Colleges

Early hole too deep for Gators

TEXAS 4, UF 2: Florida's shaky starting pitching puts it on the brink.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published June 26, 2005

OMAHA, Neb. - Because of Florida's depleted pitching staff, Stephen Locke knew he might be called on to start Game 1 of the College World Series final.

So when coach Pat McMahon confirmed it, the freshman prepared himself mentally for what lied ahead.

Texas was more prepared.

Locke gave up four runs in four innings and the Gators' offense stagnated for most of the game, helping Texas to a 4-2 win Saturday in front of 25,958 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The best-of-three series continues at 3 p.m. today with Florida hoping to force a deciding game Monday.

"Give Texas an awful lot of credit with its pitching and the clutch hits they had," McMahon said.

"We have an opportunity to come out (today) and to play our hearts out again, and by gosh, we will."

After studying his options, McMahon put the Gators' hopes in Locke, who hadn't pitched since May25 and not at all during the postseason. With a hamstring injury to ace Alan Horne and Tommy Boss unavailable after pitching 52/3 innings Thursday, the Gators turned to the former standout at King High in Tampa.

Locke, who started the season strong then struggled late, went four innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs in 56 pitches. When Locke gave way to Connor Falkenbach in the fifth, the Gators trailed 4-0.

"Going into the game, I felt pretty confident," Locke said. "I knew we had a couple of guys ready, and I knew it was going to be a last-second choice. When they told me, I wasn't nervous. They've thrown me in before. But give (Texas) credit. I made a couple of mistakes, and they capitalized. You can't do that with a team like Texas."

The Longhorns took a 1-0 lead in the first when Will Crouch's double scored Nick Peoples, whom Locke walked to open the game. Peoples was in scoring position thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Drew Stubbs.

Two innings later, Crouch made it 2-0 with a home run to leftfield.

David Maroul's two-run homer in the fourth accounted for the final runs.

"After that, there wasn't very much going on but quality pitching and effective defense," Texas coach Augie Garrido said.

The Gators mounted a late rally. After shortstop Justin Tordi opened the eighth with a bunt single, designated hitter Stephen Barton walked. That prompted Garrido to replace Adrian Alaniz (who previously pitched June18) with closer J. Brent Cox.

Cox struck out Jeff Corsaletti and Adam Davis, but passed balls made it second and third. Matt LaPorta's single scored both, and two walks loaded the bases for Brian Leclerc, the Gators' hottest hitter in the postseason. But the Northside Christian graduate struck out to end the rally.

"When he steps to the plate, we always think something great is going to happen," LaPorta said. "He tried. That's the way baseball goes."

Cox closed out the game by striking out the side in the ninth to earn his nation-leading 18th save.

"I knew I had to get it done one way or another," Cox said. "The strikeouts were a blessing. I was just looking to get ground balls."

As it was in their only other postseason loss, 6-1 to Arizona State on Wednesday, the Gators struggled at the plate. Its top four hitters went 3-for-13, including five strikeouts.

After seven innings, Florida had more errors (three) than hits (two).

"He was throwing the ball in the strike zone and getting ahead of batters," LaPorta said of Alaniz. "He did a great job staying ahead of us and keeping us off-balance."

Added Tordi: "He was spotting it pretty well, and when we got guys on base, he shut them down. We fell behind in the counts. Then we had to protect and be a defensive hitter instead of offensive. That's the way the game is."

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 12:55:17]