With two swings of his bat, Mike Zunino quickly turned a Friday night pitching duel into a home-run derby.
Zunino homered in each of his final two at-bats, driving in all four of the Gators’ runs as No. 1 Florida turned a two-run deficit into a 4-2 victory against Florida Gulf Coast in the series opener at McKethan Stadium.
“He’s a player that has the ability to rise to the occasion,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He’s the player that he is because of situations like that.”
With Florida trailing 2-0 in the sixth, Zunino hit a two-run shot to the left-field bleachers to knot the game at 2-2, plating Daniel Pigott, who led off the inning with a single.
Two innings later, Zunino added another two-run homer, this time launching a slider in a 1-2 count with two outs into the parking lot beyond left field to give Florida its only lead of the game.
The home run was Zunino’s seventh of the season and it marked his second multi-homer performance in three games, following a two-home-run game Tuesday against Florida Atlantic. Unlike the pair of long balls in a blowout victory against the Owls, Friday’s home runs came in a close game when the Gators (13-1) struggled to generate offense against the Eagles (6-6).
“It’s definitely a better feeling knowing you helped the team out, just in a clutch situation like that,” Zunino said.”
Four of Zunino’s last five hits have been round-trippers.
Prior to Zunino’s late-inning heroics, Florida was limited to three hits through the first five innings against FGCU righty Ricky Knapp. The Eagles’ sophomore kept Florida hitters off the base paths for most of the night, allowing just one walk and five hits through seven innings of work, with Zunino’s sixth-inning blast the only runs Knapp surrendered.
Knapp wasn’t the only pitcher dealing on the mound most of the night; Florida starter Hudson Randall matched the Eagles’ starter pitch for pitch.
“Both starting pitchers were outstanding,” O’Sullivan said. “Both teams threw strikes and sometimes in a game like this it comes down to a pitch here or a play there.”
Randall tossed 7.1 innings of two-run ball and gave up six hits while tying a season high with six strikeouts. He located his fastball for strikes all night and used his slider as an out-pitch as he threw 61 of his 82 pitches for strikes, including first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 28 batters he faced.
Randall’s only mistake: a fourth-inning offering to FGCU catcher Andrew Valencia, who took advantage of a 1-2 pitch over the plate and sent it into the left-field bleachers for the Eagles’ only runs of the game.
“This was the best game Huddy has pitched (this season),” O’Sullivan said. “He was really sharp tonight, kept the ball down. He made one mistake and obviously their catcher ran into it, but that’s what happens in games like this. Other than that one pitch, I thought he was outstanding.
“Tonight was really good. I thought that was vintage for him.”
Randall was on a pitch count between 80 and 90 in preparation for next weekend’s Southeastern Conference opener against Vanderbilt, and was lifted in the eighth after allowing a single to Brandon Bednar.
Reliever Steven Rodriguez quickly shut down FGCU after entering for Randall. He threw his first pitch for a strike to Ryan Gebhart and Zunino made a strong throw to second to catch Bednar attempting to steal the base. Rodriguez threw two more pitches in his outing, striking out Gebhart to end the frame before closer Austin Maddox struck out three in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. The win gave Florida its 11 straight win — the team’s longest win streak under O’Sullivan, and longest since 2002.
“I could’ve finished out the game probably, if I wanted to, but we got a ‘pen for a reason,” Randall said. “When you got guys like that, you gotta use them.”
Etc.: Preston Tucker hit a pair of singles to tie him with former Florida great David Eckstein for third on the Gators’ career hit list at 276. … Lefty Brian Johnson (1-0, 3.95 ERA) will toe the rubber for Florida in Saturday afternoon’s matchup while southpaw Brandon Bixler (2-1, 1.02) is scheduled to take the mound for FGCU.
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
Mike Zunino hit two home runs in consecutive plate appearances to give Florida a 4-2 win against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night.
