Gators baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan is looking for more well-rounded play from his team. Tonight at Stetson would be a good place to start. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: Gators Still Chasing Road Win & Hot Bats
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | Baseball, Scott Carter
Florida plays at Stetson tonight still in search of its first road win of season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nearly two years have passed since the Gators baseball team played Stetson. That ends tonight at Conrad Park in DeLand when No. 12 Florida visits the Hatters.
Perhaps by now you are thinking, "What's your point, man?"
Well, here's what popped into the head: I imagine UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan would pay a nice price for a similar offensive outburst from the Gators as last time they played the Hatters.
If your memory is a bit fuzzy, this should help:
Twenty-two runs. Twenty-two hits. A school-record-tying seven home runs, four by JJ Schwarz. Hey, the Gators even got a sacrifice fly from Jason Lombardozzi. Added together, it was plenty of support for a young pitcher named Alex Faedo to come in and earn his second career win in relief of starter Danny Young.
However, that was then and this is now.
The Gators will step off their bus tonight in search of their first road win of the season. The Gators are 0-6 away from McKethan Stadium after losing only seven road games a season ago. The six-game road skid is the longest such streak in O'Sullivan's 10 seasons, surpassing the five-game road losing streak in 2013.
Numbers tell the story in baseball better than any other sport and that rings true (see chart) for the Gators' road woes.
A glance at the batting averages of the everyday lineup speaks volumes as well.
Start with Schwarz, who his batting .205 with a pair of homers and 11 RBIs. Catcher Mike Rivera, another key piece of the order, is hitting .190 with no homers and seven RBIs. Second baseman Deacon Liput, who hit .270 as a true freshman, is hovering near the Mendoza line (.203, 1, 5) more than a third into the regular season.
Need more numeric proof of Florida's surprising offensive struggles. Well, check out the SEC statistical rankings.
The Gators are batting .240 as a team, which is last in the conference and nine points behind 13th-place Ole Miss. Meanwhile, UF is ranked fifth in team ERA (2.88) and first in defense (.982 fielding percentage).
In being swept at Auburn to start SEC play last weekend, all three phases of the game bit the Gators. Faedo wasn't as sharp as usual on Friday, the offense mustered only one run on Saturday, and on Sunday a dropped pop up by Christian Hicks and throwing error by pitcher Frank Rubio proved costly in a 6-5 loss to the Tigers.
O'Sullivan's teams are known for their strong fundamentals, which made Sunday's loss and others earlier in the season even more concerning.
"I do think we got better offensively [at Auburn],'' O'Sullivan said Sunday. "But it is a bit frustrating. We wanted to get out of here with one win, which were weren't able to play good enough defense to do that."
The Gators are 21 games into a 56-game season, so there's plenty of time to improve. Sooner rather than later is best for a team that most projected as a College World Series club prior to the season.
For now, a road win and a few runs would do.
Perhaps by now you are thinking, "What's your point, man?"
Well, here's what popped into the head: I imagine UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan would pay a nice price for a similar offensive outburst from the Gators as last time they played the Hatters.
If your memory is a bit fuzzy, this should help:
Twenty-two runs. Twenty-two hits. A school-record-tying seven home runs, four by JJ Schwarz. Hey, the Gators even got a sacrifice fly from Jason Lombardozzi. Added together, it was plenty of support for a young pitcher named Alex Faedo to come in and earn his second career win in relief of starter Danny Young.
However, that was then and this is now.
The Gators will step off their bus tonight in search of their first road win of the season. The Gators are 0-6 away from McKethan Stadium after losing only seven road games a season ago. The six-game road skid is the longest such streak in O'Sullivan's 10 seasons, surpassing the five-game road losing streak in 2013.
| CATEGORY | HOME | AWAY |
| Record | 13-2 | 0-6 |
| Batting average | .252 | .209 |
| Opponents' batting average | .196 | .327 |
| ERA | 1.75 | 6.14 |
| Opponents' ERA | 4.86 | 2.17 |
| Runs | 122 (8.1 per game) | 16 (2.7) |
| Opponents' runs | 31 (2.1) | 43 (7.2) |
| Home runs | 15 | 1 |
| Errors | 7 | 8 |
Numbers tell the story in baseball better than any other sport and that rings true (see chart) for the Gators' road woes.
A glance at the batting averages of the everyday lineup speaks volumes as well.
Start with Schwarz, who his batting .205 with a pair of homers and 11 RBIs. Catcher Mike Rivera, another key piece of the order, is hitting .190 with no homers and seven RBIs. Second baseman Deacon Liput, who hit .270 as a true freshman, is hovering near the Mendoza line (.203, 1, 5) more than a third into the regular season.
Need more numeric proof of Florida's surprising offensive struggles. Well, check out the SEC statistical rankings.
The Gators are batting .240 as a team, which is last in the conference and nine points behind 13th-place Ole Miss. Meanwhile, UF is ranked fifth in team ERA (2.88) and first in defense (.982 fielding percentage).
In being swept at Auburn to start SEC play last weekend, all three phases of the game bit the Gators. Faedo wasn't as sharp as usual on Friday, the offense mustered only one run on Saturday, and on Sunday a dropped pop up by Christian Hicks and throwing error by pitcher Frank Rubio proved costly in a 6-5 loss to the Tigers.
O'Sullivan's teams are known for their strong fundamentals, which made Sunday's loss and others earlier in the season even more concerning.
"I do think we got better offensively [at Auburn],'' O'Sullivan said Sunday. "But it is a bit frustrating. We wanted to get out of here with one win, which were weren't able to play good enough defense to do that."
The Gators are 21 games into a 56-game season, so there's plenty of time to improve. Sooner rather than later is best for a team that most projected as a College World Series club prior to the season.
For now, a road win and a few runs would do.
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