There have been several factors that have mitigated Florida’s quality of performance throughout the season.
Subpar pitching, falling behind in counts, poor approaches at the plate — the list continues. The offense, in particular, has been spotty and has struggled to string together production at times throughout games.
It was something Florida Gators center fielder Michael Robertson addressed April 23 after his three-hit performance against Stetson.
“I want to do everything I possibly can to be on base and then turn the lineup over for our donkeys at the top of the order,” Robertson said. “I take it as a challenge.”
Tuesday, the Gators (23-21) hosted the Florida Atlantic Owls (22-20) and made up a game originally scheduled for March 5, which was moved due to inclement weather. Florida’s lineup produced all throughout and won 10-8.
The bottom of the order recorded four hits. The top tallied six. The Gators finished the night with 11 hits.
“We swung the bat good,” UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We only struck out five or six times.”
Freshman outfielder Hayden Yost has excelled in the bottom of Florida’s order, seemingly out of nowhere.
Yost has nine hits in his last 14 at-bats with seven runs scored, three walks and a double. Additionally, he has an on-base percentage of .736.
For a freshman who made just six starts prior to Tuesday, the production has been astounding but not unsurprising for O’Sullivan.
“You just don’t know when the lights are going to go on for a freshman,” he said. “He hadn't had a tremendous amount of opportunities in the first half of the year, but now he's making the most of them.”
Another surprising emerger out of the bottom of Florida’s lineup is Gators catcher Brody Donay.
Donay was a nonfactor early on in the season, constantly striking out and failing to get on base. But after Florida catcher Tanner Garrison suffered a shoulder injury in early April, Donay became a necessity.
The Gators sophomore backstop has five hits in 13 at-bats since April 23. Against FAU, Donay went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
On a night where Florida starter Cade Fisher lasted just four outs, the offensive production was necessary.
FAU nearly imitated the Gators' offensive production throughout the first six innings. The Owls plated two runs in the first and Florida added three. When the Gators added two more runs in the third, FAU added two in the following inning.
Florida led 8-6 after six innings until it added two runs on sacrifice flies in the seventh and eighth innings.
Despite Gators reliever Fisher Jameson surrendering two runs in the ninth inning, Florida held on and recorded the final three outs of the game for the victory. The game took 3 hours and 32 minutes, which doesn’t include a 90-minute weather delay before first pitch.
“I’m not surprised the way it ended there, the way this season has gone,” O’Sullivan said. “Even though we made it interesting at the end, there were some positive things we saw.”
The Gators will be back in action against the Tennessee Volunteers at 7 p.m. Thursday at Condron Family Ballpark. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
