Ongoing UF Baseball Commentary

This team is snakebit. Can they buckle down and score some runs and pull this out?

 

Gators beat Vandy Sunday 4-3 to improve to 22-14, 5-9 in the SEC. Brandon Neely pitched great, going 6.1 innings, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk with 7 K's. Tyler Nesbitt pitched the rest of the game and, except for a hanging change-up with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 9th with a 3-1 lead, was excellent. That one pitched went for a 2-run HR that tied the game. Florida scored 2 in the first inning on singles by Colby Halter (thrown out stealing 2nd), Jud Fabian, Sterlin Thompson and Wyatt Langford (RBI). BT Riopelle knocked in the 2nd run with a ground out. Jud hit a solo HR in the 3rd to put UF up 3-0. Vandy got a solo HR in the 5th and it stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th. Riopelle got a triple in the 6th inning on a misplayed fly to left field, but was thrown out trying to score. After the tying HR in the 9th, all the momentum seemed to be with the Commodores, but Deric Fabian hit a solo HR in the top of the 10th to give the Gators the lead. In the bottom of the inning, Halter made a throwing error on a routine ground ball with 2 outs and nobody on. Nesbitt then balked the runner to 2nd, but got the final out on a grounder to Halter. Florida hosts Stetson Tuesday and then has #1 Tennessee (33-3, 14-1) coming to town for the weekend.

 

Most of us have been beating up on Derec F., but he's now gotten 2 game winning RBI's our last 2 weekend series. That sac. fly in the 8th inning to put us up 8-7 over Arkansas and today's 10th inning HR. And yesterday he made a couple of really nice plays in the loss to Vandy. Rivera had a couple of gems today. Just keep hoping these guys can pull it all together and go on a winning streak.

 

I agree with all of that. But they are really going to be tested when Tennessee rolls into town. If they can rise up and win a couple of games this weekend the confidence they gain could set them up for the rest of the year. If, however, the Vols beat 'em up, it could go downhill in a hurry. The rubber hits the road very soon. And the pitching has to be helped by quality defense and not wasting scoring opportunities on offense, like Halter getting thrown out trying to steal in a 1st inning that would have been another run and Riopelle trying to stretch a triple into a HR and being easily thrown out. A lot of times pitching gets the punishment or reward for how the defense plays behind them and the opportunities the offense makes or breaks in their support. It has to be a total team effort, especially this coming weekend.