Gators Extend Win Streak with 17-Run Outburst vs.FIU
No. 12 Florida Gators baseball clawed the FIU Panthers at Condron Family Ballpark in a 17-11 win Tuesday by scoring its highest run total of the early season.
The first three batters of the game for the Panthers (6-3) reached base to load the bases with no outs and put LukeMcNeillie into his first bind of the game. McNeillie bounced back and recorded his first strikeout of the inning.
With one out, designated hitter Aidan Cohall hit a groundball into the glove of Florida first baseman Ethan Surowiec. After stepping on the bag, Surowiec threw the ball toward the plate in an attempt at a double play. However, the ball skipped off the dirt to the right side of the plate, allowing a second runner to score and giving the Panthers an early 2-0 lead.
“I think he’s feeling fine, I think he’s probably still a little rusty,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I thought his stuff looked fine.”
McNeillie pitched two innings in his first start of the season against Stetson last week, giving up two hits and no runs before being pulled in what was a controlled start. On Tuesday, despite 68% of McNeillie’s pitches being strikes, FIU batters had no trouble putting the ball in play. In the end, 1 2/3 innings was all the action McNeillie saw after giving up three hits and two runs.
By the top of the second inning, the sun had set as temperatures dipped into the high 40s. However, the calls on the diamond were starting to heat up.
With two outs, junior Cade Kurland faced a 1-2 count. Panthers starting pitcher Quin McManmon’s fastball hit Kurland on the elbow, and he began his trot to first base. Three steps was as far as Kurland got before home plate umpire Hank Himmanen ruled that Kurland leaned into the pitch.
Florida (8-1) challenged the play, but the call was confirmed. Kurland was out and the inning was over. Two fans simultaneously shouted, “That’s terrible,” as more words were thrown at Himmanen from the Florida dugout. Associate head coach Tommy Slater was the culprit and was ejected from the game. Without additional protest, Slater walked back to the locker room.
Ricky Reeth was called on to relieve McNeillie. The trusted right-handed pitcher channeled the energy from the fans into his pitches, striking out back-to-back batters on the way to a six-strikeout night.
With two outs and the bases empty in, Kurland doubled down the left-field line to get Florida started. Fourteen of Florida’s 17 runs were scored with two outs.
Good things happen when you put the ball in play, and with runners on the corners, Kyle Jones’ shallow shot to center field fell underneath the diving Hector Candelas to allow two runs to score and Jones to stand on third. With the Panthers desperate to escape, Brendan Lawson’s liner to second base evaded the glove of Vicente Feliciano and continued the seven-run inning for the Gators.
“Our offense is unbelievable,” Blake Cyr said. “I think the difference between this year and last year is we have so many different ways to score runs, not just home runs.”
It seemed that seven runs in one inning was not enough, as Florida scored seven runs in the fifth courtesy of three singles, four walks, one double and Lawson getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Gator scored four or more runs for the ninth time this season.
Reeth gave up one hit in the fifth as Florida led 9-4.
Entering the fifth, it had been 19 innings since the Gators had hit a home run. The lack of home-run support is not a worrying statistic for O’Sullivan. In his postgame news conference after last Saturday’s 11-0 win against Kennesaw State, when Florida had 16 hits, he emphasized the need to find ways to hit against SEC pitching and said he sees the hit totals as a strength despite the lack of balls over the fence.
Similar to Florida’s last game against Kennesaw State, when the Owls scored four runs in the ninth, the Panthers were on the prowl. Junior Caden Sammler and redshirt senior Enrique Alvarez Jr. combined for three RBIs to cut Florida’s lead to six. However, it was too late for FIU, as Tracen Camer hit into a double play to give the Gators their seventh consecutive win.
The Gators will look to move to 4-0 at home against the Panthers when the teams return to action Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Coverage begins on 850-AM WRUF at 5:55 p.m.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Baseball
