Kyle Jones and Colby Shelton opened with back-to-back jacks while 10 Gators pitched zeros.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida split a fall doubleheader against USF, prevailing 5-0 in game one before falling 2-0 in the nightcap, at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday.
The Gators received scoreless outings from 10 different pitchers across the twin bill, highlighted by stellar performance from Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/16631>, Aidan King and Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/16366> – who each twirled two shutout innings. Kyle Jones (2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) and Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> (2-for-6, HR) led the Orange & Blue offensively, accounting for four of Florida’s seven hits on the day.
Game 1 | Florida 5, USF 0
After a clean top half of the first from Peterson, the Gators got on the board quickly. Jones led off with a solo shot to left field on a 1-1 offering and Shelton made it back-to-back homers, blasting an 0-2 pitch onto the right-field berm for a 2-0 Florida lead.
Peterson made quick work of the Bulls in the second, giving way for the Gators to extend their advantage to 5-0 in the bottom half. Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> and Bobby Boser set the table with a walk and hit-by-pitch, with Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621> cashing in via a frozen-rope RBI single to center. Jones stayed hot, plating a pair with an RBI infield single aided by a throwing error at third base.
Southpaw Pierce Coppola<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/pierce-coppola/16367> assumed pitching duties in the third, working around a hit and pair of walks to produce a zero. King followed with a scoreless frame of his own thanks to a diving stop and throw by second baseman Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372>. King returned to the mound in the fifth, again blanking USF to complete two shutout frames with three strikeouts.
Game one entered a weather delay at the conclusion of five frames, resulting in a 50-minute stoppage of play. Right-hander Matthew Jenkins took the mound in the sixth and held the Bulls in check with a strikeout and 4-6-3 double play.
Righty Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/16629> was called on to close out game one. The sophomore retired the side in order to secure the win while recording one strikeout.
Peterson earned the victory, firing two no-hit, shutout innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
USF starter Corey Braun was handed the loss, as he allowed two earned runs on two hits in his lone inning. He struck out two.
Jones (2-for-3) and Shelton (2-for-3) collected multiple hits in the win.
Game 2 | USF 2, Florida 0
Clemente drew the start in game two and impressed across two shutout innings on the bump. He allowed just one hit and one walk while fanning three batters.
Deadlocked after two, the Bulls struck in the third inning. Adrian Lopez and Jacob Green crossed home on a pair of wild pitches to give USF an early 2-0 edge.
Freshman right-hander Joshua Whritenour righted the ship in the fourth, setting the Bulls down in order to give way to rookie southpaw Niko Janssens in the fifth. Janssens navigated around a pair of walks to churn out a zero for the Orange & Blue.
Landon Stripling and Ashton Wilson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ashton-wilson/16638> reached in the fifth on a walk and hit-by-pitch, but were left stranded as the matchup entered the sixth, when right-hander Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/16632> entered the contest. Philpott pitched a one-two-three inning by inducing two flyouts to center and a groundout to short.
Billy Barlow tossed the seventh and final frame for the Gators, using a 4-3 double play to maintain the two-run deficit. Florida then went down in order in the bottom half as the Bulls secured the split.
USF relief hurler Jason Bello picked up the win, pitching one scoreless frame with one walk.
UF reliever McCall Biemiller was stuck with the defeat. The left-hander surrendered two earned runs in one inning on one hit, three walks and three strikeouts.
Justin Nadeau (1-for-2) had Florida’s lone hit in game two.
NOTABLES
* With the split, Florida finishes 3-1 against outside competition this fall (2-0 vs. JU).
* Of the 11 pitchers to appear for Florida, 10 threw scoreless outings.
* UF pitchers allowed just five hits with 16 strikeouts across 14 innings, holding the Bulls to a .116 batting average on the day.
* Five UF pitchers combined for a shutout in game one (Peterson, Coppola, King, Jenkins, McNeillie), allowing just three hits and three walks against nine strikeouts.
* All five hurlers notched at least one strikeout.
* Jones and Shelton clobbered back-to-back homers to open game one.
* Jones finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and Shelton was 2-for-3 as well.
* Clemente, Peterson and King all tossed two shutout frames.
* In addition to Clemente, Whritenour, Janssens, Philpott and Barlow provided zeros in game two.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his takeaways from the day…
“We weren’t able to get Jackson [Barberi] out there because of a little rain relay, was like a 40-minute rain delay. But other than that, I think everybody pitched fairly well, and we got a little sloppy there in the third inning of the second game. Only error we made was the one behind the plate. We got a little sloppy behind the plate that one inning. But offensively, we got off to a quick start with the back-to-back home runs and made three really, really nice plays in the first game. Kyle Jones made a heck of a play in the left-center gap. Of course, Cade [Kurland] made a really nice play going to his left. And Bobby Boser made a real nice play at third. We turned a double play. In the second game, I think we were swinging at balls out of the hand. I thought our approaches were not very good in the second game. I mean, we’ve been swinging the bat well the entire fall, so, all in all, pitching and defense was good. It’s improved from last year. Certainly, on the mound, we’ve got a lot of options. Had a chance to move some different guys around defensively in the second game, which was nice to see. It was productive. Obviously, we would have wanted to swing the bats a little bit better in the second game, but that’s part of it.”
UP NEXT
Florida wraps up its fall season with the Orange & Blue Series on Nov. 13 (3:30 p.m.), Nov. 14 (5:30 p.m.) and Nov. 16 (10 a.m.).
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