Preston Tucker’s room is littered with souvenirs from games he has played over the years. Some of them are more memorable than others.
“Oh geez, I have a ton of baseballs,” Florida’s senior right fielder said. “I probably don’t remember what they’re for. It’s just a bunch of baseballs sitting around in my room.”
When No. 1 Florida (4-1) takes on William & Mary (2-2) tonight at 7 at McKethan Stadium, Tucker will have an opportunity to add a ball that he just might remember to his collection.
He is tied with former Gator Brad Wilkerson for the school RBI record of 214. Five games into the season, Tucker is batting .450 (9 for 20) with a team-high three home runs and six RBI, which is tied with Daniel Pigott for the team lead.
UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan can empathize with opposing teams that are trying to limit Tucker. Before he could free his own pitchers from the daily struggle of facing one of the nation’s most powerful lineups in intrasquad scrimmages, Tucker was their problem.
“We couldn’t get him out,” O’Sullivan said. “For three weeks, we couldn’t get him out. Pitchers were falling behind, and next thing you know he gets on a tear. … You might as well make a quality pitch early in the count and play defense.”
Tucker is one of three Gators to record a hit in every game this season. He has also knocked in at least one run in each of the five games. Still, he underplays the record that he will almost certainly break at some point this weekend instead focusing on the few aspects of his game in which he is not excelling.
He credits Nolan Fontana and Pigott, the two batters ahead of him in the lineup, for giving him RBI opportunities while praising Mike Zunino and Brian Johnson, two batters typically behind him in the lineup, for forcing pitchers to give him pitches to hit. But even with that, Tucker has been disappointed in his ability to drive in runs, highlighted by a groundout to first on Wednesday night with two runners in scoring position and the record in reach.
“I got a little too aggressive with it, I rolled over,” Tucker said. “It was just a bad at-bat. … There’s been several times in the past couple games where I just can’t either put the ball in play or get a hit to drive runners in.”
With runners in scoring position this season, Tucker is 2 for 7 with three RBI and a sacrifice fly, but it is nitpicking to overlook all he has done recently because of a few at-bats. He has consistently held down the three-hole for the Gators and is carrying a swagger and sense of confidence that is fueling the Florida batting order.
“He’s got presence and he’s got a belief that he can hit,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s half of the battle in this game. He hates to give away at-bats. … That’s what makes really good hitters great hitters, and he’s one of those guys.”
Florida senior right fielder Preston Tucker needs just one RBI to pass Brad Wilkerson for the all-time school record in the category.
