Freshman starter Jack Leftwich threw 6.1 innings and allowed only two earned runs in his outing against Texeas Tech at the College World Series Thursday.
The Gators tied the game at three apiece in the top of the third inning during Sunday’s series finale against Texas A&M. Florida recorded a run in much the same way it had scored many of its previous 17 runs against the Aggies: manufacturing chances off of smart base running and timely hitting.
Third baseman Jonathan India grounded a ball through the left side of the infield for a two-out single. He immediately stole second to put further pressure on Texas A&M starting pitcher Stephen Kolek. And in the moment, Kolek succumbed to it, allowing a single from right fielder Wil Dalton to score India.
Florida (38-11, 18-6 SEC) would have to relish in Dalton’s RBI looper for a while in the top-ranked Gators’ 7-3 loss against the Aggies. The hit — the Gators’ fifth of the game to that point — would be succeeded by just three more through the final six innings.
Texas A&M (34-14, 12-12 SEC) quickly put itself ahead for good later in the inning. With one out in the bottom of the third, first baseman Hunter Coleman crushed a 2-1 fastball off UF starting pitcher Jack Leftwich. If flew into a high arc that extended well beyond the 330-foot mark in left field and sailed just inside the foul pole.
Leftwich made his third-consecutive start in a series finale on Sunday. After allowing three combined runs through the first two, he would end up giving up five runs off nine hits through his total six innings of work against the Aggies.
Following the eventual game-winning homer, Leftwich gave up another towering dinger, this time to right field in the sixth inning that ricocheted off the foul pole.
Even after the freshman’s rough start, coach Kevin O’Sullivan said the loss wasn’t all on Leftwich.
“I was pleased with how he threw,” O’Sullivan said in a release. “He just left a couple balls up and got caught in some offensive counts and they took advantage of it.
The loss on Sunday was the only damper on Florida’s momentum over the weekend. The Gators had outscored the No. 21 Aggies 15-1 heading into the final game, and they still exit as the only SEC team to win all of its conference series.
“You win two out of three on the road in this league you have to be pleased with how you’re playing,” O’Sullivan said.
Florida returns to Gainesville to square off against USF on Tuesday before playing its final home regular-season series against Georgia over the weekend.
Follow Morgan McMullen on Twitter @MorganMcMuffin and contact him at mmcmullen@icloud.com.
