Hurston Waldrep delivers in biggest game of his life

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When Kevin O’Sullivan saw Hurston Waldrep’s name in the transfer portal he didn’t waste a minute. Florida was the first school to contact Waldrep. It also helped that the Florida skipper was part of the USA Collegiate National coaching staff, where Waldrep played this summer. O’Sullivan knew his team would be good in 2023 but if they could add an arm like Waldrep, it could tip the scales from good to great.

Saturday night, standing atop the mound at Condron Family Ballpark, Waldrep was everything and more than O’Sullivan could have imagined.

“Waldrep was incredible today. There’s no two ways about it. (Waldrep) was incredible. He would’ve beaten anybody in the country today,” South Carolina manager Mark Kingston said after the game. “He was on a mission and he was as good as I’ve seen in that situation maybe in 20 years. For a guy to pitch like that, to carry his team to Omaha, he put them on his back and you’ve got to give him credit.”

Waldrep had been solid for the Gators all season. Pitching the middle of the weekend he had been reliable. He’ll be a first-round pick when the MLB Draft convenes in July. Saturday, he looked as good as any pitcher in the country when the Gators needed him to be just that.

Waldrep has an inauspicious start

Whether it was the moment, the stage, the rain delay, or something else, Saturday afternoon started miserably for the junior right-hander. Waldrep went through his normal routine. He ran sprints, stretched, and threw on flat ground. Everything was normal.

When he got on the bullpen mound to warm up he wasn’t right.

“That was probably one of the worst bullpens I’ve ever thrown in my life,” Waldrep said. “I actually ended it early because it was pretty bad. Missing spots. I didn’t have any feel for my pitches, I think I landed like one curveball. I didn’t know where my fastball was going. The rain delay had me a little messed up mentally.”

Waldrep was the golfer that sprays balls all over the driving range only to come up on the first tee to split the fairway with his first drive.

“The game aspect changes how you view everything,” he said.

Waldrep would allow a bloop single to Will McGillis in the top of the first but skated through the rest of the inning without blemish. He wouldn’t allow another hit until the bottom of the sixth inning. In total, he would last eight-plus innings. He didn’t surrender a run and allowed just three hits and two walks to 13 strikeouts. He was throwing smoke at a South Carolina lineup that had tagged him for five runs earlier in the season.

“The game was sped up on us and we were just chasing balls in the dirt. Our approach last time was have the top part of the zone and we weren’t executing that. We were just chasing balls in the dirt,” freshman Ethan Petry said. “He threw 1-2 counts, 0-2 counts, he’s 15% strikes to lefties and 22% strikes to righties. So, we just had to see it up and we didn’t.”

A new approach

Waldrep possesses a fastball that has hit triple digits. It’s an eclectic pitch, one that he relied on in his previous start against the Gamecocks. On Saturday, he used another approach.

Waldrep’s main secondary pitch is a split finger that is one of the nastiest pitches in the country. It’s the pitch he goes to in order to get outs but it was his slider, a pitch he hardly threw in the beginning of the season that was the difference Saturday.

“It’s big. The slider helps my fastball a ton,” Waldrep said. “Being able to land the slider early and then even having it as a put away pitch late. Mostly to get ahead. It changes the way my fastball plays so I don’t have to rely heavily on my fastball. I can use it much more freely later in counts. Having the slider in the back pocket, they know it’s there and they know I can land it. It’s a gamechanger for my repertoire.”

Around this time last year, Kevin O’Sullivan thought the right-hander from Southern Miss could be the difference for his ballclub. Saturday night, Hurston Waldrep proved him right and punched Florida’s ticket to Omaha.

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