When Keenan Kish struck out Chris Diaz looking to send the Gators to their third straight College World Series, the on-field scene played out like he imagined. Kish was at the bottom of the pile.
With Jonathon Crawford’s no-hit bid on the line, Carlos Delgado lined a 3-2 pitch right at Casey Turgeon.
Mike Zunino was happy to lead off the top of the fourth inning. After a testy latter half of the third, the junior catcher wanted to give the Gators an emotional edge.
Needing just three outs to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament final, Gators closer Austin Maddox took the mound.
After a lengthy stay in Alabama, the Gators will be home for a while.
Vanderbilt shortstop Anthony Gomez stole home in the top of ninth, but he took more than just another run from Florida.
Florida is a girls school. With all due respect to Florida State’s days as a women’s college, UF is the place to be for the fairer sex in the Sunshine State
Florida’s bats have returned to form, but Jonathon Crawford did not take that for granted against Auburn.
Steven “Paco” Rodriguez and Austin Maddox have been nearly unhittable out of the Gators’ bullpen this season. The duo has combined for a 1.82 ERA, a .193 batting average against and 15 saves in 103.1 innings pitched.
All it took for No. 3 Florida’s offense to come alive was a midweek trip to Samford. Unfortunately for UF, the trek to Alabama knocked its strong pitching down a notch.
Seventeen pitches and a Mike Zunino home run are all Austin Maddox needed to earn his third victory of the season.
Karsten Whitson has finally returned to form.
The Gators did everything they could Sunday to look for offense, but they left the field still searching for answers as Florida continued its midseason slump, and Arkansas continued to prove why its pitching staff is tops in the Southeastern Conference.
Midweek games became routine once again for the Gators on Wednesday night.
Austin Maddox had just thrown 61 pitches, the highest single-game total of his UF career.
Nolan Fontana stepped into the batter’s box with Vickash Ramjit on third and two outs in the 16th inning.
Florida knew a rough stretch was coming, even before the season began.
After carrying Florida to a series win at Tennessee during the weekend, Brian Johnson took a curtain call Tuesday night.
Florida appears to finally be back on the right track.
Kevin O’Sullivan knows it is coming. All he can do is handle what he has until that time comes.
Solutions by The State News
