Gator Baseball

[instaGATOR]

At bat of the year maybe?

I've been bitchin' to my better half during the baseball games about Gator hitters standing there and taking beautiful 1st pitch strikes, over and over, and then going for in the dirt pitches or not near the plate junk. Drives me nutts!

Or taking a called strike-out when they have 2 strikes already, with that dumb look on their faces when the ump calls them out, instead of guarding the plate on any close pitch that they can reach with the bat.

When you've got 2 strikes in the count,,, then GUARD the darn plate!

Christain Hicks getting a 15 pitch walk is my 'At Bat of the Year' and the way to GUARD the plate!. And he did it against Ole Miss pitcher, James McArthur, who took the mound as the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week. Way to go dude.... And hey everybody else, watch that and WTF-UP...

Dalton Guthrie said afterward. "I've never seen the fans get on their feet for an at-bat in like the fourth inning."

"Seeing the fight he had in that at-bat was really fun to watch, that's for sure,'' said outfielder Ryan Larson, who was on-deck.

Hicks getting a walk with the bases loaded, walked in the 'go ahead' run. It also set up Larson's Gran-Slam during the next at bat. Only the 4th inning, but essentially 'game over' for Ole Miss. McArthur left the mound with a 49 pitch 4th inning....

 

[46885]

highest ranked SEC team now at #5

 

[MJWilliamson]

Boyd's World on what Florida needs to do to remain in the top 16 and Top 8 in RPI.



Florida

Remaining: 4 home, 3 road, 0 neutral
Current RPI: 4
ROWP: 0.531

Top 45:

No more wins needed.

Top 32:

No more wins needed.

Top 16:

0 home wins, 1 road wins
1 home wins, 0 road wins

Top 8:

0 home wins, 3 road wins
1 home wins, 2 road wins
2 home wins, 1 road wins
3 home wins, 0 road wins

 

[ocalaman]

Boyd's World on what Florida needs to do to remain in the top 16 and Top 8 in RPI.



Florida

Remaining: 4 home, 3 road, 0 neutral
Current RPI: 4
ROWP: 0.531

Top 45:

No more wins needed.

Top 32:
No more wins needed.

Top 16:

0 home wins, 1 road wins
1 home wins, 0 road wins

Top 8:

0 home wins, 3 road wins
1 home wins, 2 road wins
2 home wins, 1 road wins
3 home wins, 0 road wins

7 games left and the guy is saying we only need 3 more wins to get a Top 8 seed. I don't know about that. I know I'm not the expert, but if we finish the season 3-4 and say we lose to USF, go 2-1 at Bama and then go 1-2 at home against Kentucky, I would think a Top 8 seed would be very much at risk. I don't trust the committee to do the right thing. To be absolutely sure we host a Super, I would hope we go at least 5-2. They, also, tend to make our regional tougher than other high seeds with the excuse that they are trying for "regional integrity." This year they will probably put FSU (currently 31-18) in our regional and maybe UCF, who is 33-15 and/or Florida Gulf Coast (currently 31-16) or FAU (29-16-1). I wish they would schedule regionals so that you don't play teams you've played during the regular season, but that almost never happens to UF.

 

[46885]

hopefully they don't put that legit stetson team in ours, since we are so afraid of them again like everyone says...

 

[MJWilliamson]

For the regional, we probably get BC, and two of FSU, UCF and USF. Maybe even throw in FGCU into the mix

 

[ocalaman]

USF pounding us right now 8-1 in the 3rd. Milchin threw 2 innings and gave up a 2-out 2 run HR in the 1st. Nate Brown started the 3rd walked 3 and gave up a single to the 1st 4 batters. Rubio came in and gave up 3 more hits before getting out of the inning. In 3 innings our pitchers have given up 6 hits and 5 walks for the 8 runs. USF is 37-10 and one of the top hitting teams in the country, as well as having a better ERA than Florida, though obviously not the strength of schedule as UF. This would be a monumental comeback to say the least.

 

[HardeeWildcatFan]

USF pounding us right now 8-1 in the 3rd. Milchin threw 2 innings and gave up a 2-out 2 run HR in the 1st. Nate Brown started the 3rd walked 3 and gave up a single to the 1st 4 batters. Rubio came in and gave up 3 more hits before getting out of the inning. In 3 innings our pitchers have given up 6 hits and 5 walks for the 8 runs. USF is 37-10 and one of the top hitting teams in the country, as well as having a better ERA than Florida, though obviously not the strength of schedule as UF. This would be a monumental comeback to say the least.

Just don't think that is going to happen...This is this year's team, they are like a cardio rhythm UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN...

 

[46885]

i just watched about 4 innings of that

 

[ocalaman]

13-3 bottom of the 8th. Worst game of the year for the good guys.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Lost 10-15.

How do you score 10 runs and lose?


When you walk 17 batters

 

[bradleygator]

Seems like our weekday pitching puts us in a bad spot more often than not. We've come back to win a few of them recently, but not from two touchdowns down. At least the bats stayed hot. Two home series coming up. Win both and we should host.

 

[ocalaman]

Our weekend rotation is as good as anyone in the country and we've found a reliable closer in Byrne. But the poor showings in midweek games give me some pessimism about the post season. As long as we stay in the winner's bracket we'll be fine and we should be OK in a Super Regional, as it's just a best 2 out of 3. But if one of our studs loses and we get into the loser's bracket (SEC Tournament, Regional, CWS), we could be in trouble having to find a 4th or 5th starter. The bats have come alive of late and maybe we could just outscore an opponent or two, but we don't have the quality depth Florida teams are used to having.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Seems like our weekday pitching puts us in a bad spot more often than not. We've come back to win a few of them recently, but not from two touchdowns down. At least the bats stayed hot. Two home series coming up. Win both and we should host.

