If things continue to go poorly for UF in this weekend's three-game home series with Duquesne, it won't be because coach Kevin O'Sullivan has been unwilling to shake up the pitching staff.
The Gators (6-4) have lost four of their last five contests, prompting O'Sullivan to make some changes with his hurlers.
Junior Jeff Barfield, who was projected to be a reliever, made his first start for UF on Tuesday against Stetson, earning a victory in 6 2/3 innings. No. 1 starter Patrick Keating made a relief appearance against Florida Atlantic on Wednesday, picking up the loss despite allowing just 1 run over the final three innings of the game.
As a result, freshman left-hander Alex Panteliodis (1-1, 3.09 ERA) will take the hill tonight against the Dukes (0-8), making the first Friday-night start of his young career.
"Pitching is pitching," Panteliodis said. "You just have to get out there and do your job."
The pitching staff has struggled to produce consistent results, and the bullpen let the game slip away against Florida Atlantic after UF built a 4-0 lead through five innings.
Veterans Tony Davis and Billy Bullock were credited with allowing 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning after starter Anthony DeSclafani was taken out of the game. In addition, all three inherited runners came across to score for Florida Atlantic, resulting in a 6-run inning that proved to be the difference in the contest.
"It's frustrating," O'Sullivan said after Wednesday night's loss. "It's not what you typically see from older pitchers, but it happened tonight."
Using Keating to finish up the remaining innings was a clear sign of the importance of the bullpen and its lack of dependability to this point in the season.
The pitchers understand that their responsibility is to perform when called upon whether as a starter or reliever.
"(O'Sullivan's) just trying to put things together to where we can win ball games," Keating said.
Welcoming a winless Duquesne team to McKethan Stadium should give UF the chance to do exactly that.
The Gators have struggled in all aspects of the game and have failed to put together a complete showing since romping Eastern Michigan by a combined score of 29-6 over a two-game series last week.
In the last five games, UF has committed 12 errors while scoring just 19 runs.
"We got to have some older guys step up and stop the bleeding, and we got to have some younger guys grow up in a hurry," O'Sullivan said.
Freshman Nick Maronde is scheduled to start Saturday's game, and Keating will take a few extra days off after his relief appearance, moving to Sunday's spot in the rotation.
Keating said there won't be any finger-pointing after the recent skid and that the entire team has simply "been playing bad lately."
"Everybody's been upset, but you can't focus on bad things all the time," Keating said. "Baseball is a tough game both mentally and physically. There's a lot of games. You're out here everyday, and that's where the mental toughness comes in."
