Tag: Bethune-Cookman Wildcats

Game Preview: Gators prepping for Vols with tune-up against Bethune-Cookman

Yoel Tejeda Jr. is back on the mound for the Gators as Florida hosts the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats in a midweek matchup.

After being handed a series win against Auburn over the weekend, the Florida Gators could use a bit of a reset before traveling to Knoxville to face No. 11 Tennessee.

With all due respect to Bethune-Cookman’s baseball program, the Wildcats have managed to upset the Gators just once since 1989. The two teams did play a tight game in March of last year, but UF took care of business in May with a 7-0 victory.

This year’s club at Florida might be even better than last year’s, so it’s fair to say that this is a tune-up game of sorts for the boys in Orange and Blue. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] are all hitting .392 or better and have combined for 37 home runs and 104 RBIs.

The middle of the order is lethal, but it wouldn’t be strange to see any of these guys get a night off. In fact, this might be one of the last opportunities for Florida to start some of its backup and reserve guys.

Here is everything you need to know about the game tonight.

How to Watch: Florida baseball vs Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Tuesday

Take a look at how to follow tonight’s college baseball action.

Florida baseball remains home to host the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Tuesday, April 4, for a single midweek matchup at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, and if you’re wondering how you can watch the action live, you’ve come to the right place.

The Gators got off to a strong start in non-conference play before earning a series win over the Alabama Crimson Tide at home before taking a single midweek game from the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee two Tuesdays ago. The Orange and Blue swept a doubleheader two weekends ago over the Ole Miss Rebels on the road and then took two out of three last weekend at home from the Auburn Tigers.

Florida baseball shuts down Bethune-Cookman in mid-week contest

Florida baseball shut down the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 7-0 on Tuesday at Condron Ballpark.

Florida baseball pitchers [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] combined for eight shutout innings in a 7-0 midweek victory over the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at Condron Ballpark on Tuesday evening. Nesbitt only surrendered four hits and two walks and struck out four while Ficarrotta allowed only one base knock and no free passes while striking out six in four innings each.

Head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s lineup didn’t disappoint, either. The Gators jumped out in front early to a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Left fielder [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] walked to start the game and scored after the Wildcats committed a throwing error on a second baseman [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] single. First baseman [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] singled home Thompson two batters later. In the second with the bases loaded, Thompson walked to send catcher [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] home.

Florida’s bats then fell silent until the seventh inning when Langford homered to left field and then added three more runs in the next frame to win 7-0.

Langford finished the game one for one with his solo shot in the seventh but also earned three walks. Shortstop [autotag]Joshua Rivera[/autotag] went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.

O’Sullivan’s team will try to keep the hot steak going when it travels to Columbia, Missouri, to face the Tigers for the Gators’ second to last regular-season weekend series. The action starts Friday at 7 p.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network+.

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Game Preview: Florida baseball looking to complete season sweep of Bethune Cookman

The Gators won last Tuesday’s game 18-3, so there are some pretty big expectations for tonight’s matchup against Bethune-Cookman.

Looking back, Florida’s narrow 3-2 win over Bethune-Cookman in March was really the start of the Gators’ struggles. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag]’s two homers lifted UF to victory, but something didn’t seem right then and the team is still looking to find its groove with only two weekend series left to play.

With that in mind, Florida is hopeful to take the second game of the series against the Wildcats in a convincing fashion and put an end to the inconsistencies that have plagued this season.

The team seems to be turning the corner with a four-game winning streak under its belt. The offense has picked up and led UF to an 18-3 blowout of South Florida last Tuesday and a three-game sweep of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Nick Pogue got the midweek start last time around for UF against Bethune-Cookman, but he took the mound Sunday so Kevin O’Sullivan will turn to [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] instead. Nesbitt isn’t known for going deep into games, so this should be a heavy bullpen day as well.

Florida won’t be taking Bethune-Cookman lightly after the last matchup ended with such a close score, and it’s likely we see the offense pile up runs as they did against USF. The playoffs are coming and Florida needs to be in fifth gear to make it out of a regional alive. This is the kind of game that allows you to kick in the clutch and take things up a level for the remainder of the season.

Jud Fabian’s two homers lift Florida past Bethune-Cookman

Jud Fabian’s two home runs helped power the Gators to a Tuesday night victory over Bethune-Cookman.

Florida baseball rode two center fielder Jud Fabian home runs to knock off Bethune-Cookman, 3-2, on Tuesday at Florida Ballpark. His two bombs helped him reclaim the team lead with 10 as he finished the game three for five with two long balls and a double.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan called on pitcher Nick Pogue to start Tuesday to try and get him going after returning from Tommy John surgery. Sullivan knows if Pogue finds his groove that he could solve the Gators’ search for a third-weekend starter behind Hunter Barco and Brandon Sproat.

