Virginia’s Nathan Kirby hadn’t pitched since April 17, and in his first start back on Friday, the junior was faced with the task of limiting one of the nation’s hottest teams at the plate.
Facing a 1-2 count in the first inning, Harrison Bader stepped into the batter’s box, twirled his bat and set his feet.
With no outs in the eighth inning, Ryan Larson slowly inched off of first base and Dalton Guthrie stood patiently at third.
Editor’s Note: Because the UF-Virginia game was still being played at press time, statistics in this story are accurate through Florida’s 15-3 win against Miami on Saturday.
Through the game’s first three innings, Miami looked to have the upper hand.
It was back in mid-January, when Florida was still gelling after a full workload of fall baseball, and hadn’t developed the chemistry that they pride themselves on now.
Florida’s Richie Martin was selected 20th overall by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday.
Bats, gloves and baseball caps littered the field.
After sliding into second base on Florida’s first hit of the game, Harrison Bader yelled, clapped and fist-pumped before urging the crowd to do the same.
For the first time in seven years, Florida will face Florida State on a weekend.
Only two players on Florida’s roster have been where the Gators are going this weekend, a testament to how difficult it is to still be playing baseball in early June.
For the first time in three years, Florida advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The first inning started off shaky for A.J. Puk.
The bat fell lazily out of JJ Schwarz’s hands as he looked over to left field.
His first attempt was clocked at 3.9 seconds, his second was around the same, and his third was a bit slower.
The Southeastern Conference title game was over, but the players still stood on the field in Hoover, Alabama, clad in white SEC champion T-shirts.
As Kirby Snead stood on the mound, and as two Vanderbilt base runners stood behind him, Florida’s dugout stood on edge.
A.J. Puk started to walk off the mound.
Less than 12 hours after dropping its Southeastern Conference Tournament opener, the Florida baseball team returned to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium with a new mindset, knowing one more loss would send the team back to Gainesville.
Solutions by The State News
