For the first month of the season, Johnny Magliozzi wasn’t quite himself.
Muzzled by a 5.19 ERA and a few outings that he is not proud of, the pitcher known for his emotional play has been rather low-key on the mound. Magliozzi even went as far as changing his warm-up music from “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees to Wale’s “Ambition” in an effort to “change my swag.”
But after striking out Samford third baseman Tommy Corbin to strand a runner at second and get out of Tuesday night’s fourth inning, the 20-year-old freshman pitcher from East Milton, Mass., finally and emphatically let loose.
“I was trying to get on the highlight video,” Magliozzi said. “I was just trying to get a fist pump going.”
The gesture was equal parts excitement and relief, a common theme on the evening for No. 1 Florida (20-1) as it defeated Samford (13-8) 5-3 in a gritty affair.
With Magliozzi getting his third-career start, the Gators’ main focus was not overlooking a veteran Bulldogs squad before hitting the road Wednesday morning for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday rematch of last season’s College World Series against No. 8 South Carolina.
After falling behind early in a roller-coaster first inning that saw Magliozzi strike out three but also allow a leadoff double and an RBI single, Florida answered with a Mike Zunino RBI single in the bottom of the frame. It would become a theme of the night.
“Every time they scored a run, we responded with another one,” senior right fielder Preston Tucker said. “It’s tough to beat us if we do that.”
The Gators responded again with two runs in the second, highlighted by a Josh Tobias RBI single, to gain a lead that would be contested but never overcome. Later surges by Samford were shut down by Zunino and Taylor Gushue RBI hits as well as effective relief.
Departing after his fourth-inning strikeout because of a strict pitch count (59 pitches), Magliozzi’s six-strikeout, three-hit outing was followed by a three-inning Bobby Poyner appearance and hitless frames from Greg Larson and Austin Maddox.
“I was a little concerned about (Samford) [Tuesday], to be honest with you,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
“A lot of times teams will look ahead to the SEC series. That happened quite a bit last year, but they were focused [Tuesday], they took care of the task at hand.”
After committing no errors during the weekend against Vanderbilt, Florida had two on Tuesday — one coming via freshman left fielder Justin Shafer, who is now starting because of the outfield shift caused by center fielder Tyler Thompson’s torn ACL.
“Just because someone makes one mistake, I’m not going to push the panic button,” O’Sullivan said. “I feel very comfortable with Justin Shafer out there, he’s swinging the bat good, he’s a freshman. I’m just going to keep running him out there.”
Sophomore pitcher Johnny Magliozzi pumps his fist after striking out Samford’s Tommy Corbin on March 20, 2011. Magliozzi has a 2-0 record with a 3.07 ERA and two saves in 14.2 innings this season.
