Florida Gators pitching staff answers herculean task in Gainesville Regional

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The task was herculean. Florida had used two of its three-weekend starters in a win over Florida A&M and a loss to Texas Tech. If the Gators were to advance to a Super Regional for the first time since 2018 they would need to win three consecutive elimination games.

That meant they needed big starts. Not just quality outings, but they needed guys to step up and eat innings.

It began with Hurston Waldrep on Sunday afternoon. The junior transferred to Florida from Southern Miss. He brought along a first round MLB Draft grade with him and for most of the season had pitched to that projection. Waldrep came to Florida for this moment. Kevin O’Sullivan recruited him for this very start. But he didn’t expect to have to walk out to the mound after dealing with flu like symptoms all week leading into Sunday’s elimination contest with UConn.

Waldrep worked around a walk in the top of the first. Three up, three down in the second.

“Jordan scored 40 when he had the flu,” players on the bench reminded him, referencing Michael Jordan’s Game five in the 1997 NBA Finals, when he walked back into the dugout.

Waldrep gave up a run in the third when Korey Morton doubled and David Smith drove him in.

Even Michael Jordan missed nine shots and six free throws in that classic 1997 Finals performance.

Waldrep bore down. The right-hander refused to give UConn another inch. Waldrep lasted seven innings allowing just the one run while fanning 12 Huskies. His 101 pitches allowed Florida to turn to Nick Ficarrotta, who closed out the game. The bullpen was spared but the work was far from over.

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Another freshman lefty for the Gators

364 days after Carsten Finnvold threw nine innings of relief in a win over Oklahoma in game six of the 2022 Gainesville Regional, Kevin O’Sullivan turned to another freshman lefty.

Cade Fisher holds the all-time Georgia high school record with a 0.71 ERA as a senior. In 20 appearances as a Gator he had been good. He made one start and looked promising.

Promising wouldn’t be enough facing Texas Tech in the second game on Sunday. Making the biggest start of his career, O’Sullivan needed Fisher to elevate his game and rise to the occasion. Coming into the game his longest outing of the season was a four inning start against South Florida in February. Waldrep had helped save the bullpen but a blow up in the Sunday night cap could undo that effort and end the season.

Fisher never blinked. He hardly smiled or even showed emotion on the mound as he threw up zero after zero to a Texas Tech lineup that had scored three runs on Brandon Sproat a day before. Fisher limited Texas Tech to five hits and a run over seven innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out six. Brandon Neely relieved the rookie after 93 pitches in the eighth inning.

In his post game press conference, Fisher was again stoic.

“My goal was to finish it out,” Fisher said. “I wanted those last six outs, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do it but Neely came in and closed the door for us.”

He wasn’t able to finish the game, but he earned the win and kept his team alive. Not a bad consilation prize.

The Monday plan

The Gators had been in this seat before. Florida scratched and clawed its way back to a game seven against Oklahome in the 2022 regional only to fall short.

On Monday, Kevin O’Sullivan turned to Ryan Slater. The redshirt sophomore had a chance at redemption. Nearly a year ago to the day, Slater was the losing pitcher in the exact game game seven scenario. The dependable righty had already thrown twice on the weekend. He limited his pitch count to just 30 pitches across those two appearances but how much would he have in the tank?

“The whole key was to get five with Ryan,” O’Sullivan said after the game.

Slater was dominant. He exorcised the demons of 2022. His redemption arc reads as five innings pitched, three hits, no runs, and one strikeout. It also read win.

Slater turned the ball over to Philip Abner who laasted two innings and closer Brandon Neely shut the door on Texas Tech and ended their season.

Getting to a Super regional is hard. There are 299 Division I college baseball teams and only 16 will still be playing baseball next weekend.

Thanks to a pitching staff that posted a 1.63 ERA and a starting pitcher ERA of just 1.45, Florida will be one of those 16 teams.

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