Florida Baseball Winners and Losers Ahead of FIU, Miami Series
Bring out the broomsticks.
No. 10 Florida baseball (7-1) secured another series win, sending Kennesaw State (3-3) home empty-handed. While Florida beating the Owls was expected, the Gators are showing positive signs in their batting habits. Not to mention, Friday starter Liam Peterson regained his lost ground after being shelled against UAB, striking out 12 hitters in his start.
Still, there’s a simmering issue for this team that its record might not yet show: the pitchers and their command. Sunday starter Cooper Walls gave up four earned runs and five hits in his appearance. And while Peterson figures out how to attack the Owls, his start against UAB can’t be washed away just yet.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the Kennesaw State series as Florida looks toward its first ranked series against No. 17 Miami this weekend.
Florida’s Firepower
The Gators should be mercy-ruling mid-major Division I schools. Their wins aren’t anything surprising. The more important positive sign is how Florida extends its at-bats early. The Gators force pitchers to attack the strike zone rather than chasing balls, even when pressure ramps up during two-strike counts.
The team’s collective patience is rewarded. Florida has outscored its foes 37-7 in the first two innings of games this season. Kyle Jones’ comeback has stood out the most. He collected his sixth multi-hit game on Saturday night.
“We’re playing really good baseball,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, things are going our way, but it’s really not that hard to see why we’re having success right now. We’re focused at the plate, having really good at-bats.”
Pitchers Showed Mixed Signs
On the mound, the biggest week-to-week improvement belongs to Peterson (1-0), who pitched 5 1/3 innings against the Owls. And Peterson needed to rebound for the Gators to have any shot of success in the SEC. While a game against Kennesaw State isn’t equivalent to one against LSU or Mississippi State, he was able to find his footing. Peterson was one strikeout short of his career high of 12Ks and only allowed two walks.
His next step will be finding the strike zone consistently, though that might be the summary of his career so far at Florida. He’s not the only one.
Walls (1-0) struggled to get batters out, and the Owls’ hitters took advantage. Walls, to his credit and detriment, relies on Florida’s defense to get outs. The previous Sunday against UAB, Florida recorded five force-outs and six ground-outs — both more than Walls’ four strikeouts. This weekend was no different, but the wind pulled some balls down the first baseline during Wall’s four-inning appearance, making easy outs harder to come by.
Florida’s bullpen added to the pain Sunday. Five relievers pitched in the last five innings, walking six. In the seven games prior, Gators pitchers only walked six batters.
“The games that we’ve had success in so far, we’ve gotten out to an early lead,” reliever Jake Barberi said Sunday. “Wasn’t like that tonight. Kind of got punched in the mouth a little bit early there … so just fighting back and then adding on like that, it was big for us. And it was good to handle that adversity the way we did.”
In-state Ranked Rivals
Both No. 21 Florida State (4-2) and Miami (9-0) have played similar schedules to Florida and have mostly found success.
Before losing to Nebraska on Sunday, FSU beat all its unranked opponents with a lineup that rakes. However, a 10-1 beating by the Cornhuskers is concerning. The Seminoles only collected two hits, striking out 14 times. They went 0-for-8 in at-bats with runners in scoring position, despite entering the weekend No. 23 nationally in batting average.
But before facing FSU in early March, Florida will need to find a way to snap the Hurricanes’ win streak this weekend. Miami will be the first ranked team Florida has faced, and outfielder Derek Williams is red hot. He’s started in all eight games for the ‘Canes, batting .538 with a 1.688 OPS. It’s a welcome challenge for the Gators, who need matchups like these to prepare for the conference battles ahead.
“Gotta go out there and give your best,” Walls said. “Might get a little chirpy out there, but got to stay all composed and got to ultimately do a job for your team. I think it’ll be good for us.”
The Gators host FIU (6-2) for games Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and Wednesday (6 p.m.) with coverage on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF.
Category: College Baseball, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Baseball, SEC
