Tyler Nesbitt tossed 3 2/3 shutout frames of relief in the defeat.
Gainesville, Fla. – No. 3 Florida dropped the series opener to Auburn by a score of 10-1 at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
The Tigers (18-7-1, 3-4 SEC) put a two-spot on the Gators (22-5, 5-2 SEC) in the top of the first, with Ike Irish going the other way for a two-run homer onto the left-field berm. Auburn struck for six more runs in the second, highlighted by a two-run double by Irish and an RBI single off the stick of Justin Kirby to push the score to 8-0.
Florida turned to right-handed reliever Tyler Nesbitt<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-nesbitt/15500> to calm the storm. Nesbitt worked the Gators out of the second, then blanked the Tigers in the third and the fourth while striking out two.
The Orange & Blue broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs and runners on second and third, Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> beat out a grounder to second base to bring home BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503> on an RBI infield single.
Exiting in favor of righty Blake Purnell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-purnell/15502> at the onset of the sixth, Nesbitt finished with 3 2/3 shutout innings of relief on three hits and three strikeouts. He did not walk a batter.
After four scoreless innings, Auburn added another run in the seventh. Bryson Ware picked up a one-out knock and came in to score on an RBI single to right field from Kason Howell. Ware later homered in the ninth to bring the score to its final tally of 10-1.
Florida starter Brandon Sproat<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-sproat/15508> (4-1) received his first loss of the campaign after surrendering eight earned runs on four hits and three walks across 1 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out two.
Tigers reliever Tanner Bauman (2-0) picked up the victory, pitching four scoreless innings on one hit and two walks. He struck out four.
Auburn starting pitcher Will Cannon (2-0) was also handed a no decision. He allowed one earned run over four frames, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out a pair.
Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> (2-for-4) and Robertson (2-for-4) collected multiple hits in the opener.
NOTABLES
* Florida dropped its first game in which Sproat started on the mound in 342 days – since April 23, 2022 vs. No. 1 Tennessee.
* The Gators were 11-0 in Sproat’s previous 11 starts.
* Sproat dropped to 9-1 in his last 12 starts.
* Robertson extended his on-base streak to 24 games.
* Florida has struck out 293 batters in 223 innings – translating to 11.8 per nine innings.
* Through 27 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-125.
* The Gators have 294 hits through 27 games (10.9 hits/game).
* Florida dropped to 119-135-2 all-time against Auburn including 64-45 at home.
* The Gators are 19-12 in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> featuring an 10-6 record in Gainesville.
* Florida has won 30 of the last 43 against Auburn.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the pitching…
“It wasn’t Brandon’s night. I thought Nesbitt came in and did a really nice job. Blake [Purnell] and Fisher [Jameson] did a really nice job and kind of preserved our bullpen, our main guys that we’ve been using for the next two games. But credit Auburn. They came in and got two in the first. They had a good approach against Brandon. Compliment them. They played really well tonight.”
On the positive takeaways…
“That was one of the messages. It’s one game. It is disappointing, obviously, the way things turned out. The positives, if there are any to pull away, is the bullpen did a nice job to preserve some of the main guys. I thought we had competitive at bats for most of the night. We hit some plays hard to the middle of the field and we played really good defense. I thought Josh [Rivera] played really good defensively at short and Ty [Evans] made a great play down the right field line. There are some things to pull away from the game, but our starting pitcher just needs to be a little more consistent. That’s the bottom line. In the beginning of the year, we were concerned about our pen and that’s kind of came together, so we got to figure out a little bit more consistency with our starters.”
On the offensive approach…
“It was good. Wyatt, he’s starting to come back right now, he missed a couple of weeks. We put ourselves in a position to try to get back into the ballgame, but their guy made some really good pitches, so tip your cap to him. Offensively, like I said, I don’t know how many hard hit balls we hit, but we hit a few.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Auburn meet in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with coverage on SEC Network+.
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