GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Winning its third-straight home game in walk-off fashion, Florida used a seventh-inning grand slam by Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> to defeat Georgia Southern, 12-1, in seven innings at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
Now winners of eight of their last night contests, the Gators (28-15) received contributions up and down the lineup while improving to 8-0 in home midweek games. Highlighted by his game-winning blast to invoke the run rule, Heyman (3-for-4) drove in a season-high six runs as one of four Gators to record a multi-hit night. Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> (2-for-3), Brendan Lawson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brendan-lawson/17350> (2-for-3) and Justin Nadeau<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/justin-nadeau/17342> (2-for-3) joined the charge, with the former two Gators posting two RBI apiece.
Florida surrendered its lone run in the third inning, as the UF Bullpen shut out the Eagles (23-18) across five innings of relief. Right-hander Caden McDonald<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/caden-mcdonald/17329> (3-0) shouldered the bulk of the work, logging two scoreless frames to pick up the victory.
The Gators and Eagles played a scoreless ballgame until the home half of the second, with UF starting pitcher Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/17333> blanking Georgia Southern through two innings. After stranding two runners in the first, Florida led off the home half of the second with an infield single from Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347>. Ashton Wilson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ashton-wilson/17336> walked to move Cyr into scoring position, allowing Nadeau to plate UF’s first run on a single through the left side. Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> then singled to left to drive in Wilson while Heyman was plunked with the bases loaded to open a 3-0 lead.
Following a leadoff walk in the third, McDonald took over on the mound. Georgia Southern scored one run in the inning on an RBI double down the right-field line by Sean Smith, but McDonald stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout of Cade Parker to keep the tally at 3-1.
Florida extended its lead to 4-1 in the third on a bases-loaded walk by Shelton to plate Cyr. McDonald held the momentum in the top of the fourth, pitching a zero despite a one-out error at second base. Rookie righty Jackson Barberi<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jackson-barberi/17354> provided a scoreless fifth inning, which opened the door for the Gators to break the game open.
In the bottom of the fifth, Florida erupted for four runs to take a seven-run advantage at 8-1. After Wilson and Nadeau opened with singles and Boser walked, Shelton singled to first base to score one run. Lawson then smoked a two-run single into the right-center gap, followed by an RBI single to right from Heyman for the frame’s fourth and final tally.
Another leadoff walk to start the sixth prompted the Gators to turn to southpaw McCall Biemiller<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/mccall-biemiller/17359> out of the bullpen. The rookie managed the jam, stranding a pair of Eagles to hold Florida’s seven-run lead. Biemiller teamed up with right-hander Christian Rodriguez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/christian-rodriguez/17334> to strand two more baserunners in the seventh.
Leading by seven in bottom-seven, the Gators loaded the bases with one out on a pair of hit-by-pitches and one walk. That brought Heyman to the dish with an opportunity to end the game early. On the first pitch of the at bat, Heyman mashed a walk-off grand slam to left field to invoke the run rule at 12-1.
McDonald improved to a perfect 3-0 behind two shutout relief innings. The redshirt freshman scattered two hits and one walk while striking out one.
Eagles reliever Evan Vandenbosch (0-2) was handed the loss, as he was charged with three earned runs over two-thirds of an inning. The southpaw finished with four hits allowed, one walk and zero strikeouts.
Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision. For Florida, Philpott lasted two-plus innings with one earned run on three hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Georgia Southern starter Joey White pitched a scoreless first prior to exiting, giving up two hits and fanning one batter.
NOTABLES
* The Gators have walked off for wins in three-straight home games.
* Florida has won eight of its last nine games overall and five of its last six in SEC play.
* Florida is now a perfect 8-0 in home midweek games and 11-2 in midweek play overall.
* The Gators improved to 22-3 in non-conference action.
* Florida has won six-straight home games.
* Florida scored double-digit runs for the 16th time this season and fourth time in the last five games.
* The Gators won their 10th game via the run rule.
* McDonald pitched two scoreless relief frames to rise to 3-0.
* Barberi threw a scoreless fifth inning.
* Heyman cranked his ninth home run of the season in the form of a grand slam, walk-off tank to invoke the run rule in the seventh inning.
* Heyman finished with a season-high six RBI while going 3-for-4 with one home run.
* Shelton posted his 23rd multi-hit game of the season.
* Shelton has reached base safely in 42 of 43 games this season.
* Boser has reached base safely in 23-straight games.
* Florida improved to 11-4 all-time against Georgia Southern including 9-4 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 2-2 vs. Georgia Southern under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Tuesday night’s official attendance was 4,816.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game, particularly the pitching…
“Yeah, kind of a weird night that way. We still continue to do the things that create some issues. We scored three in the bottom of the second and walked the leadoff man in the third, scored four in the fifth, and then we walked the leadoff man the top of the sixth. And then McCall obviously had two out, nobody on his second inning of work and 0-2 count on the hitter and walked two guys there. We’re just going to keep harping on it and hopefully we get that cleaned up, but offensively we were really good tonight. Obviously, Luke had the big grand slam at the end.”
On the message…
“The same one it’s been for the last month. It’s one pitch at a time, one game at a time, and I’m sure they know, Arkansas is a complete team. They pitch, they throw strikes, they play defense, they’ve been fielding like .984. Offensively, I think they’ve hit 88 home runs this year. So typical Arkansas team, they’re very talented and obviously we’ll have to play our best. Simple as that.”
On the upcoming home series against Arkansas…
“Yeah, we’re at home. Expectations haven’t changed, we put ourselves in a difficult situation, but it’s certainly doable, so certainly would rather be playing at home than on the road for sure. And we’ve got two weekends after Arkansas, both on the road, and then we return home for the last series, so this is an important series for us for sure.”
UP NEXT
Florida hosts No. 5 Arkansas in a three-game weekend series. The series opener is scheduled for Friday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
###
