Yoel Tejeda Jr. earned the win with four shutout innings while Luke Heyman went 2-for-4 with a solo homer.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 Florida defeated North Florida in a hard-fought non-conference contest with a 6-2 victory at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
Right-hander Yoel Tejeda Jr.<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/yoel-tejeda-jr-/15518> picked up his second-straight win with four shutout innings in a controlled start while freshman catcher Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> (2-for-4) drove in two runs and smacked a solo homer.
Following the conclusion of a 47-minute weather delay, Tejeda Jr. got to work by stranding two in the first while striking out a pair. The Gators (32-10, 11-7 SEC) then jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom half, as Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> doubled and later scored on an RBI single to right by Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504>.
Heyman added on to the advantage in the second, sending an 0-2 offering out of the ballpark to straightaway left field. The blast marked his eighth of the season.
Florida put another run on the Ospreys (22-19, 8-10 ASUN) in the third to make it 3-0. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> doubled to right field and eventually crossed home on a sacrifice fly in foul territory down the left-field line by BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503>.
North Florida broke into the scoring column in the fifth with a pair of runs. Austin Brinling doubled home Aidan Sweatt while Jakob Runnels singled in Brinling.
The two teams traded zeros until the bottom of the eighth, when the Gators put a pair of runners on via a Langford single and Rivera walk. With two strikes, Riopelle produced an RBI single through the right side, followed by another RBI single from Heyman. Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> capped off the three-run frame with a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing the score to its final tally of 6-2.
Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/15506> picked up his second save, tossing the final 1 2/3 innings with zero runs allowed on one hit and one walk. The right-hander struck out two.
Tejeda Jr. (2-0) earned his second win in as many outings, firing four shutout innings in a controlled start. The freshman allowed five hits and one walk while tying his career high with four strikeouts.
UNF starting pitcher Avery Love (0-2) suffered the loss after surrendering three earned runs in three frames. He gave up five hits and one walk while striking out one.
NOTABLES
* Florida won the first meeting vs. UNF in Gainesville on March 14 by a 7-2 tally.
* Tuesday’s game was delayed due to weather by 47 minutes.
* UF rose to 21-3 in non-conference games this season.
* The Gators are 40-6 across their last 46 non-con tilts dating back to 2022.
* Tejeda won his second-straight game while tying his career high with four strikeouts.
* Slater notched his second save of the season.
* Heyman swatted his eighth homer of the year.
* Rivera extended his team-leading on-base streak to 15 games.
* Florida has struck out 446 batters in 360 innings – translating to 11.2 per nine innings.
* The Gators have 436 hits through 42 games (10.4 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 47.6% of batted innings (160 of 336).
* Florida improved to 19-7 all-time against North Florida including 14-4 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 19-5 vs. the Ospreys under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> featuring a 15-3 mark at home.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On tonight’s win…
“It all started, we got to a 3-0 lead. We scored one in each of the first three innings, which is good. It took a little pressure off. I thought Yoel threw the ball probably as good as he had all year long. I don’t know how many ground balls he got, but he got a really good angle on his fastball. We played good defense for the most part. It was good to see Philip [Abner] and Ryan [Slater] get back out there, too. Hopefully, we’ll be at full strength this weekend with [Brandon] Neely back and go from there.”
On moving Kurland to leadoff…
“A lot of things go into those decisions. It’s not just moving Cade up, it’s maybe trying to get Wyatt to feel a little more comfortable and push everyone down one spot. I don’t have all the answers right now. Obviously, we’re not swinging the bat as well as he had the entire year, but we’ll see. It’s obviously still a work in progress. There’s a lot of different things that went into it. This past weekend we didn’t swing the bats as well as we had been the entire year, so we tried to tinker. But at the end of the day, your best guys got to hit regardless of if the hit one, two, three, four, or five. I think BT’s at bat in the eighth was huge. Left on left in a one-run ballgame and he comes in and gets a really big hit. That was really important for him and it was important for us.”
UP NEXT
The Gators host Missouri in a three-game weekend series from Friday, April 28 through Sunday, April 30. Games one and two are scheduled for 7 p.m. with the latter matchup airing on SEC Network. Sunday’s series finale is on the books for 1 p.m.
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