So, turns out, the only team worse defensively than the No. 23 Gators was the Gamecocks. The numbers don’t lie: Florida’s fielding percentage was .970, compared to South Carolina’s .943. And despite Florida baseball’s inability to field infield hits, South Carolina struggled more, dropping multiple easy-out balls and collecting two errors.
It’s irrelevant if Florida’s poor defensive skills will cost them later on. Hint: it will. Even Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan acknowledged it.
But, Gators’ batters put up enough hits to calm the noise created by the almost-no-hitter Friday. And, most importantly, Florida’s pitching bullied South Carolina during the 3-0 win Saturday to secure the opening conference series victory this season.
Florida (17-3, 2-0 SEC) will go for the sweep at Condron Ballpark on Sunday at noon. The game was moved up due to forecasted storms later in the day. Coverage will start at 11:55 a.m. on 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF and at noon on SEC Network+.
“This league is too difficult,” O’Sullivan said. “When you have a chance to sweep, you gotta take care of your business and at least play good baseball.”
Gators starter Aidan King’s outing on the mound — though more lively than the night before — was a success. He blanked South Carolina (12-8, 0-2), even with a runner in scoring position for most of the fifth inning. King (W, 3-1) tied his career-high of strikeouts with nine, giving up only two hits and one walk. His ERA remained a perfect 0.00.
Even when the calls didn’t go his way, King found ways to whiff batters. On the last batter of the fifth inning, he stepped off the mound, thinking he got the strike three call. When home plate umpire C.J. Burdette disagreed, he looked at the dugout and muttered, “Oh, c’mon.” But he got the batter to strike out on the next pitch to end the frame.
“Last year [we] didn’t start off hot,” King said. “Coming out here and just getting the first SEC series win is huge. You’re starting off on the right foot, and you got nothing but confidence going into the rest of the conference play.”
South Carolina’s starter, Amp Phillips (L, 2-2), couldn’t create any electricity for the Gamecocks, no matter how much he tried. Phillips went six innings. While he struck out and walked an equal number of Gators, three, the righty gave up five hits and one run. Once Florida evicted Phillips, though, the runs started to trickle in.
The Gamecocks’ relievers couldn’t find the strike zone. Lefty Hudson Lee walked the first batter he faced, and he was yanked. Zach Russell replaced him, but he, too, couldn’t command the zone, leaving both him and the Gators worse off.
After walking his first Florida hitter, Russell drilled Karson Bowen in the head, the crack off Bowen’s helmet ricocheting as he fell to the ground. The ball also seemed to hit Bowen’s thumb, though Florida’s catcher was able to continue his night after a chat with the athletic trainer.
Russell, however, was lost on the mound without any ability to pitch his way out. Right fielder Cash Strayer hit a sac-fly to score a runner, and the South Carolina righty hit another Gator with a pitch. By the end of the seventh inning, Florida had pushed across two runs, stranding two.
With a one-two punch of Ernesto Lugo-Canchalo and Jackson Barberi (S, 1), Florida’s pitching staff bullied the batters in the box. The two filled the final three innings, striking out two and giving up only one hit.
“Once again, that’s two starts that we’ve got our starters go six innings,” O’Sullivan said. “God, it makes my job so much easier.”
When taken together with King’s start, Florida’s pitching has finally found a way forward that doesn’t include middle relievers, the team’s weakest part. And, for a few moments, the Gators can breathe easy after blanking South Carolina for 19 innings and allowing just four hits.
