The at-bat defied reason. Jacksonville’s No. 9 batter, Dylan Dillard, stepped to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third base. Right-hander Ryan Harris toed the rubber.
Harris had been a key cog in Florida’s mid-season resurgence. On Tuesday, the junior right-hander surrendered a three-run home run to Dillard off the blue banner hanging across the last row of bleachers beyond the left-field wall. The emphatic late-game home run followed two consecutive hit batters and a sacrifice bunt.
Jacksonville (14-25, 7-10 Atlantic Sun Conference) upset No. 6 Florida (27-14, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) in a 3-1 victory Tuesday night in McKethan Stadium. UF scored only one run on a second-inning solo home run by Zack Powers. The defeat snapped a six-game winning streak.
“Guy runs into one. It’s as simple as that,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You’ve got to locate, especially when you’re playing in a one-run game. It’s one of those things where the margin of error is very small.”
O’Sullivan added: “I don’t want this to be a focus on Ryan. He’s been throwing the ball really great for us for three years. The bottom line is JU did a really nice job in that inning.”
For six frames, it appeared Powers’ second home run of 2014 would be enough. Right-hander Karsten Whitson was dealing in his first start since April 1. Tuesday night would’ve been his first win in nearly two months. He posted a season-high five strikeouts in five innings. Four of his five strikeouts came on sliders, including two to end Dillard’s first two at-bats.
Whitson, who was working on a pitch count, finished at 61 pitches. Forty-one of those were strikes. He struck out batters to end the second, fourth and fifth innings. Whitson avoided any runs in the first inning after third batter Connor Marabell walked, and Scott Ricci followed with a single to right field that Braden Mattson didn’t field cleanly. The error put runners at second and third with two outs.
“I thought Karsten threw really good. He did everything that I had hoped for. That’s the disappointing thing. It’s been a tough road for him, and he comes out tonight and throws as good as he has in a while,” O’Sullivan said. “I was just hoping that our guys would rally around him and be a bit more motivated at the plate, and we just weren’t.”
Midweek games have been a pain for the Gators. Florida racked up three straight wins against Florida State but also lost to Florida Atlantic. This latest setback comes against an injury-riddled team that lost 6-1 to the Seminoles in Tallahassee a week ago.
The go-ahead home run has extra meaning for Dillard, who entered the season as Jacksonville’s cleanup hitter. JU coach Tim Montez gradually moved the sophomore outfielder lower in the order. At .252 entering the game, Dillard was well below his team-leading .304 average that earned him Atlantic Sun All-Freshman squad honors in 2013.
“Good for Dylan Dillard. He’s been struggling a bit. We put him down in the bottom of the order the last couple of games to try and get him fastballs in that spot,” Montez said.
While Florida comes back tonight at 7 for a home game against Florida A&M, Jacksonville has nine days off for final exams. The Dolphins had lost six of their eight games versus top-25 teams.
Jacksonville wanted this win in front of a sizable amount of fans above the first-base dugout. Dolphins players filled their ticket list with requests from family, friends and fellow team members who didn’t travel with the team.
“Definitely, especially coming off of Florida State,” Dillard said of their increased motivation. “We wanted to at least knock one big dog off.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Karsten Whitson pitches during UF’s 5-0 win against USF on Feb. 20, 2011, at McKethan Stadium.
