The Gators baseball season started today, with a renewed hope for success following a dismal .500 record in 2006 and a last-place finish in the SEC.
Unfortunately it looked like more of the same tonight for the Gators, as they took one on the chin at the hands of the VMI 5-3. The loss came in front of a home crowd of nearly 4,000 fans at McKethan Stadium tonight to watch the season opener.
"I love you guys." (Gatorzone Photo)
Junior Bryan Augenstein got the opening night start for the Gators, but was unfortunately saddled with the loss after only giving up 2 ER through 6 innings pitched. He threw a total of 101 pitches on the evening, striking out 5 and walking 3 batters. Augenstein also hit a VMI batter, resulting in a run when the next batter to the plate knocked an RBI double.
VMI scored 3 unearned runs as a result of 2 Gators errors on the evening. The runs all came in a disastrous 5th inning when the Gators gave up 4 to the opposition.
Tough way to start the '07 campaign, but hopefully we will see some brighter days starting tomorrow when the Gators take on VMI once again.
For future reference I will have a running diary on the 2007 season with game by game results and analysis. I plan on posting series recaps when the team gets done with a series (the best that I can) -- if you'd like to discuss the 2007 Gators baseball team, feel free in the diaries.