Gators Seek to Build off Optimism Triggered by Sunday's Win Over Bulldogs
Monday, May 14, 2012 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The pessimist can look at the box score from Florida's 2-1 win over Mississippi State on Sunday and fume at the number of hits for the Gators: three for the second consecutive game.
The optimist can glow over the final score and the most important hit in the game: Mike Zunino's towering solo home run to left in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The pessimist can cringe that leadoff hitter Nolan Fontana (0-for-9) and Sunday's No. 2 hitter, Preston Tucker, combined to go 0-for-21 in the three-game series.
The optimist can shout back that Fontana and Tucker are too talented at the plate to stay cold for long, and plus, it didn't matter since the Gators won the series and remain alive to capture an SEC regular-season crown.
The pessimist can argue that the Gators are living dangerously close to the edge, relying too heavily on their pitching staff to keep games close as the lineup struggles. He can point out that this isn't like the big leagues, so Florida can't call Southern Cal and discuss trading a pitcher for a middle-of-the-lineup hitter.
The optimist can counter by asking, "Why fret, have you seen how deep Florida's pitching staff is?" The Gators tossed a bevy of relievers at the Bulldogs over the weekend, stranding 26 Mississippi State runners in the final two games. And on Sunday, closer Austin Maddox made his return after a two-week battle with tendinitis.
"We are lucky to have a bullpen like that,'' Zunino said.
Maddox retired all seven batters he faced on his birthday, threw 17 pitches – 16 of them for strikes – in one of his better outings of the season.
The pessimist and optimist can go back and forth all night if they like, but Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan walked off the field late Sunday afternoon content with what transpired in Florida's final regular-season home series.
"The three hits, it's obvious,'' O'Sullivan said. "I'm going to take the home run in the eighth and I'm going to sleep really well tonight and I'm going to come back [Monday] with a really positive attitude with our team.
"There are a lot of positives that came out of this game. To the casual fan, you look at it and we got three hits again and the offense isn't going. But I look at it differently. We won two out of three against a really good Mississippi State team without Brian Johnson pitching on the weekend, without our best guys swinging the bats as well as we all know they are going to at some point. A lot of guys made a lot of big pitches today with runners in scoring position. That's what I'm looking at moving forward."
By outlasting the Bulldogs on a warm and humid Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium, the Gators head to Alabama on Monday for what they hope is a two-week trip that ends with an SEC Tournament title.
As for the SEC race, the Gators (38-14, 16-11) remain in contention. If the Gators can close the season with a sweep at Auburn next weekend, they can forge a three-way tie with Kentucky (if the Wildcats lose two of three at Mississippi State), and South Carolina (if the Gamecocks lose two of three at home to SEC West leader LSU).
Those are a couple of big "ifs," but certainly not out of the realm of either a reasonable pessimist or optimist's imagination.
The most important thing to come out of Sunday's win was Zunino's home run. Not only did the blast win the game, but it also provided a moment. A much-needed moment.
There was never a doubt that Zunino's swing on a 2-1 pitch from Mississippi State reliever Jacob Lindgren was headed well over the left-field bleachers.
"I was just looking for a fastball and try to barrel it up,'' said Zunino, who broke a tie with Tucker for the team lead in homers with 13. "I got the fastball and didn't try to do too much with it."
The dugout spilled onto the field to greet Zunino as he rounded the bases.
"I got fired up,'' Maddox said. "Everybody got fired up. I think we're going to turn it around. The hits are going to come. It was huge. Mike always tends to step up when we need him."
Unlike on Tuesday when the Gators swarmed Zunino after his walk-off double to beat North Florida, they needed three more outs.
Maddox removed the jacket keeping his right arm warm and went back out for the ninth, retiring the Bulldogs in order quietly for the Gators' fifth win in seven games.
Was Sunday's victory the start of something big or simply a false preview? Only time can answer that question. But if the Gators get on a roll toward the postseason, Sunday's game will be remembered for more than why O'Sullivan could get a good night's sleep.
It will be viewed as a turning point.
"It should give us more confidence,'' he said. "It was very uplifting to the entire team. It seemed like every pitch was so important."
