The No. 9 Gators couldn’t manage a sweep for the year against Stetson, as in the fourth and final game of the season series, the Hatters took a 6-1 win on their home field in Deland. It was Stetson’s first win over the Gators since 2007.
Florida’s pitchers had a dominant outing to start the game, and UF held a 1-0 lead for most of the ballgame. But uncharacteristically, the team struggled to get going offensively, and eventually, the bullpen broke down. The Gators were out-hit 9-3 as the Hatters scored five runs in the eighth inning.
Brandon Sproat made his first career start on the mound, and it may be the first of more to come. He was very sharp, allowing just a walk in the first inning and his lone hit of the game in the fourth inning. He didn’t give up any earned runs, and though he wasn’t in position to earn a win, Florida (33-15) led when he was pulled after the fourth.
The Gators got on the board in the second inning on an effort that started with a walk from Kirby McMullen. Though Stetson (25-20) managed two outs, it couldn’t put UF away. It loaded the bases on a walk from Cory Acton and a fielding error that allowed Cal Greenfield to reach base, and a fielder’s choice from Jacob Young scored a run. But that was all Florida would get the rest of the way.
David Luethje entered in the fifth for the Gators, and he was very solid in his 1 and 2/3 innings, as well, walking just one batter and allowing just one hit. But Trey Van Der Weide, who replaced him in the sixth, wasn’t as effective. He allowed hits against the first two Stetson batters to start the seventh, and he made an error that allowed a third runner to reach base, loading them up.
Van Der Weide was quickly pulled for Christian Scott, but he couldn’t salvage the no-out situation, allowing an RBI single that tied the game against his first batter. But Scott locked in and struck out three consecutive batters to end the threat.
Replacing him with Ben Specht to start the eighth was probably a mistake. He hit his first batter with a pitch, and a single put runners at the corners. Florida allowed the go-ahead run to score on the next at-bat hoping to turn two, but they only got one on the play. On the very next bat, Stetson’s Eric Foggo crushed a drive to deep left-center that went over the wall, putting two more runs aboard and extending Stetson’s lead to 4-1.
After another hit-by-pitch and single, Specht was mercifully pulled for Ryan Cabarcas. Although Cabarcas struck out his first batter, he allowed the runners on first and second to advance with a wild pitch against the next one. He then gave up a blooper double near the right-field line to Gainesville native Andrew MacNeil, which put the final two runs across.
Florida attempted to rally in the ninth as pinch hitter Sterlin Thompson led off the inning with a single. But another pair of pinch hitters, Colby Halter and Wyatt Langford, struck out swinging, and with the game in the hands of Young, he popped one up to left field, ending the game.
Though a disappointing loss, the Gators are certainly more concerned with their final two SEC series. Still two games out of the lead in the SEC East, Florida will return home from its four-game road trip to take on Georgia, who is just 11-13 in conference play and sits in second-to-last in the division.