Price moves back to bullpen; Koumas starts Game 2 against UF
The sight of Matt Price trotting out of the bullpen for the first time this season proved to be the magic South Carolina needed to win Thursday night’s series opener against No. 1 Florida.
The same couldn’t be said for Saturday.
After keeping the Gators’ bats in check in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to maintain a 3-3 tie, the All-American right-hander surrendered a two-run triple to Nolan Fontana in the ninth, allowing Florida to escape with a series-clinching win.
“I felt great out there again today. It was just that last pitch to Fontana,” Price said. “I left it in the middle and he hit it.”
In spite of that final inning, however, Price said he felt comfortable returning to his closer role after spending the first month of the season in the starting rotation and wouldn’t be opposed to making that return permanent.
“It was exciting to be back in the bullpen again and having that adrenaline rush like I’ve had before in the past two years,” Price said. “I don’t know what the coaches have decided. I guess I’ll leave that up to them.”
When asked about keeping Price in the bullpen in the future, coach Ray Tanner said it’s a decision that appears likely.
“I’m not 100 percent, but I liked what happened this weekend,” Tanner said. “He helped us win that first game, and we had an opportunity to win today with him in the bullpen.
The move would leave the Saturday starting job up for grabs, and although right-hander Forrest Koumas would be expected to fill that role, Tanner said nothing is certain at this point for next weekend’s series at Vanderbilt.
“[Michael Roth] will pitch the first game, and then we’ll go from there,” Tanner said. “I’m not sure [if] we’ll make some adjustments, but after spending some hours with [pitching coach Jerry Meyers], I’ll listen. If he has some suggestions, then we’ll go from there.”
Although Koumas struggled Saturday in his first start of the season — allowing six runs on four hits and five walks in just one inning of work — Tanner said he wasn’t discouraged about his ability to rejoin the rotation.
“I thought he really had a live arm,” Tanner said. “He started the game with a strikeout looking on Fantana, and quickly they had a three-run blast on us and we got down real quick. You play a good team and leave a couple balls up and that’s what will happen. But I thought he had good stuff and I was encouraged by the way he went out there.”
The other likely candidate for Saturday would be left-hander Tyler Webb, but after another strong outing from the bullpen Saturday — allowing no runs on two hits in three and two-thirds innings — Tanner said he’s been pleased with his performance as a middle reliever.
“He’s done a good job in the role that we’ve used him in and it worked for us,” Tanner said. “But that’s something that we’ll talk about as we go through the week.”