Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

No. 4 Gators returning to full strength

<p>Florida pitcher Karsten Whitson prepares to throw a pitch during a game against USF last season. Whitson has been limited this year.</p>

Florida pitcher Karsten Whitson prepares to throw a pitch during a game against USF last season. Whitson has been limited this year.

Florida has won four of its last five games to rise out of a midseason slump, but bigger news could be coming.

After Tuesday night’s game, UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan addressed a few of the injuries that plagued his team during a recent lull.

They included where sophomore pitcher Karsten Whitson stands on getting back to form, when junior Hudson Randall will return to the mound and where freshman third baseman Josh Tobias is in recovering from a broken bone in his hand.

“We’re slowly but surely getting healthy,” O’Sullivan said.

No area of the team is looking forward to a return to full health more than starting pitching. With Randall sidelined for the past two weeks, the Gators have been without their reliable Friday night inning-eater who saves the bullpen.

Florida has walked more batters (six) in its last two series openers than Randall has in seven starts this season (three).

In those two games, five different relievers have had to account for nine innings of work, an issue the Gators typically don’t have to deal with when Randall is on the mound.

Randall was first held out of action in the LSU series when O’Sullivan announced he had a “tired arm.” After further evaluation, he sat out the Tennessee series but now appears to be a probable starter for Sunday’s game against Georgia.

“He threw a [bullpen session Tuesday] and looked great,” O’Sullivan said. “He feels great. He’s pain-free.”

Whitson has been back from injury for a couple of weeks, but  he has yet to find the right arm that once made him a No. 9 overall Major League Baseball draft pick and a preseason All-American.

Whitson has given up eight hits, six runs and hit four batters in comparison to two strikeouts in his two starts since what he called a “rehab outing” in a victory against North Florida on April 3.

Because of Whitson’s struggles, O’Sullivan gave him his first-career relief appearance Tuesday night, a one-inning outing.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

Whitson retired three batters in eight pitches, squeezing a mid-90s fastball, a solid slider and a right-on-right changeup into the brief opportunity.

“It was a little different (seeing Whitson come out of the bullpen),” senior right-hander Greg Larson said. “He looked good, though.”

The Gators are down to their third option at third base, where junior Cody Dent has been filling in for Tobias since March 23.

Dent is on a career-high three-game hit streak, but that cannot erase the fact he is batting .164 this season.

Tobias, at .250, is toward the bottom of the team in average like Dent, but the freshman was coming on strong before his injury.

Tobias was hitting .368 in the seven games leading up to his injury and was moving past the early freshman jitters.

He was also reliable on the base paths.

Tobias scored five of the eight times he got on base during the aforementioned seven-game stretch.

Although he entered Saturday’s game as a pinch runner, Tobias has more waiting to do, whether he likes it or not.

“He thinks he’s ready this weekend,” O’Sullivan said.

“I doubt that. I think realistically Arkansas weekend (April 27-29) or Kentucky (May 3-5), somewhere in there.”

Florida pitcher Karsten Whitson prepares to throw a pitch during a game against USF last season. Whitson has been limited this year.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.