Please excuse Patrick Keating. He gets a little emotional.
It's not that he tries to show up the other team, and it's not that he can't handle failure on the mound - UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan preaches the importance of mound presence to all of his pitchers.
"If you show emotion with failure, people are going to be running up to home plate to hit another one off of you," Keating said.
Success fires him up. Execution fires him up. Inning-ending double plays and strikeouts with runners in scoring position fire him up.
Last season, Vanderbilt came to Gainesville for the final three-game series of the regular season.
In Game 2, the Gators took a 5-3 lead into the ninth behind a strong seven-inning performance from starter Stephen Locke. Josh Edmondson relieved Locke, took the game into the ninth and allowed runners to reach the corners with just one out.
O'Sullivan went to his bullpen and brought in Keating, his No. 1 starter, to finish the contest.
"It was a big part of the season because that game guaranteed us to get into the postseason," Keating said.
The junior starter got the first batter to ground out to third base, which brought in a run and advanced the tying run to second.
Next up for the Commodores was Pedro Alvarez, the eventual No. 2 selection in the 2008 MLB Draft.
"That might have been the hardest (Keating) threw all year," O'Sullivan said. "That was a moment, that was a moment for him, facing one of the best, if not the best, hitter in the country."
Keating went right at the big-hitting third baseman and fanned him after a seven-pitch battle. Six of those pitches were strikes.
"That was the most competitive I've ever seen him," reliever Tony Davis said. "That was really cool to watch because it was something where he didn't have one ounce of fear in him, and that's really cool to see."
Setting a Standard
That strikeout was a memorable moment for his teammates as well as Gators fans, but punch outs aren't what excite the demonstrative Keating most.
"Double plays get me the most fired up," he said, eyes lighting up.
He knows exactly the pitch he likes to throw when he needs to induce that perfect ground ball. He only asks that it not be published in the paper.
He's a competitor, after all.
"He takes it very seriously out there," said freshman hurler Nick Maronde, who begins the season as the No. 3 starter. "Even during drills, his demeanor shows how intense he is."
Keating likes to come into each game with a plan, although he tries not to overanalyze things and sticks with a simple one.
"As a starter, you're trying to conserve your emotions a little bit," he said.
Firing up the troops has a time and a place.
Energy and passion are important to the mental side of the game, but Keating's game is just as tight on the physical side.
O'Sullivan, who was heralded as a pitching coach with Clemson before taking the head coaching job with UF last season, described Keating as a guy who doesn't back down, isn't afraid of contact, makes his fastball move, throws his off-speed pitches for strikes and keeps the defense happy by working fast and putting the ball in play.
Last season, all those components translated to an 8-1 record, a 4.16 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 2 to 1.
In the SEC - a conference known for baseball talent - he was even better.
He lowered his ERA to 3.28 on his way to a 7-0 mark, including a complete game against LSU in which he allowed just 1 run and struck out six.
"The big thing about the Friday-night guy is that you don't go into your pen too early," O'Sullivan said.
Keating has proven he is capable of staying on the field, eating up innings and saving arms in the bullpen.
Hard Work Pays Off
With a full year as the staff's most consistent pitcher under his belt, Keating will make the Friday-night starts for the Gators, spearheading a rotation that will include at least two freshmen.
"He's definitely a leader and he shows us what to do out there," Maronde said.
Keating has made the transformation from a young pitcher trying to prove himself every time out to a seasoned veteran whom others look to for guidance on how to become an SEC starter. O'Sullivan said he often uses Keating's story as an example of how far a player can come over the course of four years if he stays motivated.
In his freshman season, Keating saw the field for a total of eight outs (2 2/3 innings).
He made the jump to long relief as a sophomore and posted an ERA of 5.79.
It wasn't until his third year in the program, under a new head coach, that he was able to become the type of player he is today.
"Patrick's been a bulldog since day one," Davis said. "Watching him pitch the last two years, he brings that mentality. He's fearless, and that's something that I feed off of him."
Keating tries to be a player the younger pitchers can feed off of, and he tries to keep them on top of their running and conditioning when they're not on the mound.
Even coming off of a stellar junior year that earned him First-Team All-SEC honors, UF's ace steered away from complacency in the off-season.
He added a change-up to his repertoire, which now complements his two-seam fastball and his breaking ball - his out pitch.
The change-up allows him to be more effective against left-handed hitters and use his big curve sparingly, keeping batters more off-balance.
Poised for an encore performance bigger and better than his breakout junior year, Keating only offers promises he knows for sure he can make good on.
"We're going to try to come out and give these fans a good team to watch. We've been working very hard every time out," he said. "You're not going to come out here and see some lazy guys just going through the motions. We're going to come out and play the game the right way. We're going to run the bases hard, and pitchers are going to attack."
UF doesn't name captains because O'Sullivan doesn't want to put that label on guys who may not emerge as leaders as the season unfolds.
A de facto system of captainship is respect among the players, and the same names resurface when they are asked to point out who leads their team - Brandon McArthur in the infield, Matt den Dekker and Avery Barnes in the outfield and Patrick Keating in the bullpen.
When it comes to setting the tone, UF's coach knows all eyes will be on one person tonight against No.23 Louisville.
"We always say there's only one place on the field that's higher than everywhere else, and that's the mound," O'Sullivan said.
The epicenter of the baseball diamond and a competitor's ultimate stage.
