Sunday was a good example of the way college baseball is. The
team that won the big three-game series between ranked teams was down in
the dumps while the team that lost the series celebrated.
No. 16 Cal State
Fullerton salvaged the third game of the series with an 8-5 win over the
top-ranked Gators on a windy day that turned chippy in the sixth
inning.
“We played with them,” said Fullerton coach Dave Vanderhook. “They might not think we did but we did.”
Florida
won the first two games of the series with superior pitching,
especially out of the bullpen. But on Sunday, the bullpen faltered after
Florida built a 3-0 lead.
Brian
Johnson gave the Gators four scoreless innings. But this early in the
season he was on a pitch count and left the game after 75 pitches.
Jonathon Crawford came in to allow four runs on five hits in one-third
of the inning. He gave up a bunt single an infield single and another
single that bounced over third baseman Josh Tobias' head.
“I
don't think Jonathan Crawford threw the ball that poorly,” said Florida
coach Kevin O'Sullivan. “I think he threw the ball OK. It wasn't that
bad. After that, it wasn't pretty.”
Down
4-3, Florida turned to Steven Rodriguez with two on and two out in the
sixth. Rodriguez, who pitched well Friday night, allowed an RBI single
to Carlos Lopez and then a first-pitch homer to J.D. Davis to give the
Titans an 8-3 lead.
This is where things got a little testy.
There
had been some jawing at first base over a couple of close plays and
some nudging that had happened on both sides. When Lopez, the Fullerton
third baseman, crossed the plate ahead of Davis' home run, he shouted an
aggressive double expletive.
Rodriguez
threw the next pitch behind Austin Kingslover and was ejected from the
game. Order was restored before things got out of hand.
“I
think Rodriguez got a little pissed,” said Vanderhook. “Our guys got
excited. He didn't like the way they acted. I'd have probably done the
same thing if I was on the other side.”
O'Sullivan said Rodriguez may face a suspension because he was ejected from the game.
“We
lost our poise a little bit out there,” he said. “Emotions were running
high. Nothing good happens when something like that happens.”
Florida cut into the lead with a Preston Tucker home run in the seventh and a Nolan Fontana RBI single in the eighth.
But
the Gators left nine runners on base and Florida missed a big
opportunity with runners on second and third with nobody out up 3-0 and
failed to score.
“Offensively,
we've got to do a better job of moving the ball,” O'Sullivan said.
“We're better offensively than we showed this weekend.
“We won two out of three, but we showed we have some things we have to improve on.”
A crowd of 4,082 Sunday brought the three-day total to 14,389, the best
opening weekend in school history and the third best three-game home
series attendance ever for UF.
