The Gators lost the game in more ways than one Saturday.
The process of replacing starting pitcher Tommy Toledo has been an ongoing issue so far this season, and now they will have to work on filling in for another one.
No. 8 Florida (22-8, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) was blown out 12-4 by Tennessee (16-16, 3-8 SEC) Saturday in a game in which UF lost both starting pitcher Brian Johnson and right fielder Kamm Washington.
“It was just one of those days where it was a weird day from the beginning,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We quite couldn’t get on track here.”
Johnson left in the fifth after experiencing pain in his left shoulder and Washington was helped off the field following a play where he dove for a ball but crashed into the fence and appeared to hurt his right knee.
But that was just the start of a miserable day for the Gators.
After grabbing an early 1-0 lead off of a homer by freshman Austin Maddox, who hit two solo home runs in the game, in the first, the Volunteers took control.
UT grabbed a run in each of the first three innings as Johnson, who came into the game with just five walks in six starts, struggled with his control and granted UT hitters three free passes.
However, the Volunteers broke the game open in the fifth.
Once Johnson left the game due to an injury in the fifth after allowing three runs, it went downhill from there.
Relief pitcher Justin Poovey came into replace the freshman-starting pitcher only to see the game implode while he was on the mound.
With two outs in the inning, Poovey walked a UT hitter and allowed four-straight hits as it put up four runs in the frame.
“He (Poovey) threw six-straight balls with two outs and nobody on – that’s the disappointing thing,” O’Sullivan said. “We preach about finishing things and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.”
The Volunteers scored seven of their twelve runs with two outs.
The rubber match between the two teams will take place Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Freshman Hudson Randall will get the start for the Gators.