However, it didn’t pan out versus the Wildcats. He allowed four walks and a run in the top of the first and was quickly pulled after his final walk loaded the bases.

Reliever Nick Ficarrotta replaced Pogue and shut down the first frame. In the third, he hit the first Bethune-Cookman batter and allowed the next batter to reach via a single. The first base runner went on to score on an error by third baseman Colby Halter to increase their lead to 2-0.

Florida finally got on the scoreboard in fourth when right fielder Ty Evans touched home plate after a sacrifice bunt by catcher Mac Guscette. Fabian evened the score 2-2 in the next inning with a home run, his fifth in his last seven games.

Fabian went long again to nearly the same spot in the seventh to give Florida its first lead of the game, 3-2, for the seventh multi-home run game of his career.

The Gators’ reliever Karl Hartman allowed a full-count lead-off walk to Brian Perez in the top of the ninth, who advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Hartman followed by striking out the next batter, but then sailed the second pitch of the next at-bat to allow Perez to scoot to third. He then silenced the Wildcats’ attempt to tie the game with another strikeout and sealed the 3-2 win.

Besides Fabian, Guscette went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Florida’s hitters also recorded 11 hits and three walks, but left 10 runners on base and struck out eight times.

The Gators bullpen also had a strong outing only allowing two runs off one hit. However, they gave up nine free passes with four of them coming from Pogue in the first inning.

The Gators’ next game will be the beginning of a three-game series with the No. 21 LSU Tigers at Florida Ballpark. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT on Friday and can be seen on SEC Network.

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Game Preview: Florida baseball hosts Bethune-Cookman Tuesday for midweek matchup

After a disappointing close to the Alabama series, Florida baseball looks to get back on track against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday.

Between weekend series against Alabama and LSU, Florida has Bethune-Cookman University to deal with on Tuesday.

The Wildcats hold a respectable 8-11 record and have beaten some of the same opponents the Gators have this season. That’s not to say that Bethune-Cookman is at the same level as No. 9 Florida, but this won’t be the easiest game on the schedule either.

Florida will come in with plenty of confidence at the plate. The Gators put up 27 runs over the weekend against a solid Crimson Tide pitching staff. A walk-off loss was a sour way to end the series on Sunday, but it doesn’t change the fact that Florida is seeing the ball well right now.

Wyatt Langford has been crushing it and enters Tuesday’s game with a slash line of .400/.483/.759. He leads the team with eight home runs and is part of a lethal top-of-the-order for Florida. Jud Fabian has also come along nicely and is taking more walks than strikeouts, which should help his draft stock.

On the mound, Kevin O’Sullivan is giving Nick Pogue a chance to get back on the mound as a starter. Pogue made his first appearance back from Tommy John surgery in a start against Seton Hall. He wound up eating the loss after being removed in the second inning and giving up just one run.

The good news is Bethune-Cookman’s offense isn’t too powerful right now. Only two players have gone yard this season and two others are batting over .300. Infielder Matthew Garcia leads the team with a .342 average in 79 at-bats.

LSU clinches sweep over Bethune-Cookman with shutout win in Game 3

The Tigers won their weekend series against the Wildcats with an emphatic 15-0 shutout win on Sunday.

It was a beautiful day for LSU baseball at “The Box” as the Tigers looked for a weekend sweep of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. They got exactly that in a 15-0 shutout win in Game 3.

Ma’Khail Hilliard (1-0) got the start on the mound and earned his first win of the season after he pitched six innings and gave up two hits with zero runs, zero walks and six strikeouts. Riley Cooper, Cale Lansville, and Trey Shaffer followed Hilliard’s performance by finishing off the shutout.

Now, let’s get to the barrage of what seemed like batting practice for LSU. The Tigers started scoring early as Brayden Jobert hit a two-RBI single to center field that scored Cade Doughty and Jacob Berry.

Jordan Thompson followed that with an RBI single to center field to bring Jobert home. That was followed by the ‘Italian Stallion’ Giovanni DiGiacomo hitting a two-run homer to right field to make it 5-0 after one inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Dylan Crews hit a two-RBI single to score Tre Morgan and Tyler McManus.

Jobert followed that with an RBI double to right field to score Berry.

Thompson followed that with a two-RBI double and just like that, it was 10-0 LSU after two innings.

In the bottom of the third inning, Crews hit a Crews Missle to right field to make it 11-0 after three innings.

Things finally settled down until the bottom of the fifth inning when Doughty hit a three-run homer to left to make it 14-0 Tigers.

In the bottom of the sixth, Drew Bianco hit an RBI double to center field to score the final run of the ball game as LSU got the sweep and the shutout with a 15-0 victory on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers were led at the plate by Thompson who finished the day 4 for 4 with three RBI. LSU’s next game will be on Tuesday night against the Tulane Green Wave. That game will be in Baton Rouge with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

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LSU takes Game 2, series against Bethune-Cookman

The Tigers took the series win with a comfortable victory over the Wildcats on Saturday. They’ll go for the sweep at 1 p.m. CDT on Sunday.

