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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Hannah Rogers pitches during Florida’s 4-2 win against Mississippi State on April 6, 2013. Rogers holds a team-best 1.81 ERA, which is the fourth-best mark in the Southeastern Conference this season.</p>

Hannah Rogers pitches during Florida’s 4-2 win against Mississippi State on April 6, 2013. Rogers holds a team-best 1.81 ERA, which is the fourth-best mark in the Southeastern Conference this season.

With just 10 games left in the regular season, coach Tim Walton wants his team to remain composed with postseason play around the corner.

Riding a six-game win streak, Walton knows his team has the capability to succeed in its final three Southeastern Conference series.

“The key for us is being able to stay focused on who we’re playing,” he said. “We can beat anybody. We’ve proven that this season. We can beat anybody. But we’ve also proven that we can lose to anybody as well, so I think in preparation it’s just going to come down to execution.”

For the ninth-year coach, the Gators’ success begins with their pitchers.

“It starts in the circle for us,” Walton said. “If we can pitch well, I think we can beat anybody. We’re a tough team to match up against because of our speed and our power and really the two- or three-headed monster that we can go with in the circle.”

Added senior Hannah Rogers: “We’ve all been working hard in the bullpen and coming up here in our off days. [We’re] just doing everything that we can to get better.”

Rogers has taken an increased workload as of late. In the past 10 games, the Lake Wales native pitched a team-leading 38 innings. The rest of Florida’s pitchers threw just 27 frames during that same span.

Rogers has a team-best 1.81 ERA — the fourth-best mark in the SEC. Her five shutouts in 2014 bring the right-hander to 34 in her career, four shy of tying Stephanie Brombacher for the second-most in UF history.

As the lone senior on the pitching staff, Rogers has taken on more of a leadership role as the season progresses.

“She’s really done a good job of communicating with them and teaching them the way and having one-on-one conversations about her early success and her early failures and things they need to work on,” Walton said. “But a lot of times she does this just by doing it and not necessarily having to say a lot.”

Rogers has also shown improvement with her play on defense in her final year at UF. Her fielding percentage is at a career-high .977, and she helped turn three of Florida’s 15 double plays this season.

“Most people don’t realize how important her defense is to an infield,” Walton said. “But when she can make plays that our shortstop can’t, it really helps not only the speed of the game, but getting out of innings when the other team looks like it’s going to potentially rally.”

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Even though Rogers has taken the brunt of the work with the season drawing to a close, Walton said the rest of his pitching staff also needs to finish the season strong, especially since each pitcher makes different contributions to the team.

Freshman Delanie Gourley paces the Gators with 113 strikeouts — the third-highest total among freshmen in the SEC — and has 12 wins under her belt.

Junior Lauren Haeger, despite being limited to just 62.2 innings on the season and 10 frames in the past 10 games, is holding opponents to a .159 clip at the plate and has 50 strikeouts.

In her one-inning appearance against North Carolina State on Saturday, the Peoria, Ariz., native needed just 16 pitches to retire three batters, fanning two batters in the process.

“One thing you notice is how hard (Haeger) was throwing the ball,” Walton said. “You know, Hannah’s really stepped up and has carried the majority of the innings here as of late, which can be great. She’s fresh. She can take the bulk of the load, but we need all our pitchers. … We need to work hard and continue to be tough for other teams to prepare for us, and Lauren is a key component to our team.”

Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126

Hannah Rogers pitches during Florida’s 4-2 win against Mississippi State on April 6, 2013. Rogers holds a team-best 1.81 ERA, which is the fourth-best mark in the Southeastern Conference this season.

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