Peterson, bullpen dominant as Florida win streak now at 10

Bobby Boser launches leadoff homer in the third inning (UAA Photo)

Two outs, a 3-1 count to the batter, runners second and third following a wild pitch that gave Miami a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning. A year ago and there is a good chance Liam Peterson would have begun to unravel. Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark, the sophomore and more mature Liam Peterson gathered himself on the mound and blew two fast balls by Bobby Marsh to snuff out the threat of a big inning.

Peterson was all over the strike zone in those first three innings, but after striking out Marsh, he was a completely different pitcher. Over the next three innings, he dominated, needing just 33 pitches to breeze through the Miami lineup, allowing one hit the rest of the way. His fast ball regularly hit 97-98 on the gun. His curve ball regularly found the strike zone and kept the Hurricane hitters off balance.

“I feel like last year I kind of let the innings roll over a lot so that was kind of a big focus [in the offseason] and I feel like today I got it pretty well,” Peterson said after picking up his third win of the season as the 8th-ranked Florida Gators took the opening game of their weekend series with Miami, 6-2. The win extended Florida's win streak to 10 games, longest since the 2020 team won its first 16 games.

Perhaps inspired by the way things ended in the top of the third, the Gators put two on the scoreboard to take the lead in their half of the inning. Bobby Boser led off by driving the second pitch he saw from Miami starter Nick Robert to the back wall of the Hurricanes left field bullpen. Two outs later, freshman Brendan Lawson hit a towering home run to dead center field to put the Gators ahead for good, 3-2.

Staked to a lead, Peterson and the Florida bullpen took the game over. Peterson gave up a single in the fourth then set down the Hurricanes in 1-2-3 fashion in both the fifth and sixth. His six innings of work resulted in four hits, one intentional walk and seven strikeouts.

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan used three fresh arms, an inning apiece to mow down Miami the rest of the way. Lefty Frank Menendez gave up an infield single, then struck out the side in his inning. Luke McNeillie pitched the eighth and Alex Philpott the ninth, both shutting down Miami 1-2-3.

Like Peterson, Menendez, McNeillie and Philpott had their struggles a year ago but Friday night against a very good offensive team they were dominant. The line for the four: Nine innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk and 12 strikeouts.

When those four were freshman a year ago they had difficulty throwing strikes with any kind of consistency and had their issues in adversarial situations. Once Peterson got past the third, it was six consecutive innings of Florida pitchers pounding the strike zone.

“He [Peterson] ran his pitch count up close to thirty pitches there in the first and maybe last year, he wouldn't have been able to keep it together for six innings,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He was outstanding. He set the tone for the weekend and then, what you say about our bullpen? Everybody kind of came in and just did their job, and it was a really well pitched game on the mound for us tonight."

The Gators backed the bullpen with single runs in each of the sixth, seven and eighth innings. The Gators loaded the bases without a hit and made it 4-2 in the sixth on Hayden Yost’s sacrifice fly that scored Lawson, who led off the inning with a walk and a stolen base. In the seventh, Boser led off with a single, advanced to third on consecutive ground outs and scored on Lawson’s sharp single to center field. The Gators finished off the scoring in the eighth on a two-out single by Boser to drive in Yost.

In running their record to 10-0, the Gators were efficient in every phase of the game. Pitchers threw strikes and got people out. In the field, the Gators were flawless. At the plate the Gators got six runs on eight hits with Boser and Lawson each hitting a homer, a single and driving in two runs.

Game two of the weekend series with Miami is at 4 p.m. today with lefty Pierce Coppola getting the start for Florida.

Game notes: A positive sign that things have changed for the better after a season in which Florida pitchers had difficulty finding the strike zone with any measure of consistency is a 129-23 strikeout to walk ratio … Florida pitchers have struck out at least one batter in 78 of the 84 innings pitched so far … The Gators stole only 43 bases all last year in 66 games. With two steals Friday night, the Gators now have 29 through 10 …Boser is hitting .385 with four homers and 12 RBI. Lawson is hitting .371 with two homers and 12 RBI.

UF SOFTBALL: TIM WALTON GETS 1000th WIN Hall of Fame softball coach Tim Walton got his 1000th win as Florida’s head coach Friday night when the 3rd-ranked Gators (20-1) got a 9-1 run-rule win over Samford in the Florida Invitational at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Walton, now in his 20th season at Florida, is 1,000-239 at UF, 1,123-303 overall.

In taking out Samford, Kara Hammack and Ava Brown combined to pitch a 4-hitter. Hammack (4-0) went five innings, giving up four hits while walking one and striking out four. Ava Brown came on to pitch the sixth while setting down the Bulldogs 1-2-3.

The Gators gave Hammack all the support she needed in the first when they pushed across three runs. Kendra Falby led off with a single, stole second and came home on a Taylor Shumaker single. After a walk to Korbe Otis, Kenleigh Cahalan hit a 2-run double.

The Gators made it 7-0 in the third on an RBI single by Otis, an RBI double by Reagan Walsh and a 2-run double by Gaby Comia. The Gators added a run in the fifth on another Walsh double and then closed out the scoring in the sixth on Cahalan’s sacrifice fly.

Shumaker led Florida’s 12-hit attack with three single and her 37th RBI of the season. Falby had two singles and two stolen bases. Otis went 2-3 with an RBI while Cahalan had two doubles and three RBI and Walsh doubled twice with two RBI.

Today, the Gators will play Troy at 11:30 a.m. and Western Michigan at 2:30 p.m.

Game notes: Shumaker is hitting .536 with 11 homers and 39 RBI …Falby is hitting .493 with 21 stolen bases. She has 103 for her career …Cahalan has 12 doubles, four homers and 33 RBI … As a team the Gators are hitting .396 with 39 home runs.