Florida baseball has been ugly and frustrating.
At 3-6, this isn’t time to panic. This young team just has to have fun. Forget the base-running blunders and fielding miscues. Forget the strikeouts at the plate with runners on base. Forget the tight play the Gators have shown.
Florida looks like a team afraid of making mistakes. They look like a team playing on its heels. Every so often, there’s a sudden jolt of energy. See Justin Shafer pumping his fist after hitting a double in the ninth inning against UNF or Johnny Magliozzi running off the mound after getting a strikeout to end an inning against UCF.
It’s a 56-game regular season. All Florida has proved through nine games is that it isn’t winning 51.
Effort has been there. This team isn’t lollygagging its way to a dismal start. Freshman Brady Roberson cited a lack of passion when asked what’s going on. Another freshman, Christian Dicks, didn’t have an answer.
The numbers tell the real story.
When faced with situational hitting or pitching, the Gators haven’t come through. Florida is batting .253 this season with runners in scoring position, including a .172 mark during last weekend’s sweep at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast. Take away a 16-run outburst in a win against Duke on Feb. 17, and that number drops 77 points.
Opposing left-handed batters are batting .310 against Florida’s left-handed relievers. The Eagles went 7 for 10 against the combination of Parker Danciu and Daniel Gibson.
Having just one starting pitcher reach the sixth inning doesn’t do the bullpen any favors, either.
After allowing three earned runs in 16.2 innings against Duke, Florida relievers gave up 17 earned runs in 16 innings against Florida Gulf Coast.
Inconsistency created even more questions for a team trying to replace nine players from last season.
A left-hander like a Steven Rodriguez, who got righties and lefties out, hasn’t emerged. A starting pitcher like a Hudson Randall, who rarely gave up two-strike hits, hasn’t stepped up. A hitter like Mike Zunino, who always seemed to drive in a run is nowhere to be found.
Florida lost special players after its three-year run to the College World Series. That’s becoming more evident with each rally killed at the plate and every leadoff walk surrendered by a Florida pitcher.
Losing redshirt senior center fielder Tyler Thompson and No. 2 starter Karsten Whitson before the season didn’t help, either. Thompson left the team for personal reasons. Whitson, the second half of what was supposed to be a powerful 1-2 punch with Jonathon Crawford at the front of the Gators’ rotation, underwent a season-ending shoulder procedure on Feb. 14.
What’s left is a talented team yet to find the answers.
But UF can take solace in the fact that every team hits a rough patch at some point in a season.
Arizona, last year’s College World Series champion, dropped five of nine games in Pacific-12 Conference play.
South Carolina, repeat national champions in 2010 and 2011, lost four of nine games twice in 2011 and began 2010 a disappointing 6-4.
LSU lost four of eight to close out the regular season before winning it all in 2009.
Florida will figure it out. A staff with 65 combined years of college coaching experience will get this going again.
A day after their fifth straight loss, the cracking sound of hard work could be heard from the batting cages on Wednesday afternoon. Whistles and foghorns blasted from the football practice fields. Groundskeepers patched up a wet spot behind the mound. The sun started to break through the clouds behind home plate. As gloomy as the season has been, one thing became clear. The Gators get to play baseball for another day.
What’s more fun than that?
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Sophomore catcher Taylor Gushue calls out to the mound during Florida’s 4-3 loss to Duke on Feb. 15 at McKethan Stadium.
