He’s a freshman, but he sure didn’t look like one Thursday night.
In a winner-take-all elimination game against the Texas Tech at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, all UF pitcher Jack Leftwich did was throw 6.1 innings of one-run ball with seven hits, five strikeouts and just two walks.
“I wasn’t too nervous,” he said in a television interview, “because the last two games I pitched were elimination games.”
The Gators (49-20) went on to beat the Red Raiders (45-20) 9-6, but it took some time for the team to oil the engine.
TTU blinked first as UF found its way on the board in the top of the fourth, even though it didn’t register a hit until the fifth inning.
Third baseman Jonathan India walked on a full count to open the fourth. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third. A wild pitch with two outs brought him home to put Florida up 1-0. India finished the night with three steals.
The Gators finally mastered Texas Tech starting pitcher Caleb Killian in the fifth frame.
Second baseman Blake Reese broke Florida’s hitting drought with a single to lead off the inning. After he stole second, center fielder Nick Horvath tattooed a base knock to left field, advancing Reese to third.
With runners on first and third, shortstop Deacon Liput hit a double right through TTU first baseman Cameron Warren’s legs. Reese scored and Horvath came around to third.
Designated hitter Nelson Maldonado grounded out to shortstop and scored Horvath to put the Gators up 3-0.
They tacked on two more in the top of the sixth.
After right fielder Wil Dalton singled in the left-center gap, first baseman JJ Schwarz showed why his absence for the past month really hurt UF.
He uncorked a shot that about hit the moon before it came crashing back down to Earth deep beyond the left-field fence. The home run put the Gators up 5-0 and it appeared that they were going to run away from the contest with ease.
The Red Raiders made the contest interesting in the bottom of the seventh.
TTU opened the frame with a single, a strikeout and a double off Leftwich to put men on first and third.
The freshman was subsequently pulled and replaced with lefty Andrew Baker. Baker hadn’t seen any action since Florida played Florida Atlantic in the Gainesville Regional.
He walked the next batter to load the bases and gave up a single to make the contest 5-1.
The lefty was then taken out and freshman Tommy Mace took over on the mound. A single and an error by Liput put two more Red Raiders across the plate, made the score 5-3 and left the bases loaded with one out. Then, UF brought in reliever Jordan Butler.
Butler struck out one and induced an inning-ending lineout to right field to end the damage.
The Red Raiders found new life and their dugout came to life in the inning, but a half-inning later, the Gators seemingly put the contest out of reach.
Dalton boomed a double to left-center field and moved over to third after Schwarz grounded out to second base.
Left fielder Austin Langworthy brought Dalton home with a sacrifice flyout to deep center field.
Langworthy’s act was followed up by a two-out double from Reese. The second baseman had himself a night, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and two runs scored.
Reese was brought home on a bomb to deep center from catcher Brady Smith that just barely stayed inside the park.
Smith settled for a triple and was brought home on a Horvath line drive that was just missed by TTU shortstop Michael Davis in a diving attempt. The single put the Gators up 8-3.
Yet, Texas Tech mounted another offensive display in the bottom of the eighth.
Florida reliever Hunter McMullen entered for Butler to start the frame and issued a walk before recording two straight outs. But a single and a walk loaded the bases.
After another single scored a run and made it 8-4, McMullen was taken out in favor of closer Michael Byrne.
“We had a five run lead there with six outs to go,” O’Sullivan said, “we really shouldn’t have to go to him in that situation.”
The All-American gave up a two-run single to make the score 8-6 before a flyout to center stopped the bleeding.
UF picked up one more insurance run in the top of the ninth. India singled and stole second prior to Langworthy reaching on a throwing error from Davis. The shortstop threw a ball in the dirt to Warren at first that hopped up and drilled the first baseman in the elbow, squirting past him into foul territory and allowing India to score and put Florida up 9-6.
Byrne went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the ninth to end the Red Raiders’ season.
The appearance marked nine consecutive appearances for the closer.
UF now plays Arkansas Friday night at 8 p.m.
Chris O’Brien is a sports writer. You can follow him on Twitter @THEChrisOB and contact him at cobrien@alligator.org
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.
