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A year ago this week Tommy Mace was getting ready to face Emerson Hancock and the Georgia Bulldogs before the world shut down. Given a second chance at his last SEC season, Mace was phenomenal at home.
The fourth-year junior struck out two in the first inning on his way to tying a career-high 11 against a Texas A&M team that came to Gainesville riding high on an 11-game winning streak.
"Tommy was really sharp tonight, O'Sullivan said. "His pen on Monday was really sharp. He was focused on what he needed to do and executed a ton of pitches tonight. He set the tone for us. Really proud of the way he pitched. Last week he wasn't sharp but he was determined."
That might be a good way to describe the Gator bats on Thursday night as well. Florida was held to just four hits in a Tuesday loss to rival Florida State but pounded out 13 runs on 16 hits, led by freshman catcher Mac Guscette's 4-5 night at the plate, taking the opening SEC game by a score of 13-4.
Guscette and Colby Halter started the third inning with singles and Jacob Young walked to load the bases. Jud Fabian struck out but Nathan Hickey picked him up with a single through the right side to make the score 1-0. Kirby McMullen brought two more home with a single to left field. Florida's offense went back at it in the fourth inning, with an impressive, 44-minute, six-run output.
Guscette was the table-setter again, starting the fourth off with a double down the left field line. Halter made the score 5-0 with a towering home run to the right field berm. A pair of walks, a wild pitch, and a long fly ball out made the score 6-0. Kendrick Calilao was hit by a pitch and Josh Rivera plated McMullen with a single of his own to bring Guscette back up to the plate. The freshman delivered again with an RBI single of his own.
"He had a great game, he really did," O'Sullivan said of Guscette. "There's a reason why he was in the lineup tonight. We thought he could really handle it."
Guscette wasn't the only freshman making his first SEC start. Hitting right behind him in the nine-hole, Colby Halter had himself a game. At the end of the night, the Florida eight and nine hitters would have six hits, score four runs, and drive in three. Not bad for a couple of freshmen at the bottom of the lineup.
Mace's first blemish came on a solo home run in the top of the fourth and then the Aggies added three runs, only one of which was earned. Mace got out of the frame, the Gators scored four more runs in the bottom of the sixth and the junior returned to the mound in the seventh.
"I didn't even think about not going out there in the seventh," Mace said. "Sully preaches save the bullpen. There was no talk (about coming out of the game). This is what I'm here for. To go deep in ball games and be the start of a good weekend."
Jud Fabian capped the scoring with a missile to right center field, the 107.7 exit velocity was the second-hardest ball hit this season and gave Florida 13 runs. The 13 runs were the most scored by a Florida team in an SEC opener since 2002. The Gators have now scored 10 or more runs five times this season and the 16 hits were a season-high and marked the 13th double-digit hit performance of the season.
Florida will look to take the series with Jack Leftwich on the mound at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.
