Despite a third straight strong performance from starter Liam Peterson, Florida State fell to High Point 7-2 in Friday night’s series opener.
He threw a no-hitter in the sixth inning, but an increase in pitches and walks took him out of the game earlier than he would have liked. High Point surprised the Gators with its performance on short plays, where defensive miscues led to runs. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said the Panthers exposed his team in that area, and Florida State hasn’t been challenged much this season.
advertise
While Salley credited High Point starting pitcher Wade Walton and the Panthers’ defense for a great game, he also highlighted the team’s lack of execution. Peterson responded by focusing on his four walks, which created scoring opportunities after he left the game.
O’Sullivan said the focus now is on correcting those mistakes and finishing the weekend with a series win ahead of SEC play.
Kevin O’Sullivan on loss to High Point
“Obviously, it’s not — (Liam) was really good tonight. The walk probably got him a pitch count — that’s the biggest takeaway. Credit high. Their starters are really good. He came in with two ERAs, moved his fastball to both sides of the plate and had a really good changeup, some depth. They played great defense, too.
advertise
“Honestly, we were a little exposed tonight. We haven’t been exposed against a lot of teams like they were on the basepath. We’ve got to do a better job of controlling the second runner. We were exposed on the bunt, so we’ve got to do a better job. Obviously, walking seven guys hurts.”
About the use of bullpens
“We optioned Russ. He walked the leadoff man. Ernie (Lugo Canciola) came in and did his job again, but he pitched on Wednesday, so we didn’t want to re-sign him. Jackson Barbery has been great for us all year. He came in with no one on, 7 -8-9, three right-handers in a row. He walked the leadoff hitter, and the drag bunt with two outs probably hurt us, and then the ball fell in front of Kyle (Jones) and I thought he got the lead off.
About Jackson Hoyt’s Outing
“I thought Jackson Hoyt had a good first inning. You guys knew we were getting some help out of the left side outside of Ernie. He gave up a hit on the first pitch in the top of the ninth inning and obviously didn’t get us out, which was a freshman error, and walked the next guy four straight.
advertise
“I thought Eli (Blair) came in and did a really good job. But once again he didn’t cover first base with negative base runners. He was like a 4.8 base runner.”
On lessons learned, late non-conference games
“We’ll get together tomorrow, but the biggest takeaway this time is we have to defend the bunt better, we have to control the second runner better. Even though we struck out 17 times, they forced us to up the pitch count and they hit the ball well. There’s no getting around that.”
On whether the team is forward-looking
“It seems like every fourth weekend — I don’t know if that’s because we’re playing five games a week or looking forward to SEC games. That’s no excuse. It seems like it’s the fourth weekend that we’re not playing our best baseball, but it’s just one game. We’ve been playing really well. There’s no reason to raise any red flags.
advertise
“Our pitching staff is really good, our bats are swinging really good. We just faced a really good pitcher tonight. Looking across the country, if you don’t play your best, anybody can beat anybody.”
About Liam Peterson’s Outing
“He’s looking really good. That’s how he’s been in his last three starts. If you take out his first start of the year, he’s been pretty dominant.
“We need to get Russ (El Sanford) back out there more often. I think he’s only pitched once since Opening Night, but he’s got a good arm. Jackson (Barbery) has been great for us all year. We’ve got Skyler (Sanford), we’ve got (Joshua) Waritnour. I like where we’re pitching. Tonight was not our night.”
advertise
When Barbary went out to play
“I hope so. He threw a really good bullpen heading into the weekend and his first inning was good. It’s just, he gave Upa a single in the sixth hole. That happens to guys, they give you outs. He just didn’t throw the ball over the plate.”
Regarding next steps
“There are some negatives to this game; but, if you’re going to get beat, you’ve got to sit down and talk about what our issues are. Obviously, they’re pretty obvious. We didn’t handle the short game well. We haven’t seen a lot of that this year. The positive takeaway is we’ve got to spend more time in that area making practice improvements.
advertise
“Walton did a really good job on the mound. His fastball, I know the score was 90-92, but the fastball was a little high for us and you don’t see a lot of right-handed changeups very often. We hit the ball hard, but they defended really well. That’s the game. We just got beat.”
“We’re 13-2 and playing really well. I hope we get a really good start tomorrow from Aidan. We’re going to go to work and fix the things we need to fix.”
Liam Peterson throws no-hitter in sixth inning
“I feel good. Stuff-wise, it’s good, but I still walked four or five people. I still feel like I need to clean up a lot of stuff, but that stuff was never really an issue.”
advertise
Handling walks or missed calls on the mound
“I’m just trying to take it one step at a time. I’ve been working on it mentally, and that’s the big thing for me – not taking things too far. My freshman year, I showed that a lot. Now, I just tell myself, ‘OK, you walked a guy, I can’t go back and undo them.’ Let’s go from there.”
“No matter what, I like to start pitching from the stretch. I just focus on one pitch at a time and try not to ramble on about what’s happened.”
Facing a high-point lineup
“I thought we beat ourselves. I walked a bunch of guys and put Russ in a really sticky situation. Obviously, things happen. There’s nothing wrong with their lineup — they’re a very good team — but ultimately, I think we beat ourselves. I thought we hit a lot of guys and got a lot of weak contact, but when you walk guys, weak contact ends up allowing them to score. We just have to be better at avoiding free bases.”
advertise
Knows when his stuff works
“When I really bite on my slider, that’s when I’m really confident. I feel like I can get through the lineup with my fastball and slider at least twice. Obviously, as we get into SEC play, I’m going to mix it up more. Usually when my fastball and slider are on, that’s when I’m at my best.”
when he knew he had it in the beginning
“I usually know it in the bullpen. The first weekend and the weeks leading up to it, my slider didn’t feel right, but it’s been at its best the last three weeks. It didn’t feel good today, but once I got through the first inning, I just reminded myself to stay in shape and stay the course.”
advertise
follow us @GatorsWire on X (formerly Twitter) and blue skyand like our page Facebook Follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Baseball Quotes: O’Sullivan, Peterson after loss to High Point
