The Gators handed the Vols their first home series loss since May 14-16, 2021.
Knoxville, Tenn. – Backed by four home runs, No. 3 Florida secured a series win over No. 11 Tennessee with a 9-3 victory in game two at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday night.
Designated hitter Matt Prevesk<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/matt-prevesk/15501> produced the best offensive night of his career to date, going 2-for-4 with his first-collegiate home run and four RBI – a new personal best. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hurston-waldrep/15517> churned out seven innings for the first time as a Gator to earn his third-straight win.
Starting off hot, the Gators (27-5, 9-2 SEC) put a three-spot on the Volunteers (21-10, 4-7 SEC) in the top of the first thanks to two walks and a trio of hits. Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> and Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> led off with opposite-field singles, with Langford scoring on a bases-loaded walk by Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> several batters later. With the bases loaded and two outs, Prevesk came through with a two-run, automatic double to left-center field to open a 3-0 lead.
Waldrep fired a scoreless bottom half, allowing the Orange & Blue to add on in the second. Caglianone beat out a potential inning-ending double play, which Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> promptly took advantage of by depositing an 0-1 offering over the center-field wall to make it 5-0.
Zane Denton provided the response for the Vols, homering down the right-field line for a two-run shot to cut the Tennessee deficit to three in the bottom of the second. After trading zeros in the third, the Florida bats came out blazing again in the fourth. Langford and Caglianone connected for back-to-back jacks to push the score to 7-2, marking the Gators’ second-straight game with back-to-back homers.
Waldrep blanked Tennessee for the second-consecutive inning by striking out the side in the fourth. The right-hander retired nine in a row as he logged his sixth strikeout of the contest.
The Gator slugfest continued into the fifth. On the heels of a leadoff single by Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514>, Prevesk added two more RBI to his total by blasting his first-career home run to right field.
Waldrep struck out the side in order again in the fifth, moving his total to 12-straight Vols retired including six-consecutive strikeouts. The streak came to an end with a leadoff Hunter Ensley single in the sixth, but Waldrep retired the next three Vols in order to send the matchup into the seventh.
The Tennessee offense plated a lone run in the seventh on an RBI single to left-center field off the bat of Griffin Merritt, but Waldrep worked through the frame before ceding duties to southpaw Cade Fisher<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-fisher/15513> in the eighth.
Fisher pitched a pair of shutout innings in the eighth and ninth to close out the contest, holding the score at 9-3 while striking out five batters.
Waldrep (6-1) won his third-straight start, tossing seven frames of three-run ball on five hits and two walks. The righty struck out nine Volunteers in the victory.
Tennessee starter Chase Burns (2-3) received the loss after allowing seven earned runs on six hits and four walks across 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three.
NOTABLES
* Florida clinched a series victory over No. 11 Tennessee, marking the first regular-season series loss at home for the Volunteers since May 14-16, 2021 vs. then-No. 1 Arkansas.
* Florida has outscored Tennessee, 15-4, across the first two games of the series.
* Florida rose to 8-0 on the road this season.
* Florida improved to 9-2 to open SEC play and is now 22-7 across the last 29 games against SEC opponents dating back to 2022.
* Waldrep won his third-straight start and fourth in his last five outings.
* The right-hander struck out…
* Prevesk hit his first-career home run while setting a career high with four RBI.
* Florida launched back-to-back homers for the second-straight game, with Langford and Caglianone doing so in the fourth inning.
* Michael Robertson’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> team-leading on-base streak of 28 games came to a close.
* Caglianone extended his hitting streak to 10 games, which includes nine multi-hit performances.
* Florida has struck out double-digit batters in 23 of 32 games.
* Florida has struck out 361 batters in 277 innings – translating to 11.7 per nine innings.
* The Gators struck out 32 Vols across the first two games.
* Through 32 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-156.
* The Gators have scored in 131 of 256 batted innings this season (51.2%).
* The Gators have 360 hits through 32 games (11.3 hits/game).
* Florida improved to 156-94 all-time against Tennessee including 26-20 under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* The Gators are 69-48 in the series on the road (14-9 under O’Sullivan).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On setting the tone early…
“Hurston was incredibly good today. This is what we’ve been waiting for with Sproat and Hurston to put together a couple of back-to-back really good starts. I think the common theme between the both of them is tempo. They pushed the tempo and set the tone. We’ve been waiting for this weekend to get these two guys going and certainly, they delivered.”
“Offensively, what can you say? I think we hit four home runs, jumped out to an early lead and kept tacking on. Obviously it was a really, really good game all the way around.”
On Prevesk’s performance…
“Yeah, you know, it was one of those things where Burns’ splits versus lefties and right handed hitters are totally different. Matty put a really good swing on a ball and he had a great night. I’m really, really happy for him. He had a couple hits and four ribbies. Just a great night offensively for him.”
On the offensive approach…
“They’re seeing the ball good. To our hitters credit, they’re facing a really good pitching staff. Every guy they’ve run out there has a good arm. We’ll have another challenge tomorrow with Beam. It doesn’t get any easier. We’re the aggressor. We set the tone and our guys had really good approaches at the plate.”
On Caglianone’s long homer…
“Yeah, probably. I mean, the one at Missouri last year was something else but, obviously tonight, I don’t know how far that went, what can you say? He caught the ball out front. He’s got 19 homers right now and never in our wildest dreams as a coaching staff would we think that anyone on our team would have 19 homers at the midway point. Obviously, he’s swinging the bat really good.”
On the team’s edge…
“I think the edge comes from our ability to come back in games. We’ve come from behind quite a bit this year. We have an offense that believes in themselves. They’re doing a really nice job. Tonight it was really important for us to carry over the momentum from last night, jump out to a lead and score five in the first two.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Tennessee meet in the finale on Saturday, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on ESPN 2. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> toes the rubber for the Gators against Drew Beam of Tennessee.
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