Pitcher Colton Gordon out for the year, will have Tommy John Surgery

UCF Knights Pitcher Colton Gordon is out for the rest of the year, according to head coach Greg Lovelady in a post-game press conference Friday.

Gordon is set to undergo Tommy John Surgery next week to repair a torn UCL, Lovelady said.

“I feel horrible for him,” Lovelady said. “It was a tough pill to swallow this week.”

Gordon will finish his 2021 season having started 9 games, finishing with a 5-2 record, and allowing 54 hits and 21 runs. He’s currently the team’s strikeout leader, with 72. The mark is about twice as much as the player with the second-most strikeouts, Kenny Serwa with 35.

Gordon was scheduled to pitch Game 1 of UCF’s series with East Carolina last week, a series that ended up split 2-2.

“He’s been a big part of our team and whatnot, but we didn’t need one guy to step up, we need the entire team to step up, just like we did last week,” Lovelady said.

According to the MLB.com glossary, pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery usually have a recovery timetable of 12 to 18 months.

Lovelady said he is “a coach’s dream.”

“You just feel bad for those types of kids that have bad things happen to them,” Lovelady said. “Unfortunately, in this world, bad things happen to good kids and good people.”