Gator Baseball Gator Baseball: UF at Vandy

FireFoley

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UF travels to Vandy for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series. Thursday nite on SEC Network at 7pm. I think Vandy was #1 or #2 last week but dropped 2 of 3 at A&M. We dropped 2 of 3 at home to Cowbell. I believe Cowbell is ranked #2 this week. Will be tough as Vandy is a very veteran team with numerous SR's and 4th year JR's. Sprinkle in the top ranked recruiting class and there is a reason they were ranked #1 early on. I won't be around this weekend so hopefully someone can post scores and recaps. Really hope we can play well and get a game up there. Of course would love to win the series, but need to be realistic this year and just don;t want to get swept, along with playing quality baseball, in the field and at the plate.
 

BNAG8R

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I'll likely be at the Saturday game
 

rogdochar

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We've got some good hitting freshmen.
Fr. Jud Fabian ... 67 ABs ... 5 HRs
Fr. K. Calila ... 79 ABs ... 3 HRs
(Maldanado ... 79 ABs ... 3 HRs)
Whole team BA ... .298
 

FireFoley

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Well we are close to being goose-egged as we trail 5-0 heading into the 9th inning. Outside of Mace, I can't think of anything positive tonite. Our infield defense is awful and I just don;t know how Young can continue playing 2B with that overhand throwing motion, Another error also by McConnell at SS and Matt Damon can't throw a runner out if the bases were 200 feet apart. Butler comes in to face 3 consecutive left hand batters and could not throw a strike to any of them. Just a horrendous performance, sans Mace.
 

Ocalaman

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Well we are close to being goose-egged as we trail 5-0 heading into the 9th inning. Outside of Mace, I can't think of anything positive tonite. Our infield defense is awful and I just don;t know how Young can continue playing 2B with that overhand throwing motion, Another error also by McConnell at SS and Matt Damon can't throw a runner out if the bases were 200 feet apart. Butler comes in to face 3 consecutive left hand batters and could not throw a strike to any of them. Just a horrendous performance, sans Mace.
Jordan Butler has been a huge disappointment this year. he was pretty good as a freshman and was being counted on to be one of the main guys out of the bullpen, mainly for long term middle relief. He stunk it up tonight and hasn't pitched well all year. Maldanado, Dalton, Langworthy and Smith were being counted on to lead the way against SEC pitching and only Maldanado has held his own. Catcher is a concern and I wonder why Miozzi isn't being given a few games in a row to see what he can do. The freshmen are struggling against big time pitching. The infield is atrocious and unless Reese is hurt he should be back at 2nd base. He was a solid player last year. Young has been a very good leadoff hitter and I would put him in left field and sit Langworthy. The weekend rotation is a step below what we're used to, although Mace was solid tonight, and the bullpen is horrible. Looking more and more like a middle of the pack SEC team this year. Too many holes in all phases of the game.
 

Ocalaman

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Got pounded 15-2 by Vandy Friday night. Dalton & Langworthy didn't start and Reese was back and 2nd base, with Young moving to LF. Didn't matter, Reese made an early error that led to 2 unearned runs, but Leftwich only lasted 3.2 innings, gibing up 8 runs, 6 earned. Bullpen was terrible as usual, giving up 7 more runs, with one of those unearned due to a Fabian error. UF managed only 3 hits, although we did have plenty of opportunities, as Vandy pitchers walked 10. But the experienced guys aren't producing (except for Maldanado) and the young guys (except Young) struggles mightily against quality pitching. 16-9, 1-3 in the SEC with a must win game at 2 pm today.
 

Ocalaman

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Vandy completed the UF sweep today 14-4, outscoring us 34-6 over the 3-game series. Tyler Dyson pitched 3 perfect innings while UF built a quick 2-0 lead. But in the bottom of the 4th he gave up a grand slam, then a 3-run HR in the 5th. Jordan Butler relieved him after Dyson gave up another single and proceed to give up 3 more runs (2 charged to Butler, 1 to Dyson). Hunter Ruth gave up 4 more in the 8th. Langworthy and Dalton started today but neither got a hit and Maldanado went -04 for the 2nd straight game. Gators are struggling big time right now with FSU in Jax on Tuesday, then Alabama at home next weekend. We'll drop way down in the rankings that come out Monday, as we should.
 

