By Florida’s lofty standards, its bullpen wasn’t as dominant as it has been all season.
The Gators’ bullpen snapped a streak of 31.2 innings without giving up a run – a streak that began against Miami on March 4 – and allowed a runner to cross home after the seventh inning for the first time all season.
But against Vanderbilt on Saturday, that was OK, because starting pitcher Brian Johnson was nearly unhittable in Florida’s 5-1 series-clinching win, which extended the team’s school-record winning streak to 16 games.
“When our starting pitching hasn’t been great, out bullpen has stepped up,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “When we’ve been light a guy or two, our starters have picked things up. It’s a full-team effort, a full-staff effort.”
Johnson certainly stepped up against the Commodores. The lefty tossed six scoreless innings and gave up just two hits while not allowing a runner to advance past first all afternoon.
Johnson (3-0, 3.16 ERA) was perfect through 3.2 innings and commanded the strike zone throughout his start. He walked one and struck out a career-high-tying nine batters – the fourth time he has reached that mark, and the first time since April 30 last year against Ole Miss.
“That was the best he’s pitched in an awfully long time,” O’Sullivan said. “He threw all of his pitches for strikes … he moved the ball back and forth. He didn’t miss very many spots, if any, today. I thought he was outstanding.”
Johnson’s performance was needed, as the Gators’ bats were once again got off to a slow start. Florida was held scoreless for 3.2 innings before a wild pitch from Vandy starter Drew VerHagen (2-2, 3.97) allowed the game’s first run to cross the plate.
That may have been just the boost Florida (18-1, 2-0 SEC) needed, as the Gators added four more runs the following inning.
Casey Turgeon reached on an error and then Josh Tobias walked before Nolan Fontana, who entered the day as the team’s leader in on-base percentage, moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Vandy then pulled VerHagen for reliever Sam Selman, which set the stage for Daniel Pigott’s two-RBI single.
“I had an eerie feeling about today’s game,” O’Sullivan said, explaining the decision to bunt Fontana. “We weren’t really getting very good swings off and VerHagen was throwing the ball really good. … One run was really important there to go up 2-0 or 3-0.”
Florida didn’t stop there, though.
One batter later, senior right fielder Preston Tucker hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0. It was Tucker’s seventh home run of the season and the 48th of his career. Of those 48, 12 have been two-run shots, but none were quite like Saturday’s.
Facing a 2-2 count against Selman, Tucker reached out of the zone and well into the other batter’s box for a breaking ball. Somehow, Tucker got the barrel on the ball and sent it towering over the right-field wall and out of the reach of a leaping Mike Yastrzemski, who lost his glove in an attempt to rob Tucker of the round-tripper.
“Judging by my previous swings, I wasn’t seeing the ball too well off [Selman],” Tucker said. “I just tried to grind out the at-bat. I knew the pitch wasn’t a great pitch, but I didn’t want to strike out again. I just put the barrel on the ball and good things happened.”
The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m., with Florida righty Jonathon Crawford (1-1, 5.71) and Vandy righty Tyler Beede (0-2. 7.24) scheduled to start on the mound.
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
