Florida starting pitcher Tommy Mace had a solid outing last weekend in Vanderbilt that was spoiled. On Friday night against Alabama, the Gator sophomore would make sure that didn’t happen again.
Mace was on fire all night long. The tall righty used his fastball, that touched 94 mph in the game, and a quartet of pitches to baffle the Crimson Tide hitters for nine innings, resulting in victory.
Florida used a combination of Mace’s stellar night, stout defense and just enough offense to take the series-opener over Alabama 3-1.
“I got out of the seventh and he (Kevin O’Sullivan) said ‘alright just get two more, get six more outs’ and I was like ‘okay, sounds good’,” Mace said. “I mean I was a little surprised but it’s good with me.”
Mace ended up throwing 119 pitches in those nine innings, allowing only one run on three hits while striking out seven. It was the first complete game of Mace’s career.
“I think my changeup was really, really good today,” Mace said. “I threw a lot more sliders this week which was nice, to mix in all four pitches. The cutter was not the best it’s been, I mean it worked but the changeup what’s really helped me out this week.
“His demeanor, his makeup, his preparation, it’s really good,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
The game started off about as well as it could have for the Gators. Mace pitched a flawless first inning, striking out two batters and establishing the strike zone early.
In the bottom of the frame, the offense would play small ball to scratch a run across and take an early lead. Jacob Young worked a lead-off walk and advanced to third after a Brady McConnell ground out, followed by a stolen base for Young. Nelson Maldonado would then bring Young home with a ground out to short that made it 1-0 Gators.
“I think that we’ve been playing from behind a lot lately,” Young said. “So, I thought that was really good that we were able to jump up. Everyone really did their job in the first inning.”
The Tide would even the game up in the top of the third. T.J. Reeves would lead-off the frame with a base hit to right field, the first of the game for Alabama. Mace then hit Kobe Morris with a pitch to put two runners on the base paths and followed that up with a wild-pitch that moved each runner to second and third.
With two-outs in the inning, Kolby Robinson appeared to have grounded into the final out of the frame. The Bama shortstop hit a hard ground ball up the middle, only to have it stopped by a diving McConnell.
McConnell flipped the ball to Young covering second to record what appeared to be the final out. However, after review, the call on the field was overturned and Reeves was safe at the plate to tie the game 1-1.
After that, Mace would dominate the Alabama lineup. The Gator sophomore would allow only one more hit after the third and keep the Crimson Tide off the scoreboard over the next five innings.
Florida would give Mace the run support he needed in the bottom of the fifth. Young got the inning going by crushing a double to left-center field. McConnell would then single to center field, putting runners on the corners.
Maldonado would then drive in his second run of the night, slapping a single up the middle to bring Young home and make it 2-1 Florida.
That would chase Crimson Tide starter Sam Finnerty from the game. The Alabama starter would go four innings and be credited with allowing all three runs. He also allowed five hits and walked three batters while striking out two.
A batter later, Kendrick Cailao would pick up his team high 30th RBI of the season with a ground out to short that brought McConnell home and extended the Gator lead to 3-1.
Mace and the Gator defense would take over the rest of the game. Any ball hit by an Alabama hitter was gobbled up by the Gator defense. Young and McConnell were especially exceptional, making repeated diving stops in the middle infield.
The pair turned an impressive 4-6-3 double play in the top of the sixth on a Morgan McCullough ground ball, ending a Tide threat.
Mace wouldn’t allow any base runners in the seventh and eighth inning, maintaining the 3-1 advantage.
“I talked to Tommy before tonight that a lot of their hitters like to swing early in the count and he has a chance to get some early outs,” O’Sullivan said.
The Gator bats failed to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities late in the game. In the sixth, Florida has runners on second and third with two outs, but McConnell would fly-out to left field to end the threat. In the eighth, the Gators had runners on the corners with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts by Brady Smith and Young would kill the scoring chance.
Florida would strand 10 base runners on the night.
However, Mace would make sure that didn’t come back to haunt the Gators. The ninth inning didn’t start so hot, as Mace drilled Robinson in the head with a pitch to lead-off the inning.
After a mound visit with O’Sullivan, Mace cruised through the next three batters to finish the ball game.
“We knew we put ourselves in a little bit of a hole the first two weekends,” Young said, “especially in the first couple days we didn’t get off to good starts at all. So, we knew if we wanted to win the series and kinda get back to where we know we can be, we have to win the first one.”
Both Young and McConnell went 2-4 from the plate on the night, combing to score all three runs. Maldonado drove in two of those runs and went 1-3.
Fabian and Langworthy also had base hits for the Gators.
Florida will look to take the series win Saturday with Tyler Dyson (3-1, 5.34 ERA) on the mound. He’ll face off against Alabama ace Brock Love (3-0, 1.93 ERA). First pitch is at 6:30pm.
Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.
