There were no guarantees the lead would hold for the Gators once they turned the ball over to the bullpen before last week.
UF's relief pitching successfully finished off its last five victories, with the only hitch coming from Patrick Keating, usually a starter, on Tuesday against FSU.
UF (14-7, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) will need its bullpen to continue to close out games when it heads to Jacksonville tonight to take on North Florida (8-15).
The bullpen started the season on a high note but began to slip during the Miami series. Then, Florida Atlantic came to Gainesville, and everything fell apart for the relievers. They let 6 runs score in the sixth inning and gave up UF's 4-0 advantage.
The bullpen had few problems against lowly Duquesne the next weekend, but faltered again during UF's three-game series against Arkansas, allowing 10 runs in just 14 1/3 innings of work.
At that point, UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan had seen enough. It was time to talk to his two veteran relief pitchers, Tony Davis and Billy Bullock.
"We had some heart-to-hearts last weekend," O'Sullivan said. "Sometimes that's not easy for a coach to do, but we had some serious talks."
They couldn't have listened any harder to his request for them to refocus.
The two have each pitched in four of the five games since, resting during UF's 10-2 blowout of Tennessee on Saturday, and they have combined to let up just 2 runs over their 8 1/3 innings.
"They needed to step up, and both guys have had outstanding weeks," O'Sullivan said.
Their success has poured over into to the rest of the bullpen. As a whole, they have allowed just 9 runs in 23 1/3 innings of work the last five games.
Catcher Buddy Munroe has seen a difference in the relievers lately.
"Everyone is going out there attacking hitters, which coach O'Sullivan preaches, and everyone is going out there with more confidence," Munroe said.
That confidence has allowed them to go after hitters more, and the result has been more ground-ball outs by the pitchers.
O'Sullivan thinks the improvement of the pitching staff could also help another part of UF's game where the team has struggled recently.
"If we (get more ground-ball outs) and shorten the counts, the defense plays better because if the counts don't go deep, the defense won't get out on their heels," O'Sullivan said.
When freshman Anthony DeSclafani takes the mound to start the game tonight, he will now have the comfort of handing the ball to someone he can rely on to finish what he started. He was unable to do that when he gave up just one hit during 5 1/3 innings against Florida Atlantic, only to see his tremendous start go for nothing.
Now, he will not only have the luxury of a bullpen performing at a high level, but also one that has a group of guys eager to get their chance to pitch.
"We are more relaxed and ready to go," said Clint Franklin, who tossed 3 2/3 innings in relief on Saturday and allowed only one base-runner. "Everybody just wants to get up and throw."
