The Gators, upbeat and alive at the start, grew more and more silent with each ring of baseball hell they managed to find themselves in Friday night.
No. 25 Florida (5-5) followed its home defeat to Florida Gulf Coast Thursday night with a 6-0 loss against Illinois (4-4) at McKethan Stadium that didn't see the Gators get their second hit until the seventh inning. Freshman Pete Alonso, batting fourth in the lineup for the fifth time this year, hasn’t been immune to the early-season swoon. It has ravaged an entire team that’s now looking for answers.
“I really want to get on the guys, because a few of the guys took really bad swings. It’s just frustrating to watch. It’s not trying to get down on them,” Alonso said. “It’s just to give them a pat on the hiney to get them going, take some swings with conviction and have confidence.”
That confidence can be fleeting, especially against a pitcher like Illinois left-hander Kevin Duchene, a freshman All-American last year. He tossed a complete-game three-hit shutout on 100 pitches. Florida’s three hits, all singles, led off the fourth, seventh and eighth innings only adding fodder to the notion that consistent hitting has been consistently absent.
While defense and hitting failed the Gators on Thursday, everything went wrong on a Gainesville night that saw temperatures dip into the low-50s. The baseball apocalypse started with two Illinois runs in the third off a single and a double with two-strike counts.
Then, the Illini plated four runs in a sixth inning that never wanted to end. Reliever Brett Morales loaded the bases with no outs. He hit Ryne Roper for Illinois’s third run.
Danny Young followed only to induce a chopper to third baseman John Sternagel for a tailor-made double play that bounced off his glove to score a run. A single two batters later added two more.
O'Sullivan used five different pitchers on Friday. Starter Bobby Poyner threw 4.2 innings in the loss. Shortstop Richie Martin committed his sixth error this season during the fifth. Everything that could go wrong did.
Florida had its only offensive rally fizzle in the fourth after Taylor Gushue and Braden Mattson struck out on up and away fastballs and Justin Shafer flied out to center field to leave the bases loaded. Alonso, sandwiched in the lineup by Gushue and Mattson, reached on a dropped fly ball by Illinois left fielder Ryan Nagle.
“They took some pitches early in the count they could have probably done something with. It’s been something we’ve talked about,” O’Sullivan said. “Against pitchers like that, you only get so many cracks, and when you get your opportunity you have to have your best at-bats. We’ll learn from it. We’ll get better, but we just have to have better at-bats when those opportunities arise.”
Florida finds itself in a serious funk following a competitive series against No. 14 Miami in Coral Gables. The Gators tagged left-hander Andrew Suarez, a former ninth-round pick, for four first-inning runs against the Hurricanes for a 6-4 series-finale win. Dating back to Sunday, Florida has scored one run in its last 23 innings.
“Sunday seems like a long time ago. We’re just trying to play a good game tomorrow and see what happens,” O’Sullivan said. “There’s things we got to learn. We’ve got to get better. It’s as simple as that.”
Right-hander Karsten Whitson takes the hill against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday night at 7. He's making his third start since his shoulder surgery that cost him last season. Whitson improved his command from his first start, and will be a focus heading into his third.
The optimist says the Gators only go up from here while the pessimist sees the hellish, bizarre, unexplainable troubles continuing. A quality start from anyone let alone their junior right-hander would be encouraging, O’ Sullivan said.
“I think if he pitches well it’ll certainly be a lift for all of us.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Taylor Gushue swings at a pitch during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Friday at McKethan Stadium.
