Every time Florida baseball found a way to cut into Seton Hall’s three-run lead the Pirates answered, stifling the No. 11 Gators’ attempts to seize the series sweep and shocking the Orange and Blue Sunday at Florida Ballpark, 6-4, to earn its first win of the season.
Florida pitcher Nick Pogue made his first start since March of 2020 after undergoing a season-ending UCL injury and it was clear he still has plenty of rust on his arm. The redshirt sophomore lasted only 1 2/3 innings and gave up three hits, three walks and a run before Sullivan called on Timmy Manning to take over. Unfortunately, he didn’t fare much better as he surrendered two more runs to widen the gap between the Gators and the Pirates.
Seton Hall started pitcher Brennan O’Neill dazzled in his five innings of work, striking out nine while allowing only four hits, a walk and three earned runs. The Pirates entering Sunday’s contest had an inflated team ERA of 11.
However, it was all Seton Hall early as it grabbed a 3-0 lead.
Florida ate into the Pirates’ lead in the fourth inning. Left fielder Wyatt Langford smacked his fifth home run of the season to trim Florida’s deficit to 3-1.
But Seton Hall answered quickly and manufactured a run to increase its lead back to three.
An inning later, the Gators cut into the Pirates’ lead again. Center fielder Jud Fabian scored on a wild pitch after a walk to start the inning. First baseman Kendrick Calilao then drove in second baseman Sterlin Thompson with a sacrifice fly.
But just like earlier in the game, Seton Hall found a way to answer a half-inning later. It recorded three straight singles to push across another run before third baseman Deric Fabian committed his first error of the season, allowing a second run to cross the plate in the seventh, making it a 6-3 game.
Florida staged one last rally in the bottom of the ninth, pushing across one run and bringing tying run in Thompson come to the plate with two outs. But The Gators’ second baseman grounded out to second for the final out.
Seton Hall muffled Sullivan’s bats, where his team only recorded seven hits and four runs while striking out 11 times.
The Gators will return to Florida Ballpark to face No. 8 Florida State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.
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