After a sluggish start to the season, the veterans on the Gator baseball team all broke through in a big way Friday night.
Nelson Maldonado, Wil Dalton and Austin Langworthy combined for six base hits and eight RBI’s in Florida’s (7-4) 16-4 rout of Winthrop in the series opener.
With all three-upperclassman batting below .250 entering the game, it was only a matter of time before they broke through.
Their offense was much needed as the Gators found themselves in an early hole.
Winthrop used patient at-bats to start the game, drawing three walks of Florida starting pitcher Tyler Dyson and benefiting on a Brady McConnell error to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
“We threw 30 pitches in the first again, we got 90-plus after five, we made an error there in the first, those are mistakes we need to obviously clean up moving forward when we get to SEC play,” Kevin O’Sullivan said.
Dyson would settle down after the first inning, allowing only one earned run over five full innings. He allowed two hits while striking out six and walking four while picking up his first win of the season.
“The first inning I felt more comfortable,” Dyson said, “I think it’s more just staying back and not getting so antsy. It’s not really nerves going in it’s just, just kind of gotta slow it down a little bit.”
The Gators would tie the game in the bottom of the second when Jud Fabian hit his second home run of the season, launching a 2-2 pitch off Winthrop pitcher That Harris into the left field bleachers.
“He tried to throw a fastball and I was sitting fastball all night, kind off left it right down the middle so it was in my hot spot,” Fabian said. “I figured we needed a spark, so I tried to get that spark.”
Two more runs would be added in the third inning thanks to Langworthy. The Gators left-fielder ripped a groundball up the right-field line that rolled to the warning track. This allowed Maldonado and Kendrick Calilao to score and make it 3-1.
Winthrop would tighten things up in the top of the fourth, getting a run on a sacrifice-fly from Jake Sullivan that scored Hunter Lipscomb.
However, Florida would really blow the game open in the bottom of the inning.
The Gators stretched their lead to 5-2 after an error allowed Brady Smith to score and Calilao was hit by a pitch to bring home Jacob Young.
Maldonado then stepped to the plate and delivered for the Gators. The senior captain uncorked on a 1-0 fastball and sent it sailing to right-center. The ball bounced off the wall, about 4-inches from clearing it, and cleared the bases. Maldonado ended up with a double and gave Florida an 8-2 lead.
The Gators would score four more runs in the inning, including two off singles from McConnell and Dalton to make it a 12-2 game.
Florida would get another run in the seventh inning when a wild pitch allowed Fabian to score, making it 13-3.
“Our confidence has really gone up since the beginning of the season,” Fabian said. “The first few weeks we weren’t really hitting it well and we’re starting to figure things out, 16 hits tonight feels pretty good.”
Winthrop would get back a run in the top of the fifth and eighth inning when Matthew Mulkey hit a home run to left field in the fifth and a throwing error by Robert Pena at third allowed Brandon Fite to score in the eighth.
However, Florida would add on three runs in the eighth inning to put a final nail in the coffin. After Christian Flint led the inning off with a double, pinch-hitter Kirby McMullen hit a sac-fly to center field to score him and make it 14-4.
Langworthy would then hit his first homerun of the season, blasting a two-run shot off the scoreboard in right field to make it 16-4
Florida would finish with a season high in runs, 13, and hits, 14. Five different Florida batters would have multi-hit games. McConnell would go 3-5 and an RBI, Maldonado would finish 2-5 with 3 RBI’s, Dalton went 2-4 with an RBI, Calilao finished 2-3 and an RBI, while Langworthy ended the night going 2-5 with four RBI’s and a home run.
“It was good to see Nelly get a big hit there with the based loaded,” O’Sullivan said, “I think eight of the nine starters got hits, thought we bunted the ball well tonight too. Those are things we need to do going forward.”
Justin Alintoff, Nick Pogue and Langworthy would pitch the final four innings for Florida, combining to allow no earned runs, four hits and striking out four batters.
In total, 10 Gators had a hit on the night, combining for 17 in total, and the team combined to draw nine walks. The team also had a season low in strikeouts with four but also committed three errors leading to three of Winthrop’s four runs.
“We are swinging the bats better, but we’ve got to keep things in perspective because we’re gonna see a totally different arm tomorrow,” O’Sullivan said.
Tommy Mace (2-0, 3.21 ERA) will get the start for the Gators Saturday. He’ll face Zach Peek (1-0, 1.50 ERA) with first pitch set for 4pm.
