Wil Dalton, No. 16, is greeted at home by teammates Jonathan India and Austin Langworthy on Friday. (Photo: Matt Stamey/UAA Communications)
Trio of Butler, Dalton and Reese Delivers for Gators
Friday, June 1, 2018 | Baseball
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By: Ethan Hughes, FloridaGators.com correspondent
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Injuries to junior ace Brady Singer (hamstring) and senior catcher JJ Schwarz (hand) were blamed for the Florida Gators' 1-6 slump entering the NCAA Tournament, and rightfully so.
"I think a lot of it has to do with not having Brady go the first game of the series," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "I think he was 8-1 for us in the league, and it just has a different feel."
Butler, a freshman left-handed pitcher whom O'Sullivan trusts to bridge the gap to junior closer Michael Byrne, surrendered 10 earned runs in three innings spanning his last four appearances. With Butler struggling and Singer injured, the highly acclaimed Gators pitching staff posted a 7.65 ERA in their previous five games.
At the plate, Dalton, a sophomore right fielder and member of the All-SEC Second Team, hadn't hit a home run since April 24. Without thump in the middle of the order, UF hit just .231 as a team in the same five-game stretch.
Meanwhile, junior second baseman Reese struggled mightily both offensively and defensively. He exited the SEC Tournament 3-for-17 at the plate in his final six games. After committing two errors in the Gators' opening game in Hoover, Ala., he was benched the rest of the week in favor of freshman Shane Shifflett.
Reese said Schwarz's absence caused others to put too much pressure on themselves.
"Just because we're losing JJ, [Dalton's] not the only one who needs to step up and do their part," Reese said. "It has to happen throughout the whole lineup. That's kind of where I thought we were at for the better part of the whole year. We had contributions up and down the lineup, so I think [SEC Player of the Year Jonathan India], Dalton and some other guys felt some pressure that probably they didn't deserve because everybody needed to contribute."
Dalton said he spent the week between the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Gainesville Regional focusing on the mental aspect of the game more than the physical part.
"If we just sit back and do what we do best, and that's just playing baseball, even without JJ, we're still one of the best lineups in the country," he said. "There's always that feeling inside you like 'I've got to do more,' but really it was just 'be yourself, be who you are and that's good enough.' "
Added Reese: "If everybody contributed half of what we've been doing for most of the year, I think we'd be just fine."
Freshman left-hander Jordan Butler tossed five strong innings in Friday's victory over Columbia. (Photo: Matt Stamey/UAA Communications)
O'Sullivan, however, said he challenged Dalton and others to step up.
"We don't have JJ," he said. "You're going to win at the end of the year with your dudes. Wil's got to pick up his game a little and so did Jonathan."
Whatever the approach, it worked to perfection in the No. 1 national seed Gators' 13-5 defeat of Columbia on Friday afternoon.
With Florida (43-17) trailing Columbia (20-29) 3-1 in the third inning, the trio came alive in big ways to send the Gators to the winners' bracket and set up a date with either Florida Atlantic or Jacksonville, who met in Friday's nightcap.
After freshman starter Tommy Mace (2 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER) was chased from the game with two on and nobody out in the third, Butler was called on and escaped the inning with no further damage. He cruised from there, throwing five innings, striking out five and conceding only one run to pick up the win.
"Your first inning goes a long way into your whole outing," he said. "Just getting in there and throwing strikes and being confident led to how I did."
Butler (6-1) bought his offense some time to do damage, and the Gators took full advantage.
UF pounded out a season-high 10 extra-base hits. Dalton had three of those, as he went 4-for-5 with a home run and six RBI. His two-run blast in the eighth inning cleared the center field wall just to the right of the 400-feet sign. He came about five feet short of the cycle, getting thrown out trying to stretch an RBI double into a triple in the fourth.
Reese played mistake-free defense and went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
O'Sullivan said he was proud of the way his team handled adversity.
"I'm not going to minimize this win," he said. "When you fall behind 3-1 and you're playing Columbia and things haven't gone the way you've wanted them to go the last couple of weeks, it could've gone sideways in a hurry."
The Gators are back on track, and now they get their ace back Saturday.
"I told the guys at the end of the game, 'it's almost like restoring order again,' " O'Sullivan said. "We get a chance to have Brady back on the mound. I think he gives us confidence and hopefully Brady pitches like he's certainly capable."
However, this day belonged to a trio the Gators desperately needed to produce.
