The Gators weren’t supposed to have to worry about Friday.
When Florida received the news on Thursday that No. 2 starter Karsten Whitson would miss the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery, junior ace Jonathon Crawford was left as the team’s only experienced starter.
But the Gators were unable to capitalize with their No. 1 starter on the mound on Friday night, as they fell 4-3 to Duke at McKethan Stadium in their first season-opening loss since falling to VMI in 2007.
“Duke played better than we did tonight,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Through three innings, Crawford looked the part of a top-of-the-rotation starter. He allowed just one hit while striking out four batters and holding the Blue Devils scoreless.
However, Crawford ran into trouble in the fourth after issuing a leadoff walk to Chris Marconcini. Third baseman Jordan Betts then belted a 2-run home run to give Duke a 2-1 lead. Crawford was replaced with junior lefty Daniel Gibson three batters later after giving up a triple to deep right to Duke center fielder Anthony D’Alessandro.
“I thought Jonathon threw the ball good,” O’Sullivan said. “Betts just ran into one pitch and got the barrel out and did a nice job.”
Florida was forced to go deep into its bullpen and use five pitchers in relief of Crawford, who was on a pitch count and threw 74 pitches. O’Sullivan said he had hoped to get five innings out of his starter. The bullpen will likely be tested again on Saturday with freshmen Tucker Simpson making his first career start and expected to be on a pitch count smaller than Crawford’s 75-pitch limit.
“(The bullpen) came out and did the best we could,” said sophomore reliever Ryan Harris, who threw two scoreless innings. “(The) strike zone was a little tight tonight, and we weren’t working well with that.”
Duke starter Trent Swart stymied the Florida lineup for much of the game. He retired 10 straight Gators from the end of the second inning through the fifth inning before freshman left fielder Harrison Bader led off the sixth with a single to right center field.
“He was mixing up pitches,” redshirt freshman outfielder Cory Reid said. “He was throwing his off-speed for strikes, which is always good. We’re not usually used to seeing a lefty that doesn’t throw mid-90’s.”
The Gators tied the game at 2 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from Vickash Ramjit that scored outfielder Harrison Bader.
The Blue Devils went up 4-2 in the eighth when catcher Mike Rosenfeld tripled off reliever Corey Stump, and Betts scored on an error two batters later.
In the bottom of the eighth, Florida had a chance to tie the game again with runners on first and second after pulling within a run, but Ramjit flied out to right to end the inning.
“We need to stay in our stance and get a better pitch to hit.” O’Sullivan said of the Gators’ approach at the plate. “We did get in some offensive counts, but we chased a little bit and kind of rerouted out swings.”
Shortstop Richie Martin was the one other freshman to start along with Reid and Bader, and each recorded a single in their college debuts.
Even though the Gators haven’t been 0-1 in six years, Harris wasn’t discouraged by the loss.
“Just one game,” Harris said. “Move on. Build from it.”
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Junior Jonathon Crawford throws a pitch during Florida’s 9-8 victory against NC State in Game 2 of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional on June 10, 2012, at McKethan Stadium.
