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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Whitson tosses four scoreless in midweek win against Bethune-Cookman

Midweek games became routine once again for the Gators on Wednesday night. 

After sputtering offensively against South Florida on Tuesday, Florida pulled its bats and its arms together for a dominant performance against Bethune-Cookman.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I broke down a bunch of different numbers.” 

The No. 5 Gators (32-10) defeated the Wildcats (24-18) 10-1 to complete a two-game season sweep and improve to 27-0 all-time against the team from Daytona Beach. Florida had previously defeated Bethune-Cookman this season on Feb. 21. 

Florida’s storyline of the night was a midweek start for sophomore Karsten Whitson, who has struggled to return to ideal form since suffering an injury on the second weekend of the season. 

O’Sullivan said Tuesday night he wanted to get Whitson a lengthy appearance against the Wildcats to boost his confidence and build a rhythm.

Whitson worked four scoreless innings with one strikeout and four hits. Command has been an issue for Whitson since his return. He threw 36 of his 53 pitches for strikes. 

“I felt really good about his outing,” O’Sullivan said. “In retrospect, this is what we should have done in the beginning. We rushed him back. I think sometimes we take for granted just because someone’s so talented that they can jump right back in there.”

Florida’s bullpen was not quite as effective but still managed to limit the Wildcats to one run on the evening. Daniel Gibson, Greg Larson, Corey Stump and Ryan Harris all made appearances for the Gators. Larson worked two innings, while the other pitchers each worked one.

After struggling to hit the Bulls’ soft-tossing arms on Tuesday night, the Gators’ lineup gave its pitchers plenty of breathing room. 

“We need to put some more guys in motion when we’re not swinging the bat as well,” Tucker said. “But we did both tonight, so that added up to a good run total.”

Junior Preston Tucker and freshman Brandon Sedell each had a home run for Florida. Sedell’s towering shot in the eighth was the first of his career and landed near the O’Connell Center. Tucker’s was a long line drive to right that go out of McKethan Stadium in a hurry. Florida scored at least one run in every inning after stranding Nolan Fontana at third base in the first. 

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There was an added focus on small-ball, as freshman Casey Turgeon stole three bases. 

“We always look to steal bases,” he said. “I guess tonight I didn’t have anyone in front of me, so he gave me the green light.”

Freshman third baseman Josh Tobias was a defensive substitution in the ninth inning. Aside from some pinch-running spots, it was his first game action since fracturing his hamate bone against South Carolina on March 23. 

“He’s getting close,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve just got to be careful about the hitting part.”

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