Hunter Barco was dealing throughout the early stages of Sunday afternoon’s showdown between Florida and Miami.
He had allowed zero hits in his first three scoreless innings, displaying his arsenal of pitches for the sold-out crowd at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida.
The freshman left-hander, however, started to lose command in the bottom of the fourth.
After walking the first batter of the inning and giving up a single to UM catcher Adrian Del Castillo, coach Kevin O’Sullivan and catcher Nathan Hickey approached the mound.
The decision was made to keep Barco in the game, but the Hurricanes scored their first run of the contest off a sacrifice fly from Raymond Gil in the subsequent at-bat to cut UF’s lead to two.
O’Sullivan made his way back to the mound in the fifth inning with his team up by three runs, as Barco found himself in a bases-loaded jam. But O’Sullivan stuck with his freshman lefty once again, and the decision paid off.
Barco responded by striking out the next batter to retain Florida’s lead. He flexed his muscles as he made his way into the dugout.
The freshman’s composure and confidence on the mound in just his second career start helped the No. 2 Gators to a 5-3 victory over the No. 3 Hurricanes. With UF (8-0) sweeping UM (4-3) over the weekend, it has now won each of the last six regular-season series between the two programs, including 15 of the last 18 games.
“It's great to have a great arm, but you still have to command your secondary pitches,” O’Sullivan said in a release. “I was really pleased he was able to find that in the fifth inning."
Barco wasn’t limited on Sunday, however, as he hurled 92 pitches against Miami.
He faced 23 batters and struck out seven, giving up only two hits and one earned run in 5.1 innings pitched.
“When he has his slider for strikes, with the fastball he has, and he's got that changeup that's got some tumbling action, he's really tough to hit,” O’Sullivan said.
UM right-hander Slade Cecconi wasn’t as solid as his counterpart.
The sophomore pitcher allowed two runs and two hits in the opening inning and a solo homer to shortstop Josh Rivera at the top of the second to give the Gators an early 3-0 advantage.
Center fielder Jud Fabian homered off Cecconi, too.
His home run over the left-field wall in the fifth inning was his third of the season, which leads the team. Fabian was a combined 2 of 12 from the plate against Miami throughout the weekend before his solo blast.
Cecconi was replaced in the following inning by freshman left-hander Carson Palmquist, who surprised some Florida batters with his slider and breaking ball throughout the game.
He finished the day with five strikeouts and gave up zero hits or runs to the 10 UF batters that he faced.
The Hurricanes cut their deficit to just one in the bottom of the eighth following a two-run homer from Gil off Gators right-hander David Luethje, but Florida ultimately clung on to its lead, giving O’Sullivan his first 8-0 start since coming to the program in 2008.
Follow Bryan Matamoros on Twitter @bryan_2712. Contact him at bmatamoros@alligator.org
