Still in a daze from the incredible performance by sophomore Tommy Mace on the mound Friday night, the Florida Gators returned for the second game of a three-game opening weekend series against the Liberty Flames.
Sophomore Timmy Manning earned the start for the game, the fifth of his career, but would only last three innings before being replaced. Turnover became a theme for the Gators on the mound; five pitchers assumed the rubber by the end of the game. Despite the volume of pitchers, Florida (1-1) gave up too many runs to survive, losing 6-4.
Two hits and a walk made up the first three at-bats for Manning on the mound — the Flames had the bases loaded before many fans had arrived in their seats. The starter found a strikeout to keep the runners at bay, but Manning hit Liberty batter Cameron Foster which sent Gray Betts home from third. A base hit from Logan Mathieu brought home another run.
With the bases still juiced, Manning avoided an all-out disaster, securing two strikeouts to end the frame and keep the score 2-0. Florida’s offense wasn’t able to match the Flames, ending the bottom of the first with just one hit from sophomore Sterlin Thompson.
“They had a couple runners on to start the game, had a little momentum,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I thought he [Manning] did a nice job at first with damage control.”
After a rough opening side, Manning found a brief groove in the second.
The Pompano Beach, Florida, native didn’t give the Flames the chance to light a spark, delivering a pop-out, line-out and ground-out. Liberty pitcher Trey Gibson followed suit, quickly cutting down three Gators to end the second. Florida was still looking for its first runner in scoring position.
After Manning walked a Liberty batter to open the third, O’Sullivan opted to start warming up right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat. The move couldn’t come fast enough for the Gators, as Manning gave up a double that put two Flames runners in scoring position.
A sacrifice pop-fly to deep right brought home a runner from third, and a base hit to shallow right earned another run. Liberty would lead 4-0 before Manning could get back to the dugout.
The Gators finally managed to get a runner on second, but not from a double. Two walks opened the inning, placing sophomore Colby Halter in an RBI opportunity, and the Jacksonville, Florida, native converted with a double.
Junior transfer BT Riopelle got home on his first trip around the diamond for the Gators, while Thompson had a chance to bring home two more after Fabian grounded out.
Thompson walked, passing a juiced set of bases to Calilao. After a strikeout from Calilao, sophomore Wyatt Langford arrived at the plate with two outs on the board. A quick groundout closed the side, and kept the Gators from bringing in any more runs.
“We had an opportunity in those middle innings where we had back to back innings with the bases loaded,” O’Sullivan said. “We just gotta have better at-bats, simple as that.”
Sproat took over in the fourth, his first appearance of the year would last two innings. Three ground outs extinguished the Flames bats in the fourth, handing the job of accomplishing the comeback back over to the Gators offense.
Armstrong got the bottom of the fourth started with a leadoff double, and sophomore Josh Rivera got to first after he was hit by a pitch. Riopelle loaded the bases with a single, giving Deric Fabian a shot to take the lead with a grand slam.
The Flames opted to swap to David Erickson on the mound, but the new pitcher opened his day with a 4-0 walk to Deric, putting a run on the board for Florida.
Halter was up next, and got to first after Liberty forced the out at home. Fabian followed him, and sent a shot to deep center that brought home two runs. After going down 4-0, the Gators had come all the way back.
Two pop-outs closed the side for Florida, bringing Sproat back out to the mound. A walk to open the fifth inclined O’Sullivan to send freshman Karl Hartman to the bullpen; the righty warmed up on Friday night, but never saw the rubber. That walk was followed by a double for Nathan Keeter, a hit that drove home the runner from first. Sproat finished the inning without any runs, but Liberty was back ahead.
Langford opened the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single, advancing to scoring position by stealing second. A ground out from Armstrong advanced Langford to third, but he would get stranded there by a strikeout from Rivera and a ground out from sophomore pinch-hitter Mac Guscette.
Hartman took over for Sproat in the sixth, and put forth a scoreless, hitless inning in his Gator debut. Florida’s offense put forth the same, earning no hits in the bottom of the sixth; Florida had nine outs to get a run.
Regardless of the Gators’ offensive stalling, Hartman was going to make the most of his debut. The Merrit Island, Florida, native produced another inning with no runs, so the onus was on the bats to bring Florida back in the game.
Thompson opened the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout, and Calilao followed him with a pop-out to shallow right field. Langford was the last batter of the side, garnering a pop-out to right field as well. The Gators were down to six outs.
Entering the top of the eighth, freshman righty Brandon Neely entered the game to replace Hartman. After he walked one batter and hit one with a pitch, a wild delivery advanced both runners to second and third. O’Sullivan opted to make a move quickly, replacing Neely with redshirt freshman Blake Purnell.
The decision paid off after Purnell closed out the inning, but not before a sacrifice fly to deep left brought home a Liberty runner. Entering the penultimate inning for Florida, the team now needed two runs to tie.
Armstrong made his best attempt to get a shot out of the ballpark, but he came up just shy and was sent back to the dugout after a pop out. Rivera grounded out, giving Guscette the last chance of the inning. Like Armstrong, a pop out ended his at-bat. Florida would have one more chance in the ninth.
“You gotta hand it to Liberty’s pitchers,” Jud said. “They played pretty well today, and we just had some tough ABs.”
A scoreless top of the ninth closed Purnell’s day, and put all eyes on Deric who opened the bottom of the make-or-break inning. The freshman was hit by the first pitch he saw, generating a fiery “come on” from the little brother at the dugout. On the next pitch, thrown to Halter, Deric stole second.
The Gators had life.
Then they didn’t.
Halter grounded out, followed by a pop-out from Jud, and Thompson closed the game on a swinging strikeout.
Florida dropped its first game of the season, but still has a chance to secure the first series win of 2022. Florida will return for the Sunday matinee against the Flames, a rubber match to determine the series victor on opening weekend.
Contact Carson Cashion at ccashion@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @carsoncashion
Carson Cashion is a third-year sports journalism major at UF, and the sports editor at The Alligator for the 2022 summer semester. A native of Altamonte Springs, Carson spends his free time walking his dog, Baxter, and listening to good music. He is an avid Tennessee sports fan, and eagerly awaits watching one of his teams win a championship for the first time.