Yep

 

[instaGATOR]

I haven't worried all season long, I knew all along that the young team would have some struggles over the course of the season.

And I'm not worried now either. GoooooooooooGATORS!

 

[bradleygator]

Our weekend rotation is as good as anyone in the country and we've found a reliable closer in Byrne. But the poor showings in midweek games give me some pessimism about the post season. As long as we stay in the winner's bracket we'll be fine and we should be OK in a Super Regional, as it's just a best 2 out of 3. But if one of our studs loses and we get into the loser's bracket (SEC Tournament, Regional, CWS), we could be in trouble having to find a 4th or 5th starter. The bats have come alive of late and maybe we could just outscore an opponent or two, but we don't have the quality depth Florida teams are used to having.

Agree that the staff is not as deep. Even Byrne makes me a little nervous. He has been pretty much lights out, but I'd always rather have the closer throwing 95. If we do host, I would say it's probably Sully's least talented team to do so. But our weekend starters are probably all first-round picks, and Sully is not afraid to let them pitch deep. And I like the way this team figures out how to win ugly. As I said, it would be some karmic justice for this team to be the one to win Sully's first.

 

[ocalaman]

Huge series for the gators this weekend. Bama has been at the bottom of the SEC, then surprisingly swept Auburn in Auburn last weekend. They can hit. Hopefully we can sweep, but going 2-1 would be OK IMO.

 

[ocalaman]

Well, here we go - Gators down to Alabama (19-29; 5-19 in SEC) 1-0 in the 5th. Faedo pitching very well again, but our bats are anemic. They act like they thought they could win 0 to -1!!!! We're only 1/2 way through the game, but their pitcher has us off balance and not looking good at all at the plate.

 

[MJWilliamson]

We are letting this Alabama pitcher look like Goose Gossage.



One hit through 5 innings.

 

[ocalaman]

We are letting this Alabama pitcher look like Goose Gossage.



One hit through 5 innings.

Now 1 hit thru 6. O'Sullivan visibly frustrated and upset at the low quality at bats. This is ridiculous.

 

[ocalaman]

JJ ties it up with a HR in the top of the 7th. Now let's get 'em guys.

 

[ocalaman]

Somehow the good guys pulled it out 2-1. A win is a win is a win!!

 

[46885]

faedo only needed 3 hits, a sac fly and a solo hr to win

 

[MJWilliamson]

Good, good, tough win

 

[instaGATOR]

And I'm still not worried...

 

[ocalaman]

Last week against Ole Miss, Brady Singer gave up 2 runs in the 1st, 1 more in the 2nd before he settled down. We came back and won 7-4. Tonight, the Gators stake him to a 1-0 lead in the 1st and Singer proceeds to hit a batter, give up 3 hits, plus throw a wild pitch in the bottom of the 1st. We're down 3-1 going to the 2nd.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Yea, we finally score first when Singer is on the mound and he promptly gives up three runs in the bottom of the inning.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Yea, no excuse for Singer. We gave him five runs.

 

[ocalaman]

Seems to be taking Singer an inning or two to settle down, but he's not been as dominant lately as earlier in the year. Hope he's not getting a tired arm due to throwing so much over the course of the season. He's not looked good at all in the bottom of the 6th even though he got out of a real jam and overcame 2 questionable calls by the umps. He's a gritty pitcher. Still up 6-5.

 

[ocalaman]

13-6 going to the bottom of the 8th. Looks like we've got this one.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Closed it out. Four regular season games left

 

[instaGATOR]

Yea, no excuse for Singer. We gave him five runs.

WE???

And he seems to be pitching well enough to get the win, as long as the other 8 Gator's have his back...

 

[46885]

yes. WE

 

[instaGATOR]

Wee, wee, wee,,,, all the way home...

 

[ocalaman]

Gator baseball team played 68 games in 2016 and only 2 pitcher threw over 100 innings - Shore (105) & Faedo (104). This year, through 51 games, Singer has thrown 90 innings, Faedo 85, Kowar 71. It's out of necessity, I know, but only time will tell if having to push the weekend starters more than Sully has ever done in the past will hurt us in the post season. This year's bullpen is the thinnest and most unreliable of any we've had in the O'Sullivan era. He's doing what he has to do to win games and his reputation as the ultimate pitching coach is unchallenged. I just hope the arms he's using will hold up.

 

[instaGATOR]

And I'm still not worried...

 

[ocalaman]

Mr. Optimism

 

[MJWilliamson]

That does it.

25 runs over the weekend, against admittedly a poor pitching staff. But 11 of the runs were with two outs. Last week it was 13 runs with two outs.

 

[LizardGrad89]

If we win the series with the Cats we win the SEC. We could tie LSU if they sweep, but we would have the tiebreaker.

 

[ocalaman]

Even though Alabama is not very good, a road sweep in the SEC is special. Great to see how the bats have come alive the last 3 weeks or so. Next weekend should be fun. Kentucky has by far the best hitting team in the SEC with a .320 team avg. (#2 is LSU at .289) and their pitching ERA is 3.40 compared to our 3.36. But the way our guys are playing I like our chances. Hope fans turn out to Pack the Mac!!!