Freshman pitcher Nick Pogue hadn’t started a game for the Florida Gators baseball team all season. He finally was given his chance on Tuesday night against USF.
After having only pitched 15.1 inning in relief appearances up to this point, the Gator freshman had been used sparingly.
“We were stretching and he (Kevin O’Sullivan) said I was taking the hill first, I was pretty excited,” Pogue said.
However, when given the opportunity, Pogue delivered. Pogue retired eight of the first nine batters he faced in the game, commanding his fastball well and locating pitches.
Pogue finished the game going five strong innings, allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out four USF batters.
“My first couple outings I had a little bit of nerves, I gave up some runs but these past couple innings have been really good,” Pogue said.
“He’s slowly been getting better and better and he pitched really well tonight,” Kevin O’Sullivan, “we haven’t had a game pitched like that in a while. He threw 71 percent strikes , 15 of 19 first pitch strikes, he’s tightened up his breaking ball, he only allowed two three ball counts and I don’t think he went to a 2-0 count all night.”
The outing was the first quality start from a Gators starting pitcher since the April 18th a LSU when Tommy Mace went seven and two-thirds innings.
Pogue’s performance helped lead the Gators to a 7-3 win over USF. Florida improves to 29-21 on the season.
The Gator offense supplied an adequate amount of run support for their freshman pitcher over the course of this outing.
Jacob Young recorded the offenses first base hit of the night in the third inning, beating out an infield single on a ground ball to second. Two batters later, Brady McConnell drove in the games first run.
McConnell unloaded on a pitch from USF starter Noah Yager and sent it towering to the left-center field wall. It collided with the wall, about three inches shy of going over, and allowed Young to race from first and score.
McConnell ended up on second, recording his 40th RBI of the season, tying for the team lead with Kendrick Calilao.
The Gators add two more runs in the fourth inning thanks to Corey Acton. Wil Dalton led the frame off with a single to left field, bringing Acton to the plate with a runner on.
The freshman third baseman turned on a first pitch fastball and sent it for a ride into the netting past the right field wall for a two-run home run. That made it 3-0 Gators and it was Acton’s fourth homer of the season and his first at McKethan Stadium.
Florida padded its lead to 5-0 in the fifth. McConnell began the inning by dropping a bunt down and beating out the throw for a base hit.
Austin Langworthy then came to the plate. Langworthy ripped a line drive down the right field line that reached the wall, giving McConnell ample time to score from first and make it 4-0.
It was Langworthy’s 32nd double of the season and his 19th extra-base hit.
Nelson Maldonado then made it 5-0, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field that brought Langworthy home from first.
USF chipped into the Gator lead in the sixth inning, scoring a pair of runs on Joe Genord’s double to left field that scored Jordan Santos, and Chris Chatfields single to left that brought Genord home.
Both runs were scored off Gator reliever Christian Scott, who was then pulled in favor of Ben Specht. Specht got out of the inning without allowing any further damage.
The Gators got a run back in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and a 1-2 count not in his favor, Dalton unloaded on a pitch from USF reliever Pat Doudican and sent it over the left field bleachers for a solo-home run. Dalton’s sixth home run of the season made it 6-2 Gators.
“I stepped out of the box, regrouped and said the gut throws 88-89, he can’t really beat me my hands are too fast,” Dalton said, “he ended up throwing me a hanging changeup, didn’t swing over the top of it that time.”
The Bulls trimmed the lead once again in the eighth inning. After back-to-back singles from Kyle Phillips and Jake Sullivan, Genord hit a sacrifice-fly to left field that brought Phillips home and made it 6-3.
Florida was once again able to get the run back in the bottom half of the frame. With two outs, Jud Fabian blasted a solo-home run over the right field wall to make it 7-3 Gators. Fabian hadn’t hit a home run since March 10th and it was his sixth of the season.
Specht then pitched a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the win.
“Right now every win matters,” Dalton said, “we want to make it to regional and we’ve got to put quite a few wins together here. Loses at this point are very detrimental, more than they already were.”
Dalton finished the night going 2-3 from the plate, hitting his home run and also drawing a walk. McConnell lead the team with three hits and improved his team-best batting average to .360.
Florida will play its final home SEC series of the season this coming weekend when the Gators host Tennessee. First pitch Friday night is at 6:30pm.
“I’ve seen steady progress, it may not be in the win and loss column like we would hope or what we’re used to but at the end of the day, it’s our job as coaches to continue to coach them and help them get better,” O’Sullivan said, “tonight was a really good game, we played good defense, we pitched really well, and obviously we had some really good at bats.”
