Hunter Barco and Nick Ficarrotta’s 18 total strikeouts represent the most by Florida in nine innings of play since June 10, 2017.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Hunter Barco and Nick Ficarrotta struck out a combined 18 batters while scattering three hits to power the No. 15 Gators to a 4-1 win over Georgia State at Florida Ballpark on Friday night.
The 18 total strikeouts for the Gators (4-2) in tonight’s victory represent the most by Florida in nine innings since June 10, 2017 – when Alex Faedo, Brady Singer and Michael Byrne struck out 19 against Wake Forest through the first-nine innings of an 11-inning game. That trio finished with 23 strikeouts by the time Florida walked things off in the bottom of the 11th.
Barco was again brilliant in his second start of the campaign, giving up one run in the first inning and blanking the Panthers across five scoreless frames thereafter. The sophomore southpaw ultimately finished with a career-high 12 strikeouts, topping his previous best of 11 set in last Friday’s season opener.
The Gators took their first at bats of night with a deficit, as the Panthers (4-2) broke into the scoring column in the opening frame. Josh Smith led off the game with a triple to right center and later came around to score on an RBI groundout by Cameron Jones.
From that point forward, it was all Florida in game one. Barco and Ficarrotta proceeded to shut out Georgia State for the remaining eight innings while allowing just two hits.
In the bottom half of the first, Florida quickly responded and jumped out in front with a two-run inning. Colby Halter and Jud Fabian collected singles to begin the inning, then moved over to second and third on a Sterlin Thompson groundout to second. Wyatt Langford then drove in Halter with a groundout to shortstop, while Fabian touched home on a wild pitch the very next batter.
Langford added to the Gator lead in the third, launching a solo home run to right field for his second Friday night long ball in as many games. That marked the second RBI of the game for Langford, setting a new career high.
With a 3-0 lead in hand, Barco was in cruise control after giving up a run in the first. Barco produced scoreless frames from the second-through-sixth innings, reaching nine strikeouts by the end of the fifth.
Barco struck out the side in the sixth inning to bring an end to his night – his second time striking out the side of the game.
Ficarrotta took over for Barco in the seventh and navigated the Gators through the final-three innings of play. On his way to earning his second save of the season, Ficarrotta finished with 3.0 scoreless, perfect innings with six strikeouts.
Josh Rivera gave Florida some much-needed insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning. On a 1-2 count, the Gator shortstop connected for a solo home run over the right-center field wall to make it 4-1 in favor of Florida.
Barco earned his second win in as many starts, pitching 6.0 shutout innings on three hits and one walk while striking out 12. The left-hander now has 23 strikeouts and just two walks across 12.0 innings this season, translating to 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings and an 11.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His ERA sits at 0.75 through two starts to open the campaign.
Georgia State starting pitcher Brandon Kaminer was saddled with the loss, lasting 4.0 innings with three earned runs allowed on seven hits and two walks. He struck out four.
Halter (2ofor-4), J. Fabian (2-for-4) and Rivera (2-for-3) all recorded multi-hit games for the Gators. Meanwhile, Halter and Thompson extended their season-opening hitting streaks to six games apiece.
NOTABLES
* Barco struck out a career-high 12 batters in tonight’s win, topping his previous best of 11 set in last Friday’s season opener.
* Barco improves to 9-1 in his last-12 starts dating back to last season.
* The southpaw now has 23 strikeouts across 12.0 innings to open the season, translating to 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
* Barco is now 2-0 on the season with a 0.75 ERA.
* Florida improves to 11-2 all-time vs. Georgia State including 10-1 at home.
* Florida is 3-0 vs. Georgia State under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
* The Gators extend their winning streak over the Panthers to nine-straight games.
* With 18 strikeouts tonight, the Florida pitching staff has registered double-digit strikeouts in each of the first-six games of the 2022 season.
* Florida’s 18 strikeouts are the program’s most in nine innings of play since June 10, 2017.
* Florida improves to 30-6 across the program’s last-36 regular season games at Florida Ballpark.
* The Gators are 15-3 in their last-18 regular season home games.
* Thompson and Halter extended their season-opening hitting streaks to six games.
* Freshman outfielder Ty Evans made his first-career start.
* Langford set a new-career high with two RBI in tonight’s game while picking up his second home run of the season.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Hunter Barco’s performance…
“Typically, the second start is usually not as sharp. He extended in the first outing and sometimes, physically they don’t feel the same, but he was really good tonight. He gave up a leadoff triple and kept it to one. He was really good. I thought the tempo between Mac [Guscette] and Barco and even Ficarrotta when he came in, was fast-paced. It was really good. Barco was really good tonight. He was really, really good. That’s two outings in a row. Ficarrotta, too. He comes in and does a really nice job. It was a really good clean game pitching-wise because of him.”
On the offense tonight…
“He’s [Josh Rivera] not the only one. Colby continues to swing the bat good. Jud had some really good at bats. Deric Fabian hit a ball hard the other way. Obviously, Wyatt hit the home run the other way. I thought our approaches were better tonight. I thought we hit some balls hard. I thought our approaches were good. We weren’t pulling off the ball. The only negative thing is we had first and second with nobody out and we had three-consecutive at bats where we hit with two strikes. That was the point of the game to open it up. I told the team at the end, if you want me to put a drag bunt on with first and second with nobody out to make sure we get a run through, then you’re going to force my hand. We got to score even if it’s just one. Wyatt had a really good at bat the previous at bat, hit a home run the other way which is really hard to do. We had the momentum. We had two really good at bats. Then you got to pass the baton on to the next guy and have a really good at bat. I think that’s the thing, when there is blood in the water, you got to take advantage of it. That was an important part in the game.”
On Georgia State’s aggressiveness…
“Yeah. I mean, they’re good now. I remember playing them last year, obviously, and all those kids were freshmen. If you go back and look at the schedule they played, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more aggressive schedule than they played last year. When you look, those players in the other dugout are battle tested… I mean it’s pretty impressive. They’ve been seasoned. They’ve been challenged. They’ve played the top, top competition. I mean, they’re quality and I knew that coming in. I told our players yesterday to not take anything for granted. I don’t care who you play, but they are a really good club.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Georgia State return to action on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. in game two of the three-game series. All three games of the set will stream live on SEC Network+.
