Kevin O’Sullivan gave his team a warning following its sweep of then-No. 8 LSU on Sunday: Don’t let up. There’s still baseball to be played next week.
The streaking No. 13 Florida Gators (19-10 6-3 Southeastern Conference), whether because of youth or fatigue, didn’t come ready to play against FAU (16-12, 4-8 Conference USA) on Tuesday night, and it cost them in a 5-4 loss in 11 innings.
The Owls scored the go-ahead run on a first-and-third play with Aaron Rhodes pitching. Tyler Rocklein, the runner at first base, took off for second to get in a rundown and allow Cain Spangler to beat first baseman Braden Mattson’s throw home.
Rhodes hesitated before throwing to second baseman Casey Turgeon, whose toss back to Mattson took the first baseman’s momentum away from home plate, forcing his throw home into the dirt.
It’s a play the Gators practice all the time and a play that they’ve been drilled on since high school.
That sequence summed up a head-scratching loss where the Gators scored only one run after the first inning.
“I’m dissapointed with our approach tonight to be honest with you. I’m really disappointed,” O’Sullivan said.
“I would expect our guys to be ready to play all the time. I think they should be excited.
“We’re coming off winning 13 of 16. We come off a great weekend, a great week last week, and I didn’t think we were ready to play. We tried. We cheerleaded during the game, but there’s only so much you can do, and that falls on my shoulders. I’ll take responsibility for it, but I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Karsten Whitson, the former ninth-overall pick, made his first start since March 9 and tossed two innings against the Owls. Whitson threw 25 of his 40 pitches for strikes.
The Owls drove in its only run against him on a groundball to shortstop Richie Martin in the second inning. O’Sullivan visited Whitson on the mound in the second following an infield hit to Ricky Santiago. Whitson threw two straight balls to his next batter, Billy Endris, before striking out Endris on three-straight pitches.
Florida pitchers saw their share of success against FAU, striking out a season-high 19 batters, but the offense continuously struggled.
The Gators plated three first inning runs on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Gushue, a throwing error on an infield single by Mattson and a ground ball to shortstop from Justin Shafer. Freshman John Sternagel drove in his fourth RBI in two games with a sacrifice fly to left field in the sixth.
Sternagel admitted after his two-RBI performance against Florida State on March 25 that he hasn’t played as much as he thought in his freshman season.
Dating back to that game, he’s batting .313 with six RBIs and has started every game at third base where he has just one error this year.
“He’s putting some good swings on the ball,” O’Sullivan said.
“It lengthens our lineup a little bit and gives us a chance to score when we get to the bottom half of the order.”
FAU responded in the inning following every run-scoring frame from UF.
Owls designated hitter Esteban Puerta went 4 for 5 at the plate with his hits coming off of four different Gators pitchers.
FAU added a run in the fifth through seventh innings with its fourth coming on a two-strike double from Brendon Sanger off left-hander Danny Young.
Florida missed out on its fifth walk-off win and seventh in its final at-bat. UF moved to 5-2 in extra-inning games. The Owls snapped the Gators’ four-game winning streak. Florida visit the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats on Friday, the second-ranked Seminoles that next Tuesday and then the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.
These next two weeks will put the Gators on the fast track to host a regional or force them to play catch up with three of its last five SEC series at home. The Gators, at 6-3, currently sit in a tie with the Gamecocks at the top of the SEC Eastern Division.
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Karsten Whitson pitches during UF’s 5-0 win against USF on Feb. 20, 2011 at McKethan Stadium. Whitson pitched two innings Tuesday.
