UF Baseball: Gators Get a Win but O'Sullivan Frustrated with Pitching
- Franz Beard
- Mar 9, 2024
- 5 min read
It took Colby Shelton lining an opposite field 3-run homer onto the left field berm in the bottom of the 10thinning Friday night for the 4th-ranked Florida Gators to pull out a 12-11 win over Saint Mary’s at Condron Family Ballpark. Shelton’s walk-off homer was his second of the game, providing a dramatic ending to a game that left Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan battling his emotions.
Sully was happy with the win – “A bad win is better than a good loss” is how he described it – but frustrated with Florida’s pitching. The Gators blew a 9-5 lead in the eighth and ninth, then fell behind 11-9 in the top of the 10th when Saint Mary’s first baseman Christian Alamanza sent a Brandon Neely pitch practically into orbit for a 2-run homer that had the visiting Gaels thinking they were about to spring a monumental upset on the road, no less.
O’Sullivan sent five pitchers to the mound. Only Ryan Slater, who pitched 2-1/3 innings in relief of starter Cade Fisher, and Fisher Jameson, who got the third out in the 10th when he picked Dalton Mashore off first, were effective.
This latest episode of ineffective pitching came on the heels of a 9-6 midweek loss to UCF, a game that saw O’Sullivan use six pitchers. The Gators (9-4) have had only one quality start all season, six shutout innings by Jac Caglianone last Sunday when he allowed three hits and struck out 11 Miami hitters.
Based on what he saw in the fall and leading up to the start of the season in January, O’Sullivan is long on questions and frustration, quite short on answers and satisfaction. With two games against Saint Mary’s to go this weekend, Florida State coming to Gainesville Tuesday night and 7th-ranked Texas A&M coming to town to start the Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule next weekend, O’Sullivan said things have to change in a hurry.
There are issues with both the weekend and midweek starters and the middle relief guys have at times poured gasoline on an already raging fire. Neely, an All-American closer last year who had 13 saves, has been ineffective to the point that O’Sullivan is even contemplating putting him in the starting rotation to see if that can get him untracked.
“I think that's the thing that's most frustrating to me is we've done the entire fall,” O’Sullivan said. “We went through the whole preseason, we got a plan.”
Obviously, the plan hasn’t worked so far. After 13 games, Florida’s pitchers have an ERA of 5.53, unheard of for a program that has produced numerous first round Major League Baseball draft picks. It’s true that the Gators are young, but O’Sullivan pointed out that Brian Johnson and Hudson Randall were freshman starters who got UF to the College World Series. Logan Shore and Alex Faedo are just two more freshmen who were outstanding from their first year onward.
O’Sullivan struggled to explain the current situation.
“I'm lost for words right now on how we have miscalculated up to this point on who should be starting and who's the middle guys to bridge the gap to Neely,” he said.
Essentially, everything is on the table moving forward. The entire pitching staff is up for evaluation. O’Sullivan has a team that can hit – a .301 team batting average, 114 runs scored in 13 games, 28 home runs – and the Gators can make the plays in the field. Heading into Friday night’s game, UF was fourth in the nation with a .990 fielding percentage.
The problem is on the mound. UF pitchers average 12.5 strikeouts per game, which is 7th nationally. Opposing hitters have launched 41 extra base hits including 12 home runs. It’s not that there are that many walks allowed (56) it’s the timing of them.
“We're not good, so I mean we’re gonna have to do some things,” O’Sullivan said.
While the Gators try to solve the issues with the pitching staff, O’Sullivan does have the making of a wrecking crew at the plate. Shelton, who had a run-scoring single in the first and a solo homer that landed way behind the fence in right center field in the seventh, has taken the ball out of the yard eight times already and he’s driven in 20. Caglianone, who led the country in home runs last year with 33, has five so far. He’s hitting .473 while showing a willingness to go opposite field to beat the shift. He hit a scorching opposite field single to left in the first, drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the second and ripped a single up the middle in the sixth.
Virginia Tech transfer Brody Donay had a single and a 2-run double and Ty Evans drove in two with a pair of run-scoring singles. In the bottom of the 10th, Armando Albert led off with a double down the left field line. Caglianone walked and one out later, Shelton hit his walk-off homer to win the game.
O’Sullivan is confident the Gators are going to hit but can they win gorilla-ball games while waiting for the pitching to come around? He’s not planning to wait around to find out.
“Everything is on the table right now,” he said, adding that drastic changes will be made “if that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we have to do. I mean we're here to win baseball games. And if we miscalculated for starters should be then that’s my responsibility to make changes.”
Freshman Liam Peterson is the anticipated starter when the Gators face Saint Mary’s at 1 p.m., a game moved up to avoid expected weather issues.
UF TRACK AND FIELD: Parker Valby sets NCAA record in 5000 meters
Parker Valby beat the field by 17 seconds while setting the NCAA record in the 5000 meters Friday night at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Valby’s 14:52.79 was good for 10 points for the Florida women, who are in first place with 24 points after Friday’s events.
NCAA women’s top 10 (six events scored): 1. FLORIDA 24; 2. Notre Dame 18; 3. Ole Miss 16; 4. BYU 14; 5. Oklahoma State 13; 6. Alabama 11; 7. (TIE) Arkansas and Iowa State 10; 9. (TIE) Ball State, Charlotte and Minnesota 8
NCAA men’s top 12 (five events scored): 1. (TIE) Arkansas and Northern Arizona 18; 3. (TIE) North Carolina and Oklahoma State 13; 5. (TIE) Harvard and Kentucky 10; 7. Penn 9; 8. (TIE) Arkansas Stae, CSUN, Florida State and Georgetown 8; 12. FLORIDA 7
OTHER UF SPORTS: Ole Miss pulled away in the fourth quarter to take a 84-74 win over the Gators (16-15) at the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Championships in Greenville, South Carolina. Ole Miss outscored the Gators 28-20 in the fourth quarter. Aliyah Matharu led the Gators with 24 points while Leilani Correa added 18 … The 4th-ranked Florida gymnastics team will be competing in the Ameritas Masters Classic in Lincoln against Nebraska, Eastern Michigan and Lindenwood … The 11th-ranked Florida lacrosse team concluded its west coast swing with a 23-5 win over San Diego State. It was the fifth straight win for the Gators (5-2), who were led by Maggi Hall with two goals and five assists … The 13th-ranked Florida softball team (19-3) opens the Southeastern Conference portion of its schedule in Tuscaloosa against No. 11 Alabama (19-1) this afternoon (3 p.m., SEC Network+). The Gators and Crimson Tide play game two Sunday at 6 p.m. (SEC Network) and conclude the series Monday at 7 p.m. (SEC Network).
After Colby Shelton’s dramatic game-winning homerun I switched to the women’s basketball game. With Aliya Matharu in the locker room following the back of her head onto the hardwood, the Gators were very much in contention. Ole Miss’ powerhouse center came directly toward a pair of Florida defenders in front of the rim. She picked up her dribble, clutched the ball to her chest with both arms wrapped around it like a fullback on a football dive play, and barreled into the waiting defenders. The ref blew a whistle. Foul on the Gators! The two announcers on the replay counted aloud her steps, “One step, two, three.” After that horrible call the fame was all but over.