Musclepug

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Oh boy, that sucks. Vandy is real good right? So we can fix this? I haven't been watching
 

Ocalaman

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Oh boy, that sucks. Vandy is real good right? So we can fix this? I haven't been watching
Vandy was pre-season #1, but we were #7 I think. Vandy lost 2 out of 3 vs. Texas A&M last week and had dropped to 7th in the rankings, while we were down to #14. We have no bullpen, our weekend starters aren't up to expected levels, the defense is the worst in the O'Sullivan era, our veteran guys aren't producing and our freshmen are up and down. We're close to halfway through the season so we're probably the way we're going to be.
 

FireFoley

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Well it does not appear I missed anything being out of touch for games 2 and 3. It was obviously an awful series and nothing else needs to be said other than this is not a good baseball team right now. I realize that makes me Captain Obvious but not being competitive in any of the games is quite disappointing.
 

Ocalaman

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Just to put in perspective the struggles of our baseball team, O'Sullivan's Gators have won through the years with pitching, defense and timely hitting. As of today, we ranked #13 in the SEC in team ERA at 4.64, #14 in opposing batting average at .261, #14 in strikeouts at 198, #14 in hits allowed at 236, #13 in runs allowed at 138, #13 in earned runs allowed at 118, #13 in home runs given up at 26, #13 in fielding percentage at .968, the worst in errors at 31, last in defensive double plays with 9, 3rd worst in stolen bases against at 25, last in throwing out attempted steals with only 2. We are middle of the pack or a little better in offensive stats and that's where UF normally is. But pitching and defense is way out of character for Florida teams and it's why we're only 16-10, 1-5 in the SEC. And to emphasize again, the front part of our schedule was much easier than the back end, where 24 out of our final 30 games are vs. SEC teams, plus 2 more with FSU. Most teams, especially those playing a lot of new guys, get better as the season progresses. But with the schedule getting more difficult and having watched all but a couple of their games, I'm skeptical. Hope they prove me wrong.
 

Wingtee

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Well we are close to being goose-egged as we trail 5-0 heading into the 9th inning. Outside of Mace, I can't think of anything positive tonite. Our infield defense is awful and I just don;t know how Young can continue playing 2B with that overhand throwing motion, Another error also by McConnell at SS and Matt Damon can't throw a runner out if the bases were 200 feet apart. Butler comes in to face 3 consecutive left hand batters and could not throw a strike to any of them. Just a horrendous performance, sans Mace.
Damn a 200 foot throw to nab a runner , tough deal man.
 

Wingtee

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Mar 11, 2018
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Just to put in perspective the struggles of our baseball team, O'Sullivan's Gators have won through the years with pitching, defense and timely hitting. As of today, we ranked #13 in the SEC in team ERA at 4.64, #14 in opposing batting average at .261, #14 in strikeouts at 198, #14 in hits allowed at 236, #13 in runs allowed at 138, #13 in earned runs allowed at 118, #13 in home runs given up at 26, #13 in fielding percentage at .968, the worst in errors at 31, last in defensive double plays with 9, 3rd worst in stolen bases against at 25, last in throwing out attempted steals with only 2. We are middle of the pack or a little better in offensive stats and that's where UF normally is. But pitching and defense is way out of character for Florida teams and it's why we're only 16-10, 1-5 in the SEC. And to emphasize again, the front part of our schedule was much easier than the back end, where 24 out of our final 30 games are vs. SEC teams, plus 2 more with FSU. Most teams, especially those playing a lot of new guys, get better as the season progresses. But with the schedule getting more difficult and having watched all but a couple of their games, I'm skeptical. Hope they prove me wrong.
Those were tough opening series teams. . We might be able to weather the storm here. However look for a few more ass whippings to come.
 

ChiefGator

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Without dominate pitching the baseball team has never been great. Apparently the pitching is way less than dominate.
 

Ocalaman

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Without dominate pitching the baseball team has never been great. Apparently the pitching is way less than dominate.
Defense goes hand in hand with pitching. We've been 1 or 2 in the SEC and Top 5 in the nation almost every year Sully has been there in fielding percentage. Great infields, great catching where steals were difficult, lots of DP's. We're bad in all those areas this year.
 

ChiefGator

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Defense goes hand in hand with pitching. We've been 1 or 2 in the SEC and Top 5 in the nation almost every year Sully has been there in fielding percentage. Great infields, great catching where steals were difficult, lots of DP's. We're bad in all those areas this year.

I agree but if you strike out a large majority no defense is needed on those individuals, not to mention great pitching results in hitters making it easy on the defense most of the time.
 

FireFoley

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Gators take out the :nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole: 4-2 tonight in Jax. This in no way makes up for the FYST FVVVKKING we took in Nashville this past weekend, but it is always nice to beat those AZZ :nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole::nole: in anything.
 

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