Florida and South Carolina face off in game two on Friday with coverage on SEC Network+ at 7 p.m.
Columbia, S.C. – No. 3 Florida dropped the opening matchup of a three-game set to No. 6 South Carolina by a 13-3 tally in seven innings at Founders Park on Thursday night.
The Gators (31-8, 11-5 SEC) and Gamecocks (32-6, 11-4 SEC) traded runs in the first inning. Florida loaded up the bases on a Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> single sandwiched between walks by Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> and BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503>, allowing Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> to put UF on the board with a sacrifice fly to right. Ethan Petry evened the score in the bottom half with a solo home run to left-center field.
The two teams exchanged blows again in the second, with Florida taking advantage of a pair of Gamecock miscues. With two down, Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> reached on a fielding error by shortstop Braylen Wimmer, then stole second and scored as Langford reached on a throwing error by Wimmer. South Carolina answered with an RBI groundout to plate Gavin Casas, knotting the score at 2-2.
Using a sacrifice fly to center by Evan Stone, Cole Messina crossed home as the Gamecocks took a 3-2 advantage in the fourth. Florida starting pitcher Brandon Sproat<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-sproat/15508> rebounded in the fifth, striking out the side in order on 13 pitches.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Florida drew even in the top of the sixth on a clutch, two-out triple down the right-field line off the bat of Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495>. The deadlock was short-lived, as Michael Braswell doubled in the bottom of the inning followed by five-consecutive walks by the Gator bullpen. Petry then delivered a two-run single to center as the Gamecocks shot ahead, 8-3.
The Gamecocks tacked on five more runs in the seventh to end the game at 13-3 via the run rule. Braswell and Messina provided RBI doubles, with the latter’s bringing home a pair of Gamecocks to cement the game one loss for the Orange & Blue.
Sproat (5-2) was handed the loss after forfeiting four earned runs on four hits and three walks across 5 2/3 frames. The righty struck out eight batters.
South Carolina starter Will Sanders (4-1) earned the victory, tossing six innings with three runs (two earned) allowed on three hits and three walks. He struck out 10.
NOTABLES
* Heyman produced his fourth sacrifice fly across the last two games.
* Sproat struck out the side in order in the fifth.
* Sproat became the seventh different UF pitcher to strike out the side this season for a combined 14 times.
* Sproat struck out eight Gamecocks – his third-straight start with eight or more strikeouts and his sixth outing overall doing so this year.
* Rivera extended his team-leading hitting streak to 12 games.
* Florida has struck out 412 batters in 334 innings – translating to 11.1 per nine innings.
* The Gators have 414 hits through 39 games (10.6 hits/game).
* Florida fell to 51-52 all-time against South Carolina including 18-29 in Columbia.
* The Gators are 16-9 vs. the Gamecocks under Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> including 10-11 on the road.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On tonight’s pitching…
“I thought Brandon pitched great. Left the ballgame with a tie ballgame and runner at second with two outs. Brought in [Philip Abner<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/philip-abner/15488>] and their left-handed hitter, we told him, he’s hitting .176 against lefties. Between two guys, Phil and [Nick Ficarotta], it took us 38 pitches to get the last out of the inning. We had five-consecutive walks. Very similar to some of the bad losses we’ve had this year. We didn’t give up a lot of hits, but the walks have been something that’s hurting us. The difficult part of it, or the disappointing part of it, is you go to the pen and guys get one lefty out and get three outs in the seventh and then somebody else comes in and gets three outs and we got Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/15506> sitting there to close the game out. It seems like a simple task, but we’re making it really difficult.”
On the game being close through five…
“That’s all you can ask for. We’re almost through six innings and we got a tie ballgame on the road. It’s 3-3 and everything is clean. I thought we were in shape, but unfortunately, like I said, we went to the pen, had five consecutive walks. We had a runner at second with two outs. There’s really no damage to be done and we just weren’t able to throw the ball across the plate.”
On bouncing back…
“That’s really all we can do. Like I said, the disappointing part is, we talked about not having Brandon [Neely] this weekend. Some guys need to step up. Like I said, we got a really good quality start from Brandon [Sproat] and I suspect that we get a really good start from Hurston tomorrow. We just need some guys to get a couple of outs here and there to hand the ball over to Ryan at the end. That’s just the way it is…”
UP NEXT
Florida and South Carolina face off in game two on Friday with coverage on SEC Network+ at 7 p.m.
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