Florida Baseball State of Union: Pre-Conference Play Struggles
It’s time for a hard look at No. 23 Florida Baseball.
Despite coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s positivity, this team’s inability to beat mid-majors like UAB or High Point should be concerning. The Gators were clumsy and inefficient in their weekend series against the Panthers. Florida couldn’t hit, and once the starters were knocked out, the bullpen couldn’t pitch.
It’s a far cry from the way the Gators started the season, but it’s indicative of the gaps the team needs to fill. After all, a 13-game win streak loses meaning if Florida can’t find its footing against conference opponents. In the SEC, the Gators rank No. 7 in team batting average (.313) and No. 11 in team ERA (3.47).
This weekend gave other SEC schools the game plan to succeed in Gainesville, and it’s up to Florida (14-3) to find the holes before its opponents do. Not to mention, conference play starts Friday.
So, here’s Florida’s State of the Union as it heads into the SEC series for the rest of the season.
Pitching Concerns
The pitching, all things considered, could be best described as inconsistent.
The Gators’ arms are not bad enough to warrant much serious concern, but not great enough to warrant accolades. O’Sullivan has continued to back his players, regardless of starts. Yet, it only takes a cursory glance to see the problems that lie beneath the surface.
“With pitchers, you can’t get into the mindset of pacing yourself, because you can lose a game in the first inning the same as the rest of the night,” O’Sullivan said. “They all count the same.”
Starter Liam Peterson (1-0, 3.72 ERA) is tied for third in the SEC with 34 strikeouts. However, his fastball command can be shoddy, and if he struggles, the game gets ugly quickly.
In Friday’s series opener, Peterson was hitless through five. In the sixth, though, he walked one and gave up a single.
O’Sullivan quickly pulled him, which then exposed Florida’s biggest problem — the bullpen.
Relievers Ernesto Lugo-Canchola (0.64 ERA) and Joshua Whritenour (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 save) can excuse themselves from this conversation — they aren’t the problems here. Every other bullpen arm can pull up a seat, though.
If starters like Cooper Walls (2-0, 4.50), who had a two-hour rain delay in the middle of his Sunday appearance, can’t pitch, who’s the next man up? There’s no clear answer to that.
Sometimes, it’s middle relievers like Billy Barlow (1-0, 8.00) or Schuyler Sandford (1-0, 1.69). But Florida’s answer is usually to throw in Lugo-Canchola until either the inning ends or the game is so far out of reach that it’s not worth burning pitches over.
“Nothing against their lineup, [High Point is] a really good team,” Peterson said Friday. “But I think at the end of the day we beat ourselves.”
With Whritenour blowing 100 miles per hour past batters, the Gators’ main gap clearly isn’t the closer, but the bridge between the starters and the closers.
Defensive Miscues
Yikes. I mean, yikes. Florida’s four errors in Sunday’s game were the type that Little League coaches film as tape to show what not to do. They were the type of mistakes that make fans grit their teeth and look away, or laugh at the absurdity.
The infielders need to do a better job of throwing to first. On multiple occasions, baseballs soared over the base and allowed High Point baserunners to take extra bases or score. Brendan Lawson had the most errors this weekend (2), but, to a certain point, that’s the trade-off Florida has agreed to: hit homers and minimize any mistakes elsewhere.
The other players don’t have the offensive pop Lawson does. And, the catchers platoon has suffered the most. All three – AJ Malzone, Karson Bowen and Cole Stanford – are newcomers to Florida. With Malzone down with a hand injury, the two catchers have more workload and less room to adapt.
Stanford needs to be better behind the plate, though. Regardless of who’s available, there were at least three pitches in Sunday’s game that Stanford couldn’t get his body over or bounce off his shield. Twice, High Point runners on first and second completed double steals to move into scoring position.
“Playing the two with only two catches makes it really dicey,” O’Sullivan said. “Getting AJ back, having that third catcher kind of gives you a sigh of relief.”
Looking Forward to Conference Play
With Florida’s drop (14 spots down from No. 9 in the D1Baseball) rankings, the team now sits behind Tuesday’s opponent – No. 20 Florida State (13-2). The rivalry matchup will be the hardest midweek opponent thus far, and with players like Blake Cyr likely to return, it’ll also be a good preview of conference play.
Similar to the series against High Point, this game will be decided in the batter’s box rather than on the mound. Both teams enter with a team batting average of more than .300, and team ERAs of more than 3.00.
If the Gators snag a win, they’ll be in a good position to start conference play, which begins with a South Carolina home series Friday. If not, it might be time to reconsider the roster construction, especially when it comes to the arms.
Still, the team’s mentality swings positive.
“[The Panthers] were really talented team, and they played well all throughout the weekend,” Lawson said. “To be able to battle back shows that resilience that we can carry on into Florida State on Tuesday.”
First pitch Tuesday is set for 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network+) at Condron Family Ballpark with live coverage on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF starting at 6:25 p.m.
Category: Baseball, College Baseball, Feature Sports News, Gators Baseball
