With Missouri and Florida slated for a doubleheader on Saturday night at McKethan Stadium to beat expected rainstorms on Sunday, the Gators (32-6, 12-3 SEC) had an opportunity to earn their second sweep in three SEC series.
Missouri pitcher Andy Toelken, who had thrown ball one to Gators third baseman Jonathan India on the first pitch of his final at-bat, didn’t have the confidence of his coaching staff. So with a man on second and first base open in the bottom of the eighth inning, catcher Brett Bond stood up behind the plate, raised his right hand out to the side and signaled Toelken to intentionally walk India with the next three pitches.
At the beginning of the season, hits were harder to come by for Austin Langworthy than on-campus parking is for UF students.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks participated on Sunday in one of baseball’s most unusual, most nonsensical, most useless traditions, which is saying something for a sport so imbued in useless traditions.
The last time Jonathan India was held without a hit in a game, “Black Panther” was enjoying its fourth straight week in the No.-1 spot at the box office. Since then, the Gators third baseman has been collecting hits with a tenacity that would make T’Challa proud.
With Tennessee’s win over No. 1 Florida in Game 2 of Sunday’s doubleheader the Volunteers snapped the Gators’ nine-game winning streak. Though that aspect merely matched last season’s longest stretch of consecutive wins, the 2018 Gators offense emerged as a larger part of the team’s identity than it had been during the 2017 championship run.
After inclement weather pushed back the start of Florida’s three-game series against Tennessee from Friday to Saturday, the No. 1 Gators (28-6, 9-3 SEC) and the Volunteers (19-14, 5-7 SEC) squeezed in a doubleheader on Sunday at UT’s Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Florida’s offense on Saturday was a lot like the Knoxville sky on Friday night: explosive and dangerous.
Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan felt the need to pump the breaks.
Horvath continuing breakout season
After sweeping No. 8 Vanderbilt at home on Sunday, the No. 1 Gators (26-5, 7-2 SEC) stayed at McKethan Stadium to face off against Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday. Florida — coming off a 26-run outburst against the Commodores over the three-game series — continued its dominant ways en route to an 8-4 win over the Eagles (22-6).
Jonathan India gets most of the fanfare. And for good reason.
The outcome between No. 2 Florida and No. 8 Vanderbilt on Sunday at McKethan Stadium had become nothing more than a sideshow. Even though it was still a ballgame — just 5-2 in Florida’s favor in the bottom of the fourth — everyone’s focus was solely on UF third baseman Jonathan India.
The blazing Florida sun finally warmed up the bats of a couple slumping Gators on Saturday afternoon.
Empty seats, wet bleachers and dampened ponchos of anxious Gators fans surrounded the tarp-covered infield at McKethan Stadium. At 6:30, when second-ranked Florida was supposed to begin its first contest of a three-game set against the No. 8 Vanderbilt Commodores, not one player for either team could be seen on the field.
It wasn’t long ago that Florida’s offense was smacking hits and spitting homers at the same rate you’d see in a video game. It wasn’t long ago that five Gators were hitting over .300. It wasn’t long ago that UF’s entire offense was feared as a national menace.
Right fielder Wil Dalton took a modest lead off of second base in the bottom of the fourth inning. After smacking a ball down the left-field line and into the corner, the precious scoring opportunity could’ve been the only one Florida would have for the rest of the game, for all he knew.
After winning a three-game series over then-No. 4 Arkansas this past weekend in Gainesville, the No. 2 Gators (21-5, 4-2 SEC) are preparing to face No. 7 Florida State on Tuesday night at 6 in Jacksonville.
William Shakespeare once compared his beloved to a summer’s day. Michael Byrne’s 2018 season could be compared to something more like a sturdy dam.
At the end of the seventh inning, Arkansas starter Blaine Knight was the first to meet his teammates at the mouth of the Razorbacks’ dugout. After being removed from the game just one out away from completing seven innings of work, his defense got the job done, as it ended Florida’s one-run inning and shut the door on a potential Gators comeback.
Solutions by The State News