After the scare in Friday night’s 8-7 win in Game 1 against Bethune-Cookman, LSU came into Saturday’s contest with a different vision of how things would go. The Tigers left no doubt who was the better team in Game 2 as they came away with a 5-1 win.

Ty Floyd (3-1) got the start on the mound and picked up the win for LSU as he pitched six full innings only allowing two hits, one unearned run, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Jacob Berry started the game off on the right note in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run Berry Blast to right field to make it 2-0 Tigers after one inning.

The Wildcats got on the board in the top of the third inning thanks to a throwing error by Cade Doughty. The score remained 2-1 LSU until the bottom of the fourth inning when Hayden Travinski hit an RBI double to center field to score Giovanni DiGiacomo to make it 3-1 Tigers.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Doughty made up for his previous error and hit an RBI double to right field to score Berry and extend the lead to 4-1.

Still in the bottom of the fifth inning, Brayden Jobert hit an RBI single to score Doughty and make the score 5-1 LSU.

That would be the final run scored by either team in the ballgame. Eric Reyzelman came in for Floyd in the top of the seventh inning and pitched the final three innings giving up two hits, zero runs, and seven strikeouts. That three-inning shutout gave him the save for Saturday’s game. Berry led the Tigers at the plate going 2 for 4 with two RBI. LSU will look to sweep the Wildcats in Game 3 on Sunday. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. CDT.

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LSU baseball overcomes late deficit to sneak by Bethune-Cookman in Game 1 on Friday

The Tigers had a scare from the Wildcats on Friday, but they pulled away for an 8-7 win.

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats came into Friday’s Game 1 with a 5-7 record on the year, but even with the losing record, they gave LSU all they could handle in the opener of this weekend’s three-game series.

The Tigers had to fight their way out of a deficit but ultimately emerged to save face and win 8-7.

Blake Money started on the mound for LSU, he came into the game with a 0.44 ERA. Needless to say, he didn’t leave that way. Coach Jay Johnson’s team started off strong in the bottom of the first inning as Cade Doughty blasted a two-run shot to left-center field to make it 2-0 LSU.

The bats then got quiet until the fifth inning when Bethune-Cookman scored six runs to chase Money from the mound and take a 6-2 lead headed to the bottom of the fifth.

However, while LSU may not be The Empire, it did strike back on Friday afternoon. Jacob Berry got it started with a two-run homer to right field.

That was followed by a bases-loaded walk to Thompson and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to tie it at 6-6 after five innings of play. Dylan Crews then joined the home-run party with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the sixth to give LSU a 7-6 lead.

That lead was short-lived, though, as in the top of the seventh inning, the Wildcats tied it up on an RBI single. In the bottom of that frame, Whit Merrifield hit an RBI single to center field to score the deciding run to give LSU the 8-7 lead. Bryce Collins and Devin Fontenot came in and shut the Wildcats down for the final two innings to secure the win. Fontenot (1-0) got the win on the mound for the Tigers and Berry led them at the plate going 3-for-5 with two RBI.

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How to watch LSU baseball’s weekend series against Bethune-Cookman

Here’s all the viewing information for the Tigers’ weekend series against the Wildcats.

Last week’s showing in Houston wasn’t exactly what the Tigers had in mind. After a thrilling win over Oklahoma in the first game of the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park, LSU dropped the following two games to No. 1 Texas and Baylor.

A 1-2 finish was far from result this team hoped for, but it got back in the saddle on Wednesday night in a 6-3 win over McNeese State at Alex Box Stadium, and now the Tigers are 10-3 heading into its final weekend series before it begins conference play against Texas A&M.

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats come to town for a three-game slate beginning on Friday, and BCU sits at 5-7 entering the weekend. The Wildcats lost their first two series of the year against Youngstown State and Florida Gulf Coast, including a sweep in the latter series.

However, Bethune-Cookman finally got a series win this past weekend, taking all three in a weekend round-robin against Stetson and Sacred Heart before losing its midweek game against UCF.

The Tigers should be poised to earn three wins this weekend. Here’s how you can catch the action.

Game details

Game 1

  • Date: Friday, March 11
  • Location: Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge
  • Time: 6:30 p.m. CST
  • TV: SEC Network+
  • Radio: LSU Radio Network
  • App: Watch ESPN
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Game 2

  • Date: Saturday, March 12
  • Location: Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge
  • Time: 2 p.m. CST
  • TV: SEC Network+
  • Radio: LSU Radio Network
  • App: Watch ESPN
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Game 3

  • Date: Sunday, March 13
  • Location: Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge
  • Time: 1 p.m. CDT
  • TV: SEC Network+
  • Radio: LSU Radio Network
  • App: Watch ESPN
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

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