After yet another poor performance on the mound, closer Johnny Magliozzi had enough. He brought Florida’s pitching staff together for a meeting after Wednesday’s extra-inning loss to North Florida.
Six pitchers combined to issue four walks, hit two batters and allow seven base runners on two-strike counts.
Having pitchers extend innings has been a death sentence for an offense struggling with situational hitting. After the Gators took a 1-0 lead in the second on Friday against Florida Gulf Coast ace Ricky Knapp, Jonathon Crawford lost command in the sixth.
The Friday night starter hit the No. 9 batter to lead off the inning and then issued a one-out walk one batter later.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan pulled Crawford and the Eagles’ Brooks Beisner hit a three-run homer two batters later off Daniel Gibson. Each time the Gators have taken a lead this year, their pitching staff seemingly falls apart.
"(We need to) let our hitters get comfortable in the box, because we really haven’t been doing that," Crawford said.
Crawford gets another chance to improve his command when Florida hosts Miami tonight at 7.
He’s expected to face more batters as O’Sullivan continues to increase his pitch count with each start.
With Florida’s bullpen at 55.2 innings through nine games, seeing a starter last past the sixth inning would be a welcome sight. UF starting pitchers have thrown just 31.1 innings in nine games.
"He got close to 80 pitches last time out," O’Sullivan said of Crawford. "He’s getting close to that 100-pitch mark now."
A longer outing won’t be a guarantee. Crawford still has to hold up his end of the bargain — a task every Florida pitcher has had trouble with this season.
"Just focus on attacking the hitters and let themselves get out," Crawford said. "That in turn will help me get deeper into games."
O’Sullivan held his own candid dugout meeting before his pitchers met separately following the loss to North Florida. The sixth-year coach acknowledges that he can only say so much. The rest is up to the players.
"We can have all the meetings we want," O’Sullivan said. "It’s pretty simple. We got to get the ball down and we got to pitch a little bit better."
Miami Hurricanes starting rotation: Chris Diaz faced the Gators last season in relief in Coral Gables.
A year later he faces them again, but as the Friday night starter at McKethan Stadium. The sophomore is 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts this year.
Junior right-hander Javi Salas gets the nod for Saturday. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in two starts this season.
Left-hander Andrew Suarez makes his third career college start in the series finale. The former Toronto Blue Jays ninth-round pick missed his entire freshman season due to Tommy John surgery.
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Right-hander Jonathon Crawford throws a pitch during Florida’s 8-2 loss to Florida Gulf Coast on Feb 22 at McKethan Stadium. Selected 20th by the Detroit Tigers in the first round of the MLB Draft on Thursday, Crawford is the highest Florida pitcher taken since John Burke went sixth to the Houston Astros in 1991.
