Gators Defeat Stetson During Protest
The Gator’s Tuesday matchup was probably the outright strangest one that we’ll see all season. In an away trip to DeLand, Florida, to play against the Stetson Hatters, Florida came out 6-1 victors. However, the scoreline is a poor indication of what actually happened: a 5-run win should always be celebrated, but this matchup felt more like a soggy piece of bread.
The game started with unusually poor batting for the Gators. Stetson star pitcher Dylan Jacobs started the game and held us to three scoreless innings. Our starting pitcher, Billy Barlow, was also able to keep Stetson at bay. Unfortunately, this broke down during the fourth inning when a sacrifice fly by Stetson Left Fielder Jordan Taylor allowed a run to score.
Down 1-0, the Gators resorted to smallball. At the top of the sixth with runners on the corners and one out, Stetson struck out batter Brendan Lawson. At the same time, Colby Shelton (the runner on first) darted for second. Stetson’s catcher put the ball past second base and into center field, allowing Bobby Boser (the runner on third) to find his way home to tie the game 1-1. This would turn out to be Stetson’s trademark on the game: more then the Gators winning it, the Hatters lost it.
In the away frame of the seventh, the Gators did their work with Blake Cyr launching the first pitch of the inning over the wall and out of the park. The Gators took a narrow 2-1 lead in what could only be described as a tense game. Both teams were playing well, with the singular error costing Stetson more than could be imagined. Unfortunately, the bottom of the seventh would totally derail the game.
With freshman sensation Aidan King pitching in relief, there was a runner on third and two outs. Batter Salvador Alvarez, who had earlier been the catcher to flub the throw and let the Gators score, sent a ball off of King’s glove and got to first before the throw. It seemed like the Hatters had tied the game 2-2. On review, Alvarez had actually committed a mistake: he had touched the wrong part of the base. A new rule this season has given the batter a specific part of first he must reach on the foul side of the line, and Alvarez wasn’t able to touch this part. On this technicality, he was out and the run didn’t score.
Stetson were obviously enraged, as I’m sure we would be if this same thing happened to the Gators. A small rule which barely changes anything potentially costing us the game. On the review, the Gators didn’t appeal specifically to the first base ump, which Stetson claim had to be done. Because of this, Stetson coach Steve Trimper filed an official protest on the game. If this protest is upheld, the game will be ruled null restarted from the exact position when the protest was filed.
Celebration of Cade Kurland Home Run. Image from @GatorsBB on Twitter/X
Later on in the game, the Gators sealed the win through Cade Kurland. Kurland hit a three-run home run to make it 5-1, but again Stetson couldn’t stop getting in their own way. The ball came off the glove of a Hatter outfielder and went for a home run. This was the third such mistake that cost the Hatters in this game. Kyle Jones hit an RBI single in the ninth to grant the Gators the 6-1 lead they ended the game with.
To reiterate what I said earlier: we did not win. Stetson lost. If Stetson had committed fewer mistakes, we probably still would have won. But the Hatters would have made it a much tenser game than it had to be, and they probably would’ve played with much more enthusiasm towards the end. The Gators are 8-0, but they have to be better going into this weekend’s series against Miami.
