Coach Kevin O’Sullivan preached throughout spring practice about the growing pains his young team would face.
Florida felt each pang Friday night against Long Beach State. The Gators won 8-2, but it wasn’t pretty. Two errors, three wild pitches, nine walks and several other miscues cast a dark cloud over UF’s fifth-consecutive season-opening victory.
“With so many new faces it’s not surprising that we made so many mistakes tonight,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously we were able to overcome them but on most nights when you play like this, you’re probably gonna be on the losing end.”
Tyler Dyson started on the mound for UF and was plagued by control issues from the first batter he faced. After eight months off, Dyson walked the Dirtbags’ leadoff man Brooks Stotler on four straight balls.
A steal followed by a wild pitch found Stotler standing on third base with one out. Senior second baseman and co-captain Blake Reese put an end to the threat when he caught a fly ball in shallow right field and threw Stotler out on an aggressive attempt to tag up and score.
Florida responded well at the plate to what could have been a shaky first inning.
Brady McConnell singled in his first at-bat after missing the majority of the 2018 season with a wrist injury.
“It definitely felt good, I told Lars (Davis) when I got to first that I’ve been waiting for that for a while,” McConnell said. “I’ve been preparing for tonight and the whole season, so this was definitely exciting.”
He and Nelson Maldonado -- who went 2 for 3 with a double and two walks -- scored on a Wil Dalton single for the first runs of the game. Brady Smith singled later in the inning, driving home two more runs to put Florida ahead 4-0.
“I think without that inning we probably would have struggled a little bit,” Maldonado said.
Dyson never found his rhythm, exiting in the fourth inning with a four-strikeout, four-walk performance. He threw 72 pitches, only half of which were strikes, in 3.1 innings and consistently missed outside to both left- and right-handed batters.
Jordan Butler relieved Dyson and inherited his two runners. Butler calmed the crowd with a strikeout, a passed ball and a wild pitch allowed Luke Rasmussen and Chris Jimenez to score for the Dirtbags.
Butler finished with two strikeouts, one walk and no earned runs in 2.0 innings of work and was credited with the win.
The three freshmen starters -- Cory Acton at third, Kendrick Calilao at first and Jud Fabian in center field -- showed flashes of why O’Sullivan gave them the nod to start.
Fabian followed up strikeouts in his first two at-bats by roping a double to right-center field. He also had five putouts, looking comfortable in the outfield. Calilao walked in his first plate appearance and later came around to score. Acton made a highlight play at third on a bunt.
O’Sullivan was forced to go deep in the bullpen. After Butler, he called on freshman Ben Specht in the sixth inning, and later sophomore Justin Alintoff in the eighth. Alintoff looked the best of any of Florida’s pitchers, striking out the side. Freshman Kris Armstrong threw in the ninth, ending the game with a strikeout.
Both teams’ bats quieted down considerably after the fourth inning. The only runs that followed came on miscues.
Florida scored on a balk by Long Beach State’s Jonathan Carlos in the seventh inning, which sent Maldonado home for his second run of the game. Later that same inning, Fabian hit a high fly ball to left field with bases loaded, and Calvin Estrada couldn’t come up with it. All three runners scored on the error.
“The fact of the matter is we do have a new roster, we have 15 new players and there’s gonna be a learning curve,” O’Sullivan said. “Hopefully this is a lesson to them that we were fortunate to win tonight.”
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Junior Tyler Dyson pitched 3.1 innings, walked four and struck out four in the Gators 8-2 win over Long Beach State to open the season.
