Tempers flared in the early going between Florida and Kentucky. Wildcats shortstop Matt Reida found himself in middle of rundown while stealing second. First baseman Vickash Ramjit applied a hard tag. Reida fell and pushed Ramjit while getting up. Benches cleared. First-base umpire Steve Manders yelled at the Florida dugout to get off the field.
Lucas Witt, the next batter, stepped on Ramjit while trying to beat out a throw to first. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan wasn’t happy. Neither were the Gators.
The fracas fueled Florida (9-10, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) in its 4-1 win against No. 10 Kentucky (14-3, 0-1 SEC) on Friday night to open SEC play.
An energized McKethan Stadium grew louder when second baseman Josh Tobias drilled an opposite-field home run over the right-field wall in the bottom half of the inning.
“We always have each other’s backs no matter what,” freshman right-hander Jay Carmichael said. “When (Tobias) hit that ball, that was a real good message to them.”
Kentucky left-hander A.J. Reed retired eight straight batters before the home run. Tobias pumped his fists in the air as he approached first base. He’d been scuffling all year. Balls hit hard found gloves. He didn’t have an extra-base hit before Friday. Florida hadn’t scored first in four games.
“I was looking for a pitch to drive, and he threw it up there,” Tobias said about his first-career home run. “I just put a pretty good swing on it. It’s good to get ahead of them early to put the pressure on them instead of it being on us.”
Carmichael matched a career-high with 5.2 innings in his first career start. O’Sullivan announced on Thursday the switch with Carmichael going on Friday and junior right-hander Jonathon Crawford pitching on Saturday. The freshman found out two days ago he would start. He fought off a potent Kentucky lineup and a case of the butterflies.
A two-out double by Reed in the sixth scored the lone run for the Wildcats and marked the only blemish on a stellar night from Carmichael. He worked around two walks and a hit batter in the fourth with poise of a grizzled SEC veteran.
“He’s emotional, he’s competitive and he doesn’t give in,” O’Sullivan said.
Florida added three runs in the seventh on three errors from Kentucky third baseman Paul McConkey.
Three Florida relievers combined for 3.1 shutout innings. Right-hander Johnny Magliozzi converted his fourth save this season in the ninth while left-hander Bobby Poyner and right-hander Ryan Harris allowed one baserunner. Harris earned the win.
Another player injured: Outfielder Cory Reid pulled a rib muscle during the game and exited in the fourth inning. Connor Mitchell replaced him in right field and went 1 for 2 at the plate with an RBI and a run.
Reid laid out full extension to haul in a fly ball down the line in the third inning. The redshirt freshman struck out in the bottom half of the third. Mitchell produced again for Florida after singling the game-winning run against Jacksonville on March 6. His infield hit in the seventh scored the go-ahead run.
“He sticks his nose in there with a runner at third and less than two (outs),” O’Sullivan said. “I think he had two strikes at the time and did a nice job.”
Starting pitchers on Saturday: Crawford (0-2, 4.22) goes up against senior left-hander Jerad Grundy (3-1, 1.35) on Saturday with a chance to clinch the first series victory since playing Miami.
First pitch is set for 12 p.m. While Florida may have its All-American right-hander on the mound, O’Sullivan isn’t viewing that as an advantage.
“I don’t look at it that way, because I know they have a really good starter in Grundy. It’s not like he hasn’t pitched against really good starters. You look at his numbers and they’re outstanding. Obviously a big game for us, but I’m not looking at it for us to win the series. The only thing we are worried about is us playing well and us improving.”
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Josh Tobias throws the ball to first base during Florida’s 9-8 win against N.C. State in Game 2 of the NCAA Super Regional on June 10 at McKethan Stadium. Against Georgia on Friday, Tobias notched Florida's only RBI of the match on a ground-rule double.
