GAME OVER
Edmondson whiffs UNF's first batter in the top of the ninth, causing the fans to erupt in a cheer of "left, right, left right, SIT DOWN!" until he actually sits down. The next batter grounds out to second base, and UF is one out away.
The game seems to be over as a ground ball comes to Figueroa, but he throws the ball high to Pisani and Pisani has to jump to keep it down. A ground out to Edmondson with the next at-bat ends the game, however. This is the first time in history UF has beaten UNF.
END EIGHTH
Barnes starts the inning with a leadoff single, prompting the Ospreys to switch pitchers to Ty Pryor.
With a full count to den Dekker, Barnes takes off running and makes it to third when den Dekker comes through with a single. It's runners at the corners and no outs, a huge opportunity to UF to add to its slim lead. Figueroa then comes through for the first time all night, hitting a single over the first baseman's outstretched glove, scoring Barnes and giving UF a two-run lead.
Josh Adams is up with runners on the corners (again) and no outs. This could be a huge inning for UF. Adams hits a short fly ball to right field, and den Dekker tries to score from third base. Instead, he is thrown out, causing two outs on the play. Adams moves to second on the throw with Barber up to bat.
Barber flies out to third base to end the inning.
MID EIGHTH
On a full count from Edmondson, Andrew Warren grounds out to second base. The next batter, Mike P. Smith, grounds out to third base. Edmondson has recorded four outs already, and all four have come on the ground.
The Ospreys get a single off Edmondson, a ground ball (again) through the left side. But the inning ends quickly when UNF flies out to right field.
END SEVENTH
Josh Adams grounds out at the start of the seventh, and it was a very close play. Again, the umpire made the correct call from where I'm sitting, but the fans disagree completely. Bryson Barber gets his first double of the season on the very next pitch, hitting it to the right side. The ball blooped over UNF's first baseman, and he barely made it to second base. It was a close play at second, but he slid in so hard that he almost went over the bag for an out.
Jon Townsend hits a moonshot, and I say "goodbye" when it leaves the bat. But the ball hangs in the air for way too long and the left fielder has plenty of time to get under it for the second out. Two -out rally time again?
Pisani gets hit for the second time in the game, putting two Gators on base. Pigott, who came in for Cooper in right field, has a chance to put UF in the lead (for what seems like the 50th time in the last three innings). He hits a ground ball to the left side, scoring Barber. Pigott was 1 for his last 25 before that hit, and he couldn't have picked a better time to get off the schneid.
Teddy Foster, a fan favorite because of his introduction music - "Please Don't Stop the Music", gets thrown out at first on another questionable call. I'm going to have to agree with the UF fans and players on this one. Foster appeared to be safe. But the inning is over. The Gators did manage to break the tie.
MID SEVENTH
Teddy Foster comes in to catch, while Tony Davis is the new pitcher. The lefty strikes out the first batter faces, Preston Hale, and Hale flips his bat in his hands in frustration after he goes down.
Osprey Travis Martin continues his hitting streak, now up to nine games, by getting a single off Davis into right field. O'Sullivan comes out, and it looks like Davis' day is done. Josh Edmondson is going to be UF's new pitcher.
On the first pitch, Edmondson gets a 6-4-3 double play. He's good at that.
END SIXTH
Jonathan Pigott comes in to replace Cooper in right field, and he gets his first at-bat of the night to start the sixth. I still would love to know why Cooper started over him, and you can be sure someone will ask O'Sullivan that question in the post-game interview. Pigott grounds out to short - not much of an improvement on Cooper's at-bats.
Munroe rocks his way to the plate with "Lose It" by Atreyu pumping out to the stadium. Three short pitches later, he bobs his way back into the dugout to Avery Barnes' introduction after striking out.
Barnes hits a single to right field, again giving life to the Gators with two outs. Barnes steals second base on a perfect throw from the catcher, but the UNF shortstop falls down on his but and Barnes is able to go to third base. The error goes to the catcher, but it really should go to the shortstop's cleats. Can UF capitalize on the good scoring position this time?
Den Dekker walks on four pitches, bringing up Figueroa, who grounded into a double play last time. He hits a hard ground ball but right to the third baseman. UF fails to capitalize on runners in scoring position again.
MID SIXTH
Mullaney remains in the game after throwing 100 pitches, and gets a quick fly out to start the inning. The Ospreys get a single, and then Mullaney gets a strike out, his fourth on the night. After everything that's gone wrong with Mullaney this year, it's refreshing to see him doing so well. Still, after throwing 100 pitches, he can't last much longer. A groundout ends the inning, and that's probably the last we'll see of him.
END FIFTH
Den Dekker starts off the fifth in a good way for UF, hitting a bouncer to the second-base hole and beating out a good throw on a difficult hop from UNF's second baseman. Figueroa does something he rarely does, however, grounding into a 6-3 double play to end the Gators' threat.
