Florida baseball starter [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] bounced back in dominant fashion versus South Carolina after an uncharacteristic start against the Missouri Tigers last weekend where he allowed four earned runs.
On Friday, he struck out a career-high 10 batters and only gave up three hits along with no free passes while shutting out South Carolina for seven innings. He also tossed an impressive 70 strikes in only 96 pitches. The Gators also poured on eight runs to shutout the Gamecocks and also grabbed the series victory on Friday at Condron Ballpark.
Florida scored three runs in the third and two runs in the fifth and the seventh and one in the eighth. Center fielder [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and shortstop [autotag]Joshua Rivera[/autotag] both went long in the contest.
Fabian’s home run was his 20th of the season, which made quite a bit of history. He became the second Gators hitter ever besides [autotag]Brad Wilkerson[/autotag] to smash 20 dingers in back-to-back seasons. Left fielder [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] also entered Florida’s record book besides Fabian. They are the only two Gators hitters to record 20 plus homers in a single season.
Fabian finished the evening three for four with two RBs. Second baseman [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] also tallied two hits. He went two for four with an RBI.
Head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s team registered eight runs on 10 hits and earned six free passes.
After Neely was pulled in the eighth, reliever [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] followed and picked up right where their starter left off. They finished the game without allowing a hit and struck out a Gamecock.
The Gators will gun for the sweep on Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT when they play South Carolina to conclude the regular season. The contest can be seen on SEC Network+.
It’ll also be Florida fans’ last chance to listen to Mick Hubert. He’s retiring as the voice of the Gators following the game.
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