GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Tommy Mace will start on the mound for Florida as the Gators open up the Lubbock regional on Friday night.
"I think it's awesome," Mace said. "I think they have trust in me that I'm going to go out there and do my job and give my team a quality start."
The Gators have an air of confidence about it as they prepare to hit the road to Texas and Mace hopes that he can start UF against Dallas Baptist University on the right foot - like he did against Missouri two weeks ago.
"I think it shows that our pitching is there it just needs to come out and be consistent," Mace said. "I think it shows that we have the guys to do it, it's just that we haven't had it click at the right time. It clicked [at Mizzou] and all three of us had quality outings and the bullpen did really good and the offense did awesome."
The Patriots are going to provide a different challenge for Kevin O'Sullivan's side.
DBU will test UF's defense. The group have stolen 84 stolen bases, ranking 60th nationally in steals and averaging 1.42 steals per game.
"They've got two guys with over 20 stolen bases. They've got four guys that do the bulk of their running," O'Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday. "They've got two guys who can bunt. They bunt a lot, quite a few times anyways with two strikes this year. They've got a bunch of guys with double-digit doubles, so it's a pretty dynamic offense.
"They can drive the ball in the gap, they've got a couple guys that can hit the ball out of the yard," added he Gators coach. "They've got four guys that can run, so we're going to have to do a good job. We're going to have to do a good job with the running game for sure."
Florida did not to do better at catching opponents stealing this weekend - something they have struggled with this season.
Sully was talking about first and thirds and how they're going to run and their vaults off the bag," Mace said. "Just holding the ball and using different timing to make sure they're not in a consistent running count."
Once again Mace hopes the team's big win at Missouri will help this team focus on taking away DBU's speed.
"Missouri was a good running team also," Mace said. "I think if you just hold the ball and don't kind of go slow to the plate then you give your catcher a chance to throw guys out. Also if you can have a quality pickoff move that they have to respect then you'll have a decent time with the running game.
"I think I'm usually around a 1.3 (second count) to the plate, and that's what everyone wants. I'm OK with it. Before I had a slight step and it was hard, but I've picked up my leg a little bit. But that was like before freshman year."
Mace has had some solid starts in recent weeks, and he has earned his skipper's confidence.
"I'm really pleased with how Tommy threw at Missouri and how he threw in the SEC Tournament on short rest," O'Sullivan said. "He threw really, really well and the ball down against a really good Texas A&M team, pitching against arguably one of the best left-handers in the country. I thought he kept the ball down, I thought he changed speeds very well, he was very efficient. If he throws like he did the last two times out he'll give us a chance on Friday night."
