Johnny Magliozzi has been Florida’s most consistent pitcher in 2013. But with one series left in the regular season, his role still has not been defined.
The right-hander has pitched 26 times this season, but recently, coach Kevin O’Sullivan added Magliozzi to the rotation with promising results. The sophomore tossed seven innings against Auburn on Saturday and surrendered three runs in Florida’s 5-4 win.
O’Sullivan announced his starters for the Gators’ (28-25, 13-14 Southeastern Conference) first two contests of a three-game set against Georgia (19-30, 5-18 SEC), tabbing junior Jonathon Crawford and sophomore Bobby Poyner for Game 1 and 2, respectively. O’Sullivan left the Saturday spot open – a job Magliozzi might fill.
“If we get in a situation where we need to close him on Thursday, we’ll use him in that role,” O’Sullivan said.
“If we get in a must-win situation … we’ll probably start him.”
Magliozzi’s solid starts have added consistency to a pitching staff that has nine pitchers who have made a start this season. He went more than five innings in both of his starts. With the exception of outings from Crawford and Magliozzi, the Gators had only 10 starts of five innings or longer this season
However, while Magliozzi has been solid in the rotation, he has been better out of the pen.
In his 12.2 innings as a starter, he has an ERA of 4.26 and averaged 5.9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
But in his 24 outings as a reliever, Magliozzi’s ERA is 1.54, and he averages nearly eight strikeouts per nine innings.
“Whatever coach wants me to do, I’ll do,” Magliozzi said. “I’ll have to close, I’ll have to start; I just want to pitch.”
Magliozzi has locked down the late innings of games when in the closer role. The sophomore has all 11 of Florida’s saves and has an ERA of 2.29 in the ninth inning. He has given up only one ninth-inning run since March 19.
If Magliozzi does stay in the rotation, the Gators would need other arms in the bullpen to fill in at closer. One candidate would be sophomore Ryan Harris, who has the second-best ERA on the team at 2.65 – .47 higher than Magliozzi.
“The later half of the bullpen will step up,” Harris said. “We’ll be just fine without him in the back of the bullpen.”
Magliozzi said he added a new pitch to his repertoire that might add to his effectiveness, and O’Sullivan said he has no problem with the sophomore throwing it in a game situation.
“I started throwing a little cutter,” Magliozzi said.
“I haven’t really thrown it in a game yet. I’m trying to get it to go into lefties, pretty good outside pitch to righties.”
Added O’Sullivan: “If he’s confident with it, I’m confident with it.”
Gators fighting for playoff spot: With three games left in the regular season, Florida remains on the bubble for a bid in an NCAA Regional. The Gators square off against a struggling Bulldogs team with a chance to gain momentum going into the SEC Tournament and vault themselves into a better position for the national playoffs.
“The bottom line is we got to go out and play a little bit better than we have,” O’Sullivan said.
At three games over .500, Florida still has an opportunity to reach the NCAA Regionals. In 2012, four teams that finished three games over .500 or worse made the NCAA Tournament.
The Gators have not missed the NCAA Regionals since 2007, when Florida finished 29-30.
“We put ourselves in position to control our own destiny,” O’Sullivan said.
Contact Adam Lichtenstein at alichtenstein@alligatorsports.org.
UF sophomore Johnny Magliozzi warms up against Florida Gulf Coast University on February 24. Magliozzi may start on Saturday or pitch out of bullpen in Florida’s weekend series against Georgia.
