Through the first 16 games of the season, Danny Young had thrown fewer innings than any Florida pitcher aside from Bobby Poyner, who didn’t make his first appearance of the season until Sunday.
Even though Young had just 2.2 innings under his belt heading into the Tuesday night’s game with undefeated FSU, coach Kevin O’Sullivan felt comfortable giving him the start.
The freshman left-hander pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Sunday’s 7-4 loss to Indiana, and O’Sullivan thought he threw the ball with conviction, so he wanted to give him a shot.
"He threw the ball really good," O’Sullivan said of Young’s game against FSU. "Probably ran his pitch count up a little too high, but he threw strikes. I was really pleased with how he performed."
In 3.1 innings of work, Young gave up three hits and struck out a career-high three batters. He allowed three runs, but left the game with two of those runners still on base. After giving up a run in the first inning, Young retired the Seminoles in order in the second by striking out both John Nogowski and Jose Brizuela looking and forcing Giovanny Alfonzo to ground out to the pitcher’s mound.
"Did a great job for his first time," freshman outfielder Harrison Bader said. "To sort of be thrown out there, he did a really really good job."
Simpson used in relief:
Freshman Tucker Simpson, who has started every Saturday game for the Gators in 2013, made his first relief appearance of the season on Tuesday.
"He only threw 45 pitches on Saturday, so I wanted to get him some work," O’Sullivan said.
Simpson relieved junior left-hander Daniel Gibson to begin the seventh inning and retired the Seminoles in order on eight pitches.
O’Sullivan said prior to the season that he would use non-conference play to set his weekend rotation before the Gators begin Southeastern Conference play. With Kentucky coming to Gainesville this weekend, O’Sullivan said the rotation would be determined on Wednesday.
"Obviously, (freshman Jay) Carmichael has been throwing the ball good," O’Sullivan said. "Crawford is one of those guys, and I like the way (Eric) Hanhold threw the ball, too."
Simpson threw just 17 total pitches against FSU, so he could still be available to start against Kentucky as well.
In four starts prior to Tuesday, Simpson pitched 15 innings, allowed 16 hits and struck out 13 batters while posting an ERA of 5.40. Carmichael leads the team with an ERA of 2.00 and has allowed just four runs in 18 innings of work.
Powers returns:
Gators third baseman Zack Powers returned to the starting lineup against FSU after missing last weekend’s series against Indiana due to a bruised hand suffered in Florida’s 7-6 win over Jacksonville last Wednesday.
Powers, who led the team before Tuesday with a .418 on-base percentage, is tied for first in home runs and second in RBI, went 0 for 4 at the plate against FSU with three strikeouts.
O’Sullivan said the sophomore was still battling discomfort in the hand.
"He grinded through it," O’Sullivan said.
"Obviously, I don’t think it’s 100 percent. It’s not broken. He battled tonight. He did what he could. He hung in there. I know he really wanted to play tonight, so we’ll give him off the next couple days, and I’m sure he’ll feel much better by Friday."
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Left-handed pitcher Danny Young (15) warms up between innings during Florida’s 4-1 loss to Florida State on March 12 at McKethan Stadium. The freshman allowed two hits in four innings against the Seminoles on Tuesday night.
