Michael Robertson chipped in three hits while Alex Philpott threw three shutout frames in his starting pitching debut.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 Florida defeated North Florida by a final score of 13-4 to complete a midweek sweep of the Ospreys at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday night.
Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> led the 11-hit attack, setting career highs with four hits and three RBI en route to a 4-for-5 showing at the dish. Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> (1-for-3, 2 RBI) and Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> (2-for-3, 3 RBI) both drove in multiple runs behind a strong starting pitching debut from freshman Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/16632>.
The Gators (2-1) received a scoreless top half of the first from Philpott. Florida then plated two quick runs on the Ospreys (1-3) in the bottom half on a two-out, two-run single through the left side by Evans.
Florida pushed the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second, beginning with a one-out single to left by Robertson. After swiping second base, Robertson came home on an RBI single to center off the bat of Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365>.
Following three shutout frames of work, Philpott was replaced by southpaw Robert Satin<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/robert-satin/16637> at the onset of the fourth. The left-hander navigated around a pair of base hits to produce a zero, passing the baton to the offense to put up a four-spot.
Tanner Garrison<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tanner-garrison/16622> led off the fourth with a double down the left-field line, then crossed home on an RBI single from Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372>. From there, Shelnut singled in a pair with a knock to left while Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> scored on a bases-loaded balk to extend the edge to 7-0.
Upon Satin’s exit in the sixth, North Florida broke into the scoring column to cut the UF lead to 7-3. It started with an RBI groundout by Matthew Clements before Tyler Gerteisen and Drew Leinenbach drove in runs with a double and single, respectively.
The Ospreys scratched across a fourth run in the seventh on a two-out single by Cade Bush, but the Orange & Blue answered in the bottom half. Garrison reached on a fielder’s choice and came all the way home on a two-out double by Robertson.
Florida tacked on five insurance runs in the eighth to bring the score to its final tally of 13-4. With Caglianone on second, Shelnut singled through the right side for his third RBI of the night. Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> then drew a bases walk, followed by a sacrifice fly from Garrison. Capping off the frame, Robertson picked up his fourth hit of the contest with a two-run double down the left-field line.
The tandem of Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/16377> and Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373> combined to blank the Ospreys across the final 1 2/3 innings. Slater pitched 1 2/3 frames with one hit and two strikeouts. Neely closed the door by tossing a perfect ninth backed by two strikeouts.
Philpott (1-0) picked up his first-career win in a controlled start. The freshman fired three scoreless innings on two hits and two walks while striking out two.
UNF starting pitcher Avery Love (0-1) received the loss after giving up three earned runs on three hits and two walks. He fanned one batter.
NOTABLES
* Making his starting pitching debut, Philpott tossed three scoreless innings on two hits and two whiles while striking out two to earn the win in a controlled start.
* Robertson notched a career-high four hits and three RBI.
* Satin threw two scoreless innings on two hits and one walk while fanning one.
* Florida scored in 11 of 15 innings against North Florida across the last two games.
* Dating back to last season, Florida is 24-4 in regular season non-conference games and has won 15 of its last 16 such contests.
* The Gators have now won 11-straight midweek contests dating back to last season.
* Florida improved to 21-7 all-time against North Florida including 5-3 on the road
* The Gators rise to 16-3 vs. the Ospreys under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752>, featuring a 16-4 mark at home.
* Florida has won 16 of the last 17 meetings in the series vs. UNF including an active eight-game winning streak.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the win and Alex Philpott’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/16632> performance…
“Really pleased with how Alex pitched and we played really good defense behind him. Jac made three really great plays tonight. He turned a double play on a 3-6 and over the shoulder catch, and then the diving play on the 3-1, so he played great defense. Alex threw strikes, all three of his pitches for strikes and pitched with a couple situations with runners on and made some pitches and regardless of the score, we were going to get Brandon out there tonight. He needed to get going a little bit. Kind of look at the scoreboard, you know if we scored one more in the eighth, he wouldn’t have touched the mound, so glad he got out there and did his thing. But then offensively, Michael had a great night at the plate. Four hits and went the other way and had some timely hits with runners in scoring position. Shelnut had a couple hits and I think three RBIs and Ty Evans'<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> second night in a row where he has stung quite a few balls and he hit them good. So, that’s certainly a great sign for the second half of our lineup.”
On Caglianone’s improvements on defense…
“He’s always been a good defensive first baseman, which is the reason why we have never hesitated on him pitching on Sundays. It gives him the opportunity to play the first two games on the weekend. If you pitch him on Friday or Saturday, not that it would have happened last year, but certainly this year, if we wanted to do that then it would limit his options of playing first base on the weekend, so this allows us to use him twice on the weekend.”
On the importance of getting freshmen experience on the mound early…
“I think Alex earned the opportunity to start tonight from his first outing last weekend when he came in on opening night. Satin, I thought rebounded really well, he only threw four pitches on opening night; came in and threw two scoreless tonight which is certainly a step in the right direction. Only real hiccup was we walked the leadoff man with a seven-run lead and then went three-two. Hit a ball left-center gap with second and third nobody out. I thought Blake did a nice job coming in and throwing strikes. There was just one more situation where we just needed to finish one more hitter. It always starts with a leadoff walk it seems like, regardless of the score. It just seems like the game doesn’t change, it just seems to repeat itself over and over when you have a leadoff walk and run some deep counts after that, you know bad things tend to happen.”
On Robertson’s offseason adjustments…
“It’s his third year, he’s been in our program for three years, started last year for us and he had a really good fall and a really good preseason. Tonight was a really good night for him, though. I think all four of his hits may have been the other way. A lot of them were with runners on and a couple, I think, were two strikes and he’s using the field. It was a really good night for him.”
UP NEXT
Florida hosts Columbia of the Ivy League this weekend from Feb. 23-25. Friday’s series premiere is set for 6:30 p.m. while Saturday is on the books for 6 p.m. and Sunday is scheduled for 11 a.m. All three matchups stream on SEC Network+.
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