Florida Baseball continues to scramble for pitching solutions after loss to FSU
Kevin O'Sullivan hasn't been shy this season about calling out his pitching staff. Despite scoring eight runs, Florida Baseball lost to FSU 12-8 to move to 10-6 on the season.
And as the losses start to stack up for the Gators, O'Sullivan is still searching for reliable pitchers he can count on.
Florida Baseball: Same Old Story
Alex Philpott took the mound for the Gators and looked composed in the 1st inning, getting a strikeout and getting through the inning scoreless with minimal angst.
The 2nd inning was a different story. FSU started laying off his off-speed pitches, and the bases were quickly loaded. He didn't get help from his defense, as Cade Kurland committed a backbreaking error that allowed two runs to score when it would have ended the inning, and Philpott's night was soon over.
The conga line of pitchers that followed did little to stabilize the scoreboard as Jameson Fisher and Grayson Smith both gave up two runs and the Gators fell behind 7-0.
Kurland would hit a grand slam in the 4th inning to make it 7-5 and gave Florida a breath of life.
Then Ryan Slater gave up three runs in 6th inning, and by the time Jake Clemente gave up two runs in the 8th, the mini-rally the Gators tried to put together in the 9th was semantics.
Florida has scored at least five runs in all but one game this season and are 10-6. In fact in their last four losses the Gators have scored at least six runs.
Florida has only had a pitcher come out of the bullpen and pitch at least one inning without giving up a run on seven occasions in their last five games, going back to last week's UCF game.
In that same stretch, Florida has had a pitcher come out of the bullpen and give up at least one run 11 different times.
Combined with less-than-convincing starts from Cade Fisher and Liam Peterson last week, the narrative for Florida is that they need pitching solutions, and they need them quickly as SEC play begins this Friday with Texas A&M coming to town.