Alex Faedo, Alex Lange Shine In SEC Pitching Duel

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—In a hotly contested Friday night matchup, Southeastern Conference aces Alex Faedo (Florida) and Alex Lange (Louisiana State) went toe-to-toe. Each junior righthander brought his best stuff in front of a host of scouts.

Lange allowed one run on on six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, but Faedo emerged victorious, guiding the Gators to a 1-0 win—their first in Southeastern Conference play in four games—with a masterful performance at McKethan Stadium. Faedo hurled seven shutout innings, striking out seven and walking none while allowing seven hits; he threw 114 pitches and 73 strikes.

It was Faedo’s best start of the year, representing a 180-degree turn from last weekend, when he struggled and was beaten up by Auburn. Faedo said Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan challenged him to step up against a talented Louisiana State lineup.

“I can’t give those bad outings to start series off, so it was nice going out there and putting up a lot of zeroes,” Faedo said.

Against Auburn, Faedo didn’t make it through the fifth inning before he walked six batters and allowed six runs. Faedo said that one of the keys to his bounceback performance was his trust in O’Sullivan.

“I listened to Sully a little bit more. I didn’t shake him off as much. He knows what he’s doing and I need to trust him more,” Faedo said. “I did a good job with that tonight and he did a great job preparing me for the hitters.”

“I think I was just getting in my head a little bit, overanalyzing things. And he told me, ‘Just go out there and trust your stuff. I’ve got the pitch calling. Just go out there and throw what I call and just give it your best effort.’ It helps you, it makes you not think as much out there.”

Trusting O’Sullivan, and his devastating three-pitch mix, turned out well for Faedo. He was able to command his fastball all night, spotting it with pinpoint precision for most of the game. Faedo, who throws from a lower three-quarters arm slot, used impeccable command and deception to baffle LSU hitters.

Faedo’s fastball showed plus movement for most of the night, showing late sinking action when he located it down in the zone. He was able to shove his fastball in on the hands of righthanded batters with late arm-side finish when he wanted to, or get on the side his fastball and create cutter-like finish while using it as a chase pitch against righties.

When he wasn’t missing bats, Faedo was able to clip the edges of the barrels; of the 19 balls put in play against him, nine were hit with topspin and hit the ground before escaping the infield. He also induced four popups and four catchable routine fly balls.

The righthander’s signature slider came as advertised on Friday night. It was unquestionably a plus pitch, thrown with fastball tilt out of his hand, and exceptionally late bite to baffle opposing batters. Faedo threw it early and often. He wasn’t afraid to start hitters off with his slider or double up on it, comfortably competing with the pitch in the strike zone. He was able to manipulate its shape, showing more horizontal length when using it as a chase pitch away from righties or to the back foot of lefties while showing shorter and often more vertical break when he pitched with it in the strike zone. Faedo mixed in a few decent changeups but did not rely on the offering. Given his athleticism and his ability to turn over his fastball from his lower slot, further developing his changeup at the next level shouldn’t be an overwhelming challenge.

“I think he’s been overanalyzing some things and obviously he’s very prepared going into every start, but the bottom line is if Alex Faedo commands the ball, he’s going to have success against anybody. He’s that talented,” O’Sullivan said of his ace. “I think sometimes we tend to overthink things and what guys can’t hit rather than what we do. And (we tried) to simplify it for him.”

But Faedo wasn’t the only SEC ace named Alex who excelled on Friday night.

“Lange was on his game. He was going back and forth. He was hitting his breaking ball, he threw a couple changeups,” O’Sullivan said in praise of his opponent. “He usually goes mostly glove-side, (but tonight) he was going back and forth with his fastball. He’s downhill. You know, we had a plan but it kind of changed in the fourth inning. We could tell he was hitting his breaking ball.”

Lange went toe to toe with Faedo, retiring the first eight batters he faced. He showed potent stuff early and often, pitching with a 92-95 mph heater that he was able to spot down and to either side of the plate for most of the night. Lange’s breaking ball showed late 12-to-6 dive and he was mostly able to locate it with precision for strikes in the zone.

Lange’s biggest test came in the fifth inning. After allowing consecutive singles to Nelson Maldonado and Mike Rivera, Lange fielded a sacrifice bunt from Christian Hicks, then threw the ball away. The bases were loaded with no outs.

After a mound visit from pitching coach Alan Dunn, the righthander settled down. He struck out both Ryan Larson and Nick Horvath, getting both righthanded hitters to swing over glove-side curveballs with late 12-to-6 finish.

Then Lange threw the kitchen sink at Dalton Guthrie, whom he’d already face twice before. Lange worked away from the righthanded Guthrie, starting him off with a curveball on the outer half for a called strike. After two fastballs away off the plate, Lange equalized the count, getting Guthrie to swing over a changeup down and away. At 2-2, Lange missed the catcher’s mitt with a fastball. Instead of spotting it away, the pitch ran into the middle of the zone and Guthrie stayed inside it, shooting a sharp line drive to the right side. Fortunately for Lange, second baseman Cole Freeman was all over it, gloving the pitch and casually trotting back to the dugout as the Tigers neutralized the threat.

For the Gators, lefthanded-hitting second baseman Deacon Liput was locked in at the plate. In his first trip to the plate, Liput hit a hard fly ball to left that carried to the warning track. In the fourth, he went with a 94 mph fastball away and shot a line drive down the left-field line for a single. To lead off the sixth, Liput turned on an elevated fastball from Lange, sending a line drive to right field and hustling into second to set the table for Florida. Jonathan India advanced Liput to third on a sacrifice bunt, and JJ Schwarz drove Liput in with a sacrifice fly for the game’s only run.

Overall, it was an outstanding night for Lange. He was able to locate his fastball inside to righty hitters with late arm side run or spot it away depending on the situation. He showed more control than command, with the ability to generally find his spot rather than pound the glove consistently.

Lange’s curveball was an effective pitch all night, showing late top-to-bottom action, and he had the ability to throw it for strikes to both sides of the plate. He threw both his curveball and changeup with slightly slower arm speed than when he threw his fastball. Lange appeared to be throwing his changeup with a football-type grip, getting on the side of it and cutting it to his glove side. He wasn’t afraid to his it against righthanded hitters, and its presence allowed him to pitch at three speeds.

For Florida, freshman righthander Tyler Dyson pitched at 93-95 with his fastball as he closed out the victory. The Gators are now 1-3 in SEC play, while the Tigers are 3-1.