Taylor Gushue got the cold shoulder from his teammates after one of his best moments this season.
The sophomore catcher led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run to left field — his first of the season — to put Florida up 3-0 against North Florida on Tuesday night.
The home run was Gushue’s first since March 18, 2012, in an 8-2 win against Vanderbilt.
Once he got back to the dugout, his teammates jokingly ignored him for a short time before congratulating him.
“It felt good to get it out of the way,” Gushue said of his first home run. “It’s tough, you know, sitting around, just like, ‘OK, when’s it going to happen?’ and then just not pressing to actually get it.”
Gushue went 2 for 4 — his first multi-hit game in 10 days — as Florida (10-12) defeated North Florida (15-7) 9-4 on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium.
Last season, Gushue hit .290 with five home runs and 16 RBI in UF’s first 20 games. He didn’t hit a home run the rest of the season, finishing the year with a .206 batting average as he struggled to adjust to Southeastern Conference pitching.
Gushue was expected to be a primary source of power for the Gators in 2013, but prior to Tuesday night, he was homerless with a .232 batting average.
Gushue said he is trying to avoid getting too tense at the plate.
“It’s all about relaxing,” Gushue said.
“It’s all about seeing the ball. Not muscling anything.”
Sophomore designated hitter Justin Shafer gave the Gators an early 2-0 lead as he took Ospreys starter David Trexler deep to left field for his second home run of the season.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he’d like to see more power from both Shafer and Gushue as the season progresses.
“Those guys are hitting in the middle of the order for a reason,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re going to need that from them as the season goes on.”
In his first start since O’Sullivan removed him from the weekend rotation, freshman Tucker Simpson impressed on the mound.
Simpson threw a career-high 5.2 innings and struck out five batters while allowing three runs. He also picked up the first victory for a UF starter since Florida’s 7-1 Super Regional win against N.C. State on June 9.
“I was able to get into a rhythm,” Simpson said. “Especially in the second inning, knowing we put two runs up in the first, and then I was able to get a little more comfortable.”
The Ospreys threatened but were unable to come back.
With the Gators leading 4-1 in the top of the sixth, they finally got to Simpson with back-to-back two-out singles. Shafer replaced Simpson and gave up a two-run double to UNF third baseman Paul Karmeris.
O’Sullivan didn’t want to go so far as to say the win was Florida’s most complete victory of the season.
But he did note that it came at an important time with a series against No. 2 Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., beginning on Friday.
“It was a game that I thought we did a lot of good things in,” O’Sullivan said.
“We obviously needed a little momentum going into the weekend.”
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Catcher Taylor Gushue swings during Florida’s 4-1 loss to Florida State on March 12, 2013 at McKethan Stadium. Gushue had a career high four hits, three singles and a double, on Friday against Miami.