Adams is next in line, and with two outs the Gators are usually at their best. He hits a ground ball just under the diving arm of UNF's third baseman. The rally music starts, and Barber's introduction music follows it. The fans are chanting "two-out rally" over and over, and Barber helps them out by hitting a single through the left side. Without FIgueroa's double play, this would have been a great inning for the Gators.
It's not as though Frawley is pitching a bad inning. He's getting ground balls. But they're not right at his infielders, and they keep sneaking through for hits. This has to be the kind of inning that you'd hate as a pitcher, knowing you're getting weak ground balls but they're all to the wrong place.
Just as I say that, Towsend hits another weak grounder to the shortstop, but he has to make a run for it and all the Gators are safe. It's the bases loaded with two outs, and this two-out rally might come to fruition after all.
Pisani gets a hard-hit grounder toward the shortstop, but the ball hits Barber in the basepath before he has a chance to get past it. It's an out, but I don't think there would have been a run scored if the ball got by Barber.
MID FIFTH
This may be Mullaney's best start of the year since his first one. It may also be the first time he's completed four innings of work since then. Mullaney gets one out right away by inducing a groundout to shortstop, then allows a hit to left field over Figueroa's head.
Andy Warren flies out to right field, and Mullaney is one out away from going five innings. UNF's runner steals second base. I believe it was the right call, but the fans and Gators protest. O'Sullivan runs out onto the field to tell the umpire what he thought occurred, but nothing changes. UNF has the go-ahead run in scoring position. A wild pitch puts the go-ahead run at third base. Now he scores on a single for sure.
Mike P. Smith (there are two Mike Smiths on this Ospreys team) strikes out on a full count although he thought he walked. He started to trot to first base, and the umpire punched him out. This is the first time Mullaney has gone five or more innings since the SEC Tournament last season, according to John Hines. Thanks for those fast stats.
END FOUR
The first pitch of the fourth inning for UF pegs Jon Townsend right in the back. Frawley then follows that by hitting Pisani in the back as well. Things aren't going very well for Frawley, and the fans are booing him.
Riley Cooper is next at the plate, and he has a decent chance to get his first RBI of the year. He takes the count to 2-2, fouling off three balls in a row to keep himself alive. This was clearly his best at-bat of the year as far as working the pitcher goes, but he ended it with a strikeout on the offspeed pitch.
Buddy Munroe is next at the plate, and he also goes down swinging, this time on a high fastball. Avery Barnes pops out to the shortstop, ending a really good chance for UF to take the lead. With two on and no one out, UF fails to add a run. The Gators have never beaten UNF in their history, and that was a fantastic opportunity to change that.
MID FOURTH
Mullaney stays in the game after getting out of the third inning and gets a fly out to right field to start it off. The ball looked like it could be a home run off TJ Gaudy's bat, but Cooper got under it and got the out.
UNF's next batter, Chad Knight hits a single right in front of Cooper, putting one on with one out. This is usually where Mullaney will break down, but this time he gets a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. Figueroa made a fantastic throw to Pisani at first to get Preston Hale out in time.
END THIRD
With one out, Buddy Munroe beats out a ground ball to first base, then advances to second base on a throwing error. Cooper had his first at-bat just before that and actually made contact, grounding out to second base. Munroe moves to third base on a groundout from Avery Barnes, then Matt den Dekker brings Munroe home with a two-out double.
The Gators add another run on a turtle-embarrassing ground ball through the right side from Cole Figueroa. Den Dekker scores and Figueroa has a nine-game hitting streak. Folks, we have a game. Bubbles from the fans below me rise up in celebration, and the Ospreys are changing pitchers. It seems to me that opposing teams always change pitchers right before Josh Adams bats.
UNF's new pitcher, John Frawley, does no good against Adams, allowing him to smack an RBI-double to right-center field. The Gators tie the game and have Adams in scoring position. Bryson Barber can't get the job done, however, as he grounds out unassisted to first base.
MID THIRD
Sorry for the lack of early live blogs, but my Sports Reporting class prevented me from doing actual sports reporting. Go figure.
Anyway, all those Gators fans haven't missed much from the game except a second-inning beatdown of UF starter Kyle Mullaney. Mullaney gave up a two-run home run to the left-field bleachers, then walked home a third run with the bases loaded.
In other news, the Gators started Riley Cooper in right field for some reason. Jonathan Pigott has got to be sick or injured, because I can't imagine another reason why UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan would put 1-for-9 lifetime Riley Cooper in for the .257-hitting Pigott. Sure, .257 isn't the best batting average in the world, but it's way better than Cooper has been showing he can do.
Also, the Gators put Bryson Barber in at designated hitter in place of Dustin Bamberg. Bamberg was hitting .262 while Barber's average was .273. Bamberg does have twice as many at-bats, however.
In this third inning for North Florida, Mullaney got one out and then allowed a double down the right field line before another hit put runners on first and second. He struck out UNF's next hitter, then induced a 6-4 groundout to end the inning.
