Florida delivered its 13th come-from-behind win of the season.
Gainesville, Fla. – No. 3 Florida used 11 hits to outlast Bethune-Cookman by a score of 8-4 at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (16-13, 7-2 SWAC) jumped on the Gators (25-5, 7-2 SEC) thanks to a three-run first inning. Bethune-Cookman put two runners on via a walk and fielding error by the pitcher, allowing Robert Moya to clear the bases with a three-run homer onto the right-field berm.
Florida answered back with a pair in the bottom half, quickly putting two runners on with a Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> single and Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> double. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> drove both Gators home with an RBI single through the right side, cutting the BCU advantage to 3-2.
After a clean frame from starter Yoel Tejeda Jr.<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/yoel-tejeda-jr-/15518>, the Gators knotted the game up. Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/15491> led off with a triple to right-center field, then scored on an RBI groundout off the stick of Rene Lastres<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/rene-lastres/15498>.
Using a pair of sacrifice flies, Florida grabbed its first lead of the night in the fourth. Robertson and Langford drove in the runs, as Lastres and Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/15512> scored to make it 5-3.
Bethune-Cookman got one run back in the sixth, loading up the bases with Jeremy Garcia plating Boris Pena on a sacrifice fly to right field. Florida responded in the bottom of the seventh, using a Rivera RBI single and three-run, opposite-field homer from BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503> to extend the lead to 8-4.
After relievers Nick Ficarrotta<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/nick-ficarrotta/15493> and Chris Arroyo<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/chris-arroyo/15524> combined for three scoreless innings, southpaw Philip Abner<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/philip-abner/15488> entered for the Orange & Blue to close it out in the ninth. The sophomore…
Florida reliever Clete Hartzog<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/clete-hartzog/15521> (1-0) collected his first win as a Gator. The right-hander allowed one run across one inning on one hit and three walks while striking out one.
Wildcats reliever Louis Lipthratt (2-2) was handed the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings. He surrendered two hits and one walk.
NOTABLES
* Florida posted its 13th comeback win of the season, tying last year’s 66-game total.
* Florida improved to 18-3 in non-conference play this season.
* UF is 37-6 across its previous 43 non-conference games.
* Hartzog notched his first-career victory on the mound.
* Making his fourth-career start, Tejeda Jr tossed a career-high four innings, allowing three runs (zero earned) on two hits and two walks.
* Robertson extended his team-leading on-base streak to 27 games.
* Florida has struck out 321 batters in 251 innings – translating to 11.5 per nine innings.
* Through 30 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-145.
* The Gators have scored in 124 of 238 batted innings this season (52.1%).
* The Gators have 336 hits through 30 games (11.2 hits/game).
* Florida improved to 36-1 all-time against Bethune-Cookman including 16-1 under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* The Gators are 35-1 in the series at home (16-1 under O’Sullivan).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the pitching…
“I think that was the plan going in. Yoel hadn’t pitched in a while. Quite a few guys, Clete, I wanted to get in there. Chris Arroyo<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/chris-arroyo/15524>, I wanted to get in there, and obviously Abner. Tennessee’s lineup is probably five lefties and one switch hitter, so we needed to get those guys out there and get them some work.”
On tonight’s offensive and defensive efforts…
“Offensively, we were good. Wyatt double, triple. BT with the home run. Josh [Rivera] had a couple of hits. I thought Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/15491> had a really good day, great day in right center field, gave a lot of good efforts on two other balls down the line there. I thought Rene [Lastres] caught good. Defensively, we were good.”
On Bethune-Cookman and looking ahead to Tennessee…
“No, not yet. Very specific with the team in terms of the most important game of the year was tonight. We got to handle tonight and tonight was one of those games that could have turned into a trap game. We were coming off a really hard fought series against Auburn and we got Tennessee coming up. Obviously, it’s easy to get up for the weekends, but this is one of those games that could have been a trap game. It was close there. It was a one run game two-thirds of the game. From that standpoint, I thought the effort was good. Had a chance to play some other guys like Shelnut at third and Dale at second and catch Rene. In those situations, it was good to get those guys in there.”
UP NEXT
Florida travels to Knoxville to take on No. 11 Tennessee in a three-game series from Thursday, April 6 through Saturday, April 8. All three installments will be televised nationally.
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