Don Williams column: In unexpected duel of freshmen pitchers, Red Raiders fall short

Cade Fisher's second start as a college pitcher came in the championship round of the NCAA Gainesville Regional. All season, with one exception, the freshman lefthander had pitched out of the Florida bullpen.

You could have fooled Tim Tadlock.

"He looked like a starter to me," the Texas Tech coach said. "I mean, he was outstanding."

Fisher, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound player to watch in SEC seasons to come, led the Gators to a 7-1 victory Sunday night against Texas Tech in the championship round. Now both teams have one loss in the double elimination tournament, and they'll play again at 11 a.m. CDT Monday to determine which one advances to a super regional this coming week.

Scores, pairings:NCAA Gainesville regional results, schedule, how to watch

Fisher, 17-1 with 300 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings last year, was rated the No. 1 high-school pitcher in Georgia and a top-125 national recruit. He doled out only five hits to the Red Raiders and left with a 4-0 lead in the eighth after Will Burns doubled leading off and Nolen Hester put down a bunt single.

The most surprising part of Fisher's performance perhaps was that he lasted into the eighth, given that his previous longest outing of the season had been four innings.

It's not surprising in the sense that June baseball is the territory of unexpected heroes, especially deep into tournaments. Almost has to be. 

Sunday night was Florida's fourth game in three days, Tech's third. The Gators had burned their weekend rotation, a talented one with two top-100 prospects for this summer's draft, plus a finalist for the John Olerud two-way player of the year award. Tech's weekend rotation the last few weeks of Big 12 play consisted of Mason Molina, the now-sidelined Trendan Parish and still trying to decide. 

The Red Raiders, if they were going to shock college baseball by emerging the winner in Gainesville, needed to achieve it as quickly as possible. Sunday night was probably the night to do it. Zane Petty matched zeroes with Fisher for five innings, giving the Red Raiders an unexpected hero of their own.

Not that Petty and Fisher aren't capable. Both came highly credentialed, could be in pro ball now had they preferred.

But it was impressive stuff for two freshmen, not even rotation regulars, to hold down two of this season's most potent lineups, in Petty's case two times through the Gators' order and in Fisher's case three times through the Red Raiders' order.

It fell apart for Tech in a wacky sixth inning that started with the Gators getting an infield single and a double on a catchable ball to deep center that Gage Harrelson was more or less under but couldn't find.

It didn't seem to me, nor to Tadlock, that he lost it in the lights.

"I would say it was just really right there at dusk," Tadlock said, "and it looked to me it was just maybe a tough sky.  The ball was hit really well also. It did bounce out of the ballpark."

The Red Raiders temporarily escaped the second-and-third, no-out jam by throwing out both runners at the plate on the same play. On a Wyatt Langford ground ball, third baseman Kevin Bazzell threw home to nail lead runner Richie Schiekofer. When Langford circled first and got into a rundown, Cade Kurland made a dash for home and first baseman Gavin Kash cut him down at the plate, too.

But with the heat off, the Red Raiders couldn't get out of the inning. The next five batters reached against Jase Lopez, and four scored.

I would have stuck with Petty, thought so in the moment. 

The reasons for pulling him are multiple: He's a freshman, about to face, for the third time, maybe the most dangerous heart of an order in college baseball this season: Langford, Jac Caglianone, Josh Rivera, B.T. Riopelle. To refresh the memory, Langford figures to be a top-five pick next month, Caglianone has 31 home runs, Rivera's a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award and Riopelle had a three-homer, 10-RBI week at the SEC tournament. The four have 77 home runs among them. 

Too, while Petty had strung zeroes through five innings, Langford and Caglianone both had narrowly missed home runs by not much their previous time up. Zac Vooletich ran down Langford's opposite-field drive as he ran into the right-field wall. Hester got under Caglianone's opposite-field shot maybe a step in front of the left-field wall.

Fair enough, the reluctance to let Petty face them again. Pulling the young righthander in that spot -- after the missed fly ball in center, two on nobody out -- is a conventional baseball move these days.

The Red Raiders, meanwhile, never put enough heat on Fisher to make Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan have to think about lifting him. His adrenaline presumably coursing, he cruised through seven. 

"Looked like he changed speeds, pitched on both sides of the plate, it seemed like," Tadlock said. "He really just didn't give us anywhere to go the whole day."

So the Red Raiders and the Gators will play again on Monday. Which side will have the hero you don't expect?

FLORIDA 7, TEXAS TECH 1

Florida 000 004 003 — 7 7 0

Texas Tech 000 000 010 — 1 7 2

Fisher, Neely (8) and Riopelle; Petty, J. Lopez (6), Lysik (6), Bravo (9) and White. W—Fisher (6-0). L—Petty (3-2). 2B—Florida, Kurland (16), Langford (24); Texas Tech, Burns (2). Records: Florida 47-15, Texas Tech 41-22.