After struggling with his command in his first start of the season, Tommy Toledo blamed it on jitters.
In his second outing, he wasn’t as anxious.
“It was definitely a lot better. I felt like I commanded the ball a little bit more today,” Toledo said. “I guess getting used to it, the first game out was a little different, but I felt like I fixed my mistakes from last game.”
He retired the first 12 hitters he faced while only throwing five called balls on his way to leading No. 5 Florida (5-0) to a 13-3 victory over Siena (1-4) on Thursday.
His hopes for a perfect game were dashed in the fifth inning when first baseman Kevin Quaranto drew a walk, but Toledo still picked up the win, receiving early run support from the top of UF’s batting order.
In the third inning, freshman Austin Maddox, who started behind the plate for the first time this season, brought in one run on a sacrifice fly to right field. Just one at-bat later, Tyler Thompson knocked in two more with a triple down the right-field line to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
That was all Toledo needed, as he left the game after allowing two runs in five innings of work while racking up a career-high seven strikeouts on just 59 pitches.
Toledo, who is coming off of shoulder surgery that kept him out of the 2009 season, was on a limited pitch count because of the cold weather.
“I even contemplated not throwing him tonight,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I wanted to make sure his arm got loose and he had no restrictions at all, so we went for it. We were going to let him go five and that was going to be it, regardless of the pitch count.”
Siena starter Robert Tedesco continued to struggle from there.
UF tacked on four more in the fourth, including a solo home run from Ben McMahan, to jump to a 7-0 advantage.
Matt den Dekker picked up an RBI in the frame and also extended his hitting streak to 14 games, dating back to last season — a new career high. He continued his early season tear and finished 4 for 6, increasing his batting average to .500, while also scoring two runs and swiping a pair of bags on Thursday.
“I’m just not trying to do too much,” den Dekker said. “I just want to get on base for the guys to drive me in. I’m trying to hit line-drive ground balls, and luckily I’m finding holes right now.”
But Florida didn’t stop there.
Seven batters hit for UF in a four-run sixth inning in which the bottom four hitters in the lineup all drove in runs.
Eight Gators finished with RBIs, and nine picked up at least one hit.
Toledo’s two earned runs were the first allowed by Florida’s starting pitchers in 22.1 innings.
The Gators were originally scheduled to open their three-game weekend series against La Salle on Friday, but because of inclement weather in the Northeast, the game has been pushed back. The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m on Saturday.
