GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It is no secret that the Gators have been seeking a consistent winning formula throughout the season. With many new faces on the team and several critical veterans gone from last year, fans have seen several changes in the starting lineup.
Recently, freshman outfielder
Hayden Yost has worked his way to secure a spot in the starting outfield. On Tuesday, Yost made his 25th appearance and his seventh start of the season in Florida's 10-8 victory against FAU. Batting in the bottom half of the lineup, Yost played a massive role in contributing to the Gators' win.
Yost went 2-for-3 with a stolen base, improving his batting average from .289 to .317 in a single game. This was just his third multi-hit game, with a leadoff single to center field in the fifth and a leadoff double to right field in the seventh. The freshman from Tampa also scored a team-high three runs, thanks to his ability to get on base and find ways to become a runner in scoring position by taking advantage of past balls and hits from his teammates.
Yost didn't just have a productive night offensively, but also maintained a perfect fielding percentage, and had three putouts. He opened the game with a diving catch in left field to record the second out of the first inning and showed off his ability to play any position in the outfield after being moved to center field in the top of the eighth inning.
Outfielder Hayden Yost flashed some impressive glove work against Florida Atlantic on Tuesday. (Photo: Molly Kaiser/UAA Communications)
The fans have seen the freshman be hit or miss throughout the season, but there is a learning curve from high school to college ball.
"You just don't know when the light is going to go on for freshmen,'' Gators head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan said. "And then Hayden, in all fairness to him, he hasn't had a tremendous amount of opportunities the first half of the year, but now he's making the most of them, and he's a good player."
Yost has undoubtedly made himself a top contender for the starting position in left field, and we can expect to see more from the freshman as the season continues. The first of a three-game weekend series at Condron Ballpark starts Thursday night when the Gators host Tennessee.
"I think the next thing we'll see is how he handles left-on-left situations and really, really start to get the bunt game going and the ability to steal bases," O'Sullivan said. "He's had a great couple of weeks."
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