Mike Zunino couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to his first weekend with the Gators.
After starting the series 1 for 9, the freshman catcher stepped to the plate in the 10th inning with two outs, the score tied at six and the potential winning run on second base.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan told him to expect a fastball from USF closer Kevin Quackenbush. Down 0-1 in the count, Zunino saw one and swung, although he said he was too excited and hit the pitch off the end of his bat.
The result was a bloop single down the right-field line that fell just out of the reach of USF outfielder Stephen Hunt. Sophomore Tyler Thompson scored on the walk-off single, giving the No. 7 Gators a 7-6 win in an opening-weekend sweep of the Bulls (0-3).
One of Zunino’s ugliest swings produced one of the most clutch hit of the series.
“You hit some of those in batting practice and the coaches say, ‘Oh, that’s a game-winner,’” he said of the soft knock. “And then it comes down and actually happens like that. It’s pretty ironic.”
UF (3-0) won the first two games of the weekend with lights-out pitching and power hitting, but the Gators needed to play small ball to steal the final game of the series.
After surrendering a total of two runs in nine innings on Friday and Saturday, UF’s bullpen imploded in the eighth when sophomores Nick Maronde and Greg Larson allowed five runs.
But, down 6-3, the Gators rallied in the ninth inning against Quackenbush. With the bases loaded, two outs and a full count, senior Matt den Dekker hit a two-run single through the right side of the infield.
The Gators’ comeback appeared to end prematurely, though, when UF first baseman Preston Tucker hit a grounder to Bulls shortstop Sam Mende. But Mende couldn’t handle it, and freshman Nolan Fontana scored the tying run.
Zunino’s single the next inning gave the Gators their first come-from-behind victory of the season, something they did 27 times in 2009.
“This is what great teams do,” said sophomore pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, who started Sunday. “They come back, make hits and make things happen.”
Other than the rough outings for Maronde and Larson, Florida kept the USF bats quiet all weekend. UF’s three starting pitchers — sophomore Tommy Toledo, freshman Brian Johnson and DeSclafani — allowed zero earned runs against the Bulls in limited action.
O’Sullivan restricted each starter to about 70 pitches, saying he didn’t want to jeopardize their health early in the 56-game season.
Five of UF’s six runs were scored on singles, and the other came when Tucker reached first on Mende’s ninth-inning error. That offensive effort was dramatically different from the first two games, when UF hit five home runs.
After being called one of the most important pieces to the Gators’ offense in the preseason, freshman cleanup hitter Austin Maddox met expectations this weekend.
Maddox hit two home runs and would have had two more if not for USF center fielder Ryan Lockwood, who robbed Maddox of homers on Saturday and Sunday.
“That’s unbelievable,” O’Sullivan said of Lockwood’s catches. “It’s unbelievable to see one play like that, but it almost looked like identical plays.”
