After Corey Stump pegged his second batter in a row, he put his face in his glove.
Kentucky right fielder Zac Zellers then trotted home to give the Wildcats a 7-3 lead.
The sequence was a microcosm of the game as No. 10 Kentucky (15-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) overcame a 3-0 deficit to even the series and defeat Florida (9-11, 1-1 SEC), 11-5 at McKethan Stadium on Saturday.
UF starter Jonathon Crawford, who was moved from the Friday starting spot to Saturday this weekend, cruised through the first five innings as he allowed no runs and just two hits.
Then, it began to fall apart.
“There’s not much to say,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Seven walks and five hit by pitches. It’s not good. It’s not good.”
With UF leading 3-0, Zellers drew a walk to lead off the sixth inning. First baseman A.J. Reed tripled down the left field line , scoring Zellers. Reed then scored on an RBI groundout from second baseman J.T. Riddle.
After Crawford faced the bottom of the Kentucky order in the seventh and loaded the bases with no outs by issuing two walks and hitting a batter, he was replaced by sophomore left-hander Bobby Poyner.
Leadoff man Austin Cousino singled off of Poyner to drive in two runs to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. Two batters later, Reed drove in Matt Reida with a sacrifice fly,. Riddle followed him with an RBI single to make it 6-3.
“I did not see that coming,” O’Sullivan said. “I did not see a total breakdown on the pitching side of things in the last three innings. I didn’t see that coming.”
Freshman Mike Vinson came in for Poyner and got UK third baseman Max Kuhn to fly out to right. Stump then came in for Vinson and proceeded to hit Thomas Bernal and Kyle Barrett.
In the top of the ninth inning, Kentucky put the game away. Gators reliever Aaron Rhodes walked two of the first three batters and gave up an RBI double to Wildcats catcher Michael Thomas and a two-run home run to Cousino put the Wildcats up 11-5.
Seven of the Wildcats’ 11 runs were scored by players who reached base via a walk or by getting hit by a pitch.
“Pitchers didn’t throw strikes,” second baseman Josh Tobias said. “But we did a lot of stuff pitching-wise and hitting-wise to give the game back.”
Tobias hit his second career home run and second in as many days in the second inning — a solo shot to left that gave the Gators a 2-0 lead. The Florida bats went cold after the second inning as Kentucky starter Jerad Grundy allowed just one hit in the next four innings.
The Gators will look to take the series in Sunday’s rubber match at noon. Freshman center fielder Harrison Bader, who finished the game 3 for 4 with two RBI, said he is confident with the team’s mentality and hopes it stays the same.
“No. Absolutely not,” Bader said. “We’ve never given a game away. We didn’t give this one away by any means. We got out to an early lead, then put a few zeroes up there offensively, but same approach at the plate and everything. Obviously we didn’t score a few runs when we needed to, but the approach was there.”
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@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.
