Less than two innings into the Gators’ game against UCF on Tuesday, they already faced what coach Kevin O’Sullivan said was the most important point in the game.
Starter Tucker Simpson had loaded the bases and given up a run to put Florida in a 1-0 hole. O’Sullivan replaced Simpson with junior left-hander Daniel Gibson, who walked in a run but proceeded to escape the inning and shut out the Knights during the next four frames while allowing just three hits. UF recovered for a 5-3 win.
“I didn’t know [Gibson] was going to go into the game and give us four and a third (innings),” O’Sullivan said. “For us, it was down to that point in the game where we didn’t want it to get away from us…. We’re in a situation where we can’t be messing around.”
The Gators (14-16, 4-5 SEC) have gotten multiple dominant bullpen performances in the past week as they look to extend their winning streak to four games tonight in Starkville, Miss., against No. 18 Mississippi State (24-8, 3-6 SEC).
“Mood has changed in the bullpen a little bit,” sophomore right-hander Ryan Harris said. “Everybody’s ready to make a run at it.”
UF sophomore catcher Taylor Gushue said following the win against the Knights that he felt like the team was in a good place, playing loose and having fun. The current mood of the clubhouse is the opposite of what it was during its six-game losing streak earlier in the season, which Gushue called the team’s low point in the season. Gushue added that there has not been any big mechanical change that has turned the pitchers’ performances around. They have simply found the strike zone.
“When pitchers aren’t effective, they’re not throwing strikes,” Gushue said. “We just pound it into the pitchers’ heads, ‘You’ve got to throw two of the first three pitches for strikes,’ and they’ve been doing that very well lately.”
During the losing streak, the Gators’ bullpen allowed 25 runs in 35 innings of work. In 22.2 innings pitched during the past five games alone, the UF relievers have allowed only two runs.
Florida has benefited from multiple impressive long-relief outings in both wins and losses since last week. In Florida’s 2-1 loss to FSU on March 26, Danny Young gave up one run in four innings after coming in for Simpson. Gibson threw four shutout innings in last Friday’s loss to Ole Miss. Harris has two appearances of two innings or more, and sophomore Johnny Magliozzi had scoreless appearances of 2.2 and 3.2 innings.
Harris said the relievers’ ability to pitch effectively in long-relief, in addition to quality short outings, has been invaluable to the team.
“I think it’s just everybody is going out there and doing their job and staying out there as long as they’re needed,” Harris said. “I think it’s just a bulldog mentality. Everybody just wants to go and do as much as they can. Just go out there and not really worry about how long you’re going to be out there. Just do it.”
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Right-handed pitcher Johnny Magliozzi (left) celebrates with catcher Taylor Gushue during Florida’s 4-0 win against Ole Miss on March 31 at McKethan Stadium.
