Florida Baseball’s Young Pitchers Enduring Growing Pains

The No. 8 Florida baseball team has lost back-to-back games partly due to its bullpen.

In Florida’s last two games, the pitching staff gave up 26 runs, with eight by freshman pitchers.

After the Miami series, Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said to not worry about the pitching staff because it was the first time it “fell apart on the mound.”

However, after losing 13-3 at UCF on Tuesday, he said the pitchers mostly threw well, with a mishap from the middle inning pitchers.

“I thought Christian [Rodriguez] threw the ball good, but the middle innings got us with Luke [McNeillie] and Niko [Janssens],” O’Sullivan said. 

Niko Janssens (0-1) lost on Sunday when he loaded bases on four pitches and walking in a batter. Relieving again on Tuesday night, he gave up four runs, three hits and one strikeout on 18 pitches.

Although Rodriguez,   a redshirt freshman, gave up no runs in Sunday’s game, he struck out one in 20 pitches. O’Sullivan said he threw the ball good on Tuesday, Rodriguez gave up four hits, two runs and one strikeout.

Blaine Rowland made his collegiate debut against UCF. Closing for the Gators, he gave up one run and a walk. With more experience on the mound, Rowland will be able to improve his record.

However, not all freshman contributed to the deficits. Aidan King won SEC pitcher of the week. He was the first freshman to receive this award since Tennessee’s Drew Beam in 2022. This season, he’s pitched 101/3 innings, struck out 12 and only gave up two runs and one walk.

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As O’Sullivan continues to give the freshman playing time, they will further adapt to college, more specifically, SEC play.

Redemption

Wednesday marks Florida’s next game against FAU (10-1). If the Gators find a grove on the mound, they will come out on top.

“We’re just going to have to play better in all phases,” O’Sullivan said. 

Florida’s Billy Barlow is expected to throw the first pitch at 6 p.m. with coverage on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF. 

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