Tyler Dyson stepped back from the mound to regroup.
Florida’s freshman reliever had just thrown his first few pitches wild. One even zipped by LSU’s Josh Smith’s eyes.
Then Dyson walked Smith, a troubling sign as UF clung to a 1-0 lead in the ninth.
And after a wild pitch advanced the tying run to second, Florida’s coaching staff began to sweat.
“I wish he’d make it a little bit easier,” UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
All Dyson did after that was sit down the next three batters he faced, striking out two looking before fanning Brennan Breaux to capture No. 13 Florida’s series-opening 1-0 win against No. 4 LSU Friday night at McKethan Stadium.
The Gators (15-8, 1-3 SEC) picked up their first conference victory and are now 2-0 against top-five opponents this season.
“I think we’re gonna start rolling,” said Dyson, who picked up his second career save. “This is a big win momentum-wise going into SEC play the next couple weekends.”
With numerous scouts on hand, UF’s Alex Faedo and LSU’s Alex Lange engaged in a pitcher’s duel for most of the game.
The two aces exchanged scoreless frames, both working out of trouble at times.
In the fifth, Lange escaped a bases loaded, no out situation that left a bad taste in O’Sullivan’s mouth. Following two singles and an error on a bunt, Lange fanned Ryan Larson and Nick Horvath before Dalton Guthrie lined out to second.
“We’ve gotta put the ball in play,” O’Sullivan said. “Even if it’s a (sacrifice) fly.”
Florida finally broke through in the sixth.
Deacon Liput ignited the rally by doubling to right field. After he took second on a sacrifice bunt, JJ Schwarz knocked him in with a deep sacrifice fly to left.
“We went against a very good pitcher in Alex Lange, and I thought we did everything we needed to do for the most part” said Liput, who collected three hits in the win. “I thought we had a good approach.”
Faedo didn’t need more run support than that against LSU (17-6, 3-1 SEC), but he found himself in danger in his final inning of work.
The junior allowed back-to-back one-out singles in the seventh before striking out Breaux and inducing Michael Papierski to fly out.
Faedo, a potential first-rounder like Lange, scattered seven hits and seven strikeouts over seven scoreless innings en route to his fourth win.
Following a bad outing a weekend ago against Auburn, — a start in which he yielded a season-high six runs in just 4.1 innings — Faedo knew he had to rebound, and so did O’Sullivan.
"Sully challenged me a little bit and he wanted a good outing,” Faedo said. “I can't give up those bad outings anymore to start series off. It was a nice one out there, putting up a lot of zeroes and getting the W."
Behind sophomore Brady Singer, the Gators look to take the series Saturday at 3 p.m.
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UF reliever Tyler Dyson celebrates with catcher Mike Rivera following Florida's 1-0 win against LSU on Friday at McKethan Stadium.
