Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Things couldn't have started much worse for the Florida Gators.

After the leadoff batter flied out to begin the game, Auburn right fielder Steven Williams chopped a ball back to Gators junior ace Brady Singer. Singer bobbled the ball, picked it up and fired wide of first base to allow Williams to reach second.

More significantly, however, Singer tweaked his hamstring on the play, the same injury that forced him to miss his final two starts entering the NCAA Tournament.

As UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan and athletic trainer Jon Michelini went to the mound to check on Singer, a crowd of 4,610 held its breath. Singer remained in the game and struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.

He found himself in trouble again in the second inning. The Tigers took advantage of a walk and hit batter when Josh Anthony (2-for-3) grounded a ball to left with two outs to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

An inning later, Auburn designated hitter Edouard Julien blooped a single in front of center fielder Nick Horvath to extend the margin to 2-0. Singer needed 72 pitches to get through the first three innings.

Meanwhile, Florida's offense hit some balls hard but had nothing to show for it after two innings against No. 1 overall draft choice Casey Mize. The situation seemed dire inside McKethan Stadium, everyone aware that if the Tigers won they would only need to defeat either struggling Gators junior pitcher Jackson Kowar in Game 2 or a true freshman in Game 3 to advance to the College World Series.

The Gators had one thing Auburn did not: postseason experience. The 2017 national champion Gators were defined by grit as much as talent. Florida knows how to win in the postseason. On the other side, the Tigers were making their first super regional appearance since 1999.



"I think it helped a lot," Gators junior shortstop Deacon Liput said. "Going through postseason, you're obviously going to face some adversity and you're going to have some ups and downs. To be able to bounce back from something like that is incredibly useful going forward."

The Gators' championship resolve reared itself in the middle innings, as UF (46-18) blitzed past Auburn (42-22) on Saturday in Game 1 of the Gainesville Super Regional.

Liput (3-for-5) and junior designated hitter Nelson Maldonado (2-for-5) ignited a four-run third inning with back-to-back singles with one out in Florida's 8-2 victory. Mize (10-6) followed with a four-pitch walk to SEC Player of the Year and No. 5 overall draft pick Jonathan India.

"I was trying to go right at him, honestly," Mize said. "I'm not afraid to pitch against anybody. I know India's a great player, and I have a lot of respect for India. I just couldn't execute."

That would prove to be Mize's demise.

As Tigers pitching coach Steve Smith chatted with Mize, O'Sullivan took the opportunity to do the same with his batter, sophomore right fielder Wil Dalton.

"I told him when he went to the plate, I don't want him to try to do too much," O'Sullivan said. "I think the biggest thing even with a sac fly you've got the score to 2-1 and just kind of creep in there. Stay with the same approach. Don't try to get too big. Don't try to get to the pull side and try to hit a grand slam and be a hero."

Dalton answered, driving a two-run single high off the wall in right field to tie the game.

On the next pitch, Florida left fielder Austin Langworthy tapped the ball halfway up the first baseline. Rather than tagging Langworthy for the sure out, Anthony opted to try to cut down India at the plate. India lunged toward home and around the tag to give the Gators a 3-2 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
UF first baseman Keenan Bell (2-for-3) concluded the outburst with an RBI single to right.

Florida took advantage of two Auburn errors in the fifth inning to add a couple more runs. Late-inning home runs by Liput and Maldonado finalized the scoring.

"Your approach has to be a little different against a guy like Mize who has four different pitches," Liput said. "You have to either key on one and you just have to make sure you see every pitch up. He's a very good, effective groundball type of pitcher."

On the mound, Singer (12-1) settled in, throwing 6 2/3 innings, giving up four hits and just the two early runs. He struck out nine and walked only two.

"I saw my pitch count kind of going up, and I wanted to get deep in the ballgame," he said. "The game plan going in the last few innings there was to just throw some good quality strikes and get them to ground out."

O'Sullivan was pleased with how Singer bounced back from the shaky start.
 
"He settled in and battled all the way to the end," he said. "Credit Auburn's hitters because I thought they did a nice job running his pitch count up. I thought Brady made adjustments and got us back into the seventh inning. He's a fierce competitor. He needed to be that way today."

Auburn coach Butch Thompson said Singer's performance was the difference in the game.

"We'd played so well last week in the regional, and it would take somebody like Brady Singer to slow us down a little bit," he said.

Singer, the Kansas City Royals' first-round draft selection (18th overall), exited the McKethan Stadium mound for the final time to a standing ovation.

Freshman lefty Jordan Butler relieved Singer and struck out the only batter he faced, and junior closer Michael Byrne (2 IP, 1 hit, 4 SO) finished off the Tigers.

Up 1-0 in the series, the Gators are in a good spot, but there's still a lot of baseball left.

"We're going to have to be as good as Brady was today and we're going to have to have some really competitive at-bats tomorrow as well," O'Sullivan said.

Added Liput: "We just have to move pitch by pitch and play by play and play mistake-free and error-free and play to the best of our abilities, and the rest will take care of itself."

Saturday's game felt like championship baseball, and UF's championship mettle shone through.

Now, they're in a position every college baseball team wants to be in – 27 outs from Omaha.