Coach Kevin O’Sullivan met with freshman right-hander Mike Vinson on Wednesday morning. Vinson struggled while facing two batters in Jacksonville and hadn’t consistently thrown strikes all year.
At 6-foot-4, he gave the Gators an imposing presence on the mound.
“We had a talk. The bottom line is I know what he is capable of doing,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve seen it in practice, and quite honestly he hadn’t been doing it in games.”
Message received by the freshman. He looked poised and in control during his two scoreless innings against Jacksonville on Wednesday night. The freshman tossed 18 of 26 pitches for strikes. Vinson pitched the fourth and fifth as well as starting the sixth.
“What he did tonight was not surprising,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve seen him do it over and over, so it was good to see him do it in a game.”
Shafer stays hot: While he saw his 10-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday night, Justin Shafer started another a day later. He went 3 for 4 with two doubles and reached base in all but one of his five at-bats. The one was a hard-hit fly ball to deep centerfield.
Shafer has a .415 average and leads the Gators with nine doubles. Harrison Bader and Zack Powers are tied for second with two.
“Just trying to put a good swing on the ball every pitch I see right now,” Shafer said.
He’s responsible for 10 of 29 extra-base hits from Florida and has an O.P.S. (on-base plus slugging percentage) 138 points more than the next highest player on the roster in Powers.
O’Sullivan switches up infield: It looks like Casey Turgeon will be reliving his high school days. Turgeon starred at shortstop for Dunedin High School. The second baseman made his first-career start at the position Wednesday night. He played there the last three innings in Jacksonville.
Josh Tobias started at second base for the first time in his career as well. The Gators are without freshman Richie Martin who will be out 3-4 weeks with a fractured right index finger.
Roberson gets the call: With Southeastern Conference play nine days away, freshman Brady Roberson should see his name in the lineup more often. He had two singles in his four plate appearances from the designated hitter spot.
His sacrifice bunt in the second inning led to two Florida runs. Roberson fought off an inside fastball from Jacksonville starter Alex McRae to put runners at second and third with one out.
No. 10 Kentucky, Florida’s first conference opponent, features three left-handers in its weekend rotation. O’Sullivan has started six players at designated hitter with Tobias starting a team-high four games there.
If Tobias takes over everyday at second base and Powers at third base, that leaves Roberson’s right-handed bat among a group of left-handers that include freshmen Christian Dicks and Kevin Stypulkowski.
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
