Tag: Kevin O’Sullivan

Finnvold hurls full 9 innings to force regional final rematch with Oklahoma

Florida baseball is one win away from a Super Regional berth after Carsten Finnvold led the Gators to victory over Oklahoma.

True freshman [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag] pitched the game of his life Sunday to give Florida another chance at extending their season on Monday. The lefty came in relief for the Gators during the very first inning, but he’d close out the game for the Orange and Blue, throwing 116 pitches along the way. UF came out on top, 7-2, and will play Oklahoma again on Monday to decide which club heads to the Super Regionals.

[autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] got the ball to start the game after proving himself against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] pulled him before he recorded an out Sunday night. In Sully’s defense, Manning loaded the bases on 11 pitches (hit by pitch, two walks) and losing this game would mean an end to the Gators’ 2022 campaign.

“I knew this had the potential to be our last game,” Finnvold said. “So, I just really wanted to give my team a chance to win and try to keep the score close and strand the runners where they were.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Finnvold came out and worked his way out of the bases-loaded jam by forcing three-straight balls in the air. Pop-ups and flyouts would become a theme in this one for Finnvold, who recorded just one strikeout through six innings of work. That didn’t matter much though as he stayed perfect through the next four innings.

Trouble came in the sixth, but Finnvold had a lead to work with after [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] hit a home run (No. 23) in the fourth and Jac Caglianone drove in [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] in the fifth. Oklahoma strung together four-straight hits (three singles, one double) against him but it was all weak contact that scored just two runs. That’s one of the benefits of topping out in the mid-80s, opposing batters have less velocity to turn around.

[autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] drove in Thompson to give Florida the lead right back in the top of the seventh, and, surprisingly, Finnvold returned for the final three innings of the ball game. He cruised through those nine outs and even managed to rack up three more strikeouts to bring his total to four on the evening.

“To (Oklahoma’s) credit, they’re a really great ball club,” Finnvold said. “A really great swinging team, a really great pitching team. I just needed to hit my spots and execute pitches in big situations.”

Fabian kicked off a four-run eighth that effectively put the game away with another home run (No. 24 for Jud). [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag], [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] scored thanks to some sloppy defense by the Sooners.

Finnvold closed it out, and thank god he did because [autotag]Kris Armstrong[/autotag] was warming up in the bullpen, according to Nick de la Torre. He hasn’t pitched since his freshman year in 2019 and Florida already blew one five-run lead earlier in the day.

Florida faces one more elimination game on Monday at 1 p.m. with a Super Regional berth on the line.

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Game Preview: Florida baseball looking to down Oklahoma, advance to regional championship game

The last time Brandon Neely was on the mound for the Gators, Florida was mercy ruled. Here’s hoping things go differently this time around against Oklahoma.

Florida made it past Central Michigan on Friday thanks to a dominant outing from [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] on the mound to outduel the Chippewas’ ace, Andrew Taylor. The Gators won that game 7-3 and earned the right to face Oklahoma on the winners’ side of the bracket for a shot at the regional final.

If Florida takes this game against OU, the Gators will face the winner of Oklahoma and whoever wins the Saturday matinee between Liberty and Central Michigan. If UF loses, the team will play in that early game for a chance to rematch with Oklahoma.

With Sproat used up, [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] will turn to freshman [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] on the bump. Neely has stepped into the role nicely since joining the rotation against Arkansas and moving into the No. 2 spot once [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] went down. Barco, since we’re talking about him, could be seen on the bench encouraging Sproat with a full arm brace. It appears the Tommy John surgery was a success.

Back to Neely, though. He seemed to hit his stride in the final game of the regular season against South Carolina, striking out 10 and hurling seven scoreless innings. Facing Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, the first time around, was a different story, though. Neely left after 4 1/3 innings and three earned runs. The Gators would get mercy rules and have flipped a switch since.

If Neely has another short outing, the bullpen is ready to go. [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] is coming off an impressive 6 1/3-inning, 90+ pitch outing against Alabama in the conference tournament, and [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] is available to eat some innings too. Winning this game is crucial because whoever loses will have to play two on Sunday to force a final tiebreaker game on Monday.

Offensively, [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] broke out of his little slump with a game-tying solo shot in the third Friday night and [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] went big fly to put the Gators out front. Those were two of the hottest bats for Florida at the start of the season (Thompson has been good all year), so it’s good to see them going.

[autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] struggled against CMU, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Chalk that up to some nerves or pressure and expect him to bounce back against Oklahoma. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] continues to be the best non-redshirt decision of Sully’s lifetime. He drove in three on a pair of hits Friday, and fellow freshman [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] has also been a difference-maker at the plate and in the field.

Oklahoma is a good team. They beat up on Liberty en route to a 16-3 victory, and Gator Nation isn’t forgetful of the fact that the Flames took two of three to start UF’s season off sour. If Neely and Co. can keep the Sooners’ offense at bay, the Gators should have a chance to win this game.

Florida baseball opens up regionals with win over Central Michigan

Brandon Sproat is pretty good at this pitching thing, folks. Florida’s ace led the way to a regional win Friday night against Central Michigan.

Florida took down Central Michigan, 7-3, in the first game of the Gators’ regional run Friday night.

The Chippewas threw their hard-throwing ace Andrew Taylor, but [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] won the pitching duel and went seven strong innings for the Gators. Home runs, as they so often as have this season, put the Gators out in front and the bullpen held on to the lead to advance to the winners’ bracket.

The Chippewas threatened early with a pair of singles to lead off the game. Sproat needed 21 pitches to get out of the inning, but he stranded the runners in scoring position. [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] tried to get out to an early lead with some small ball in the bottom half of the frame, but [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] struck out swinging to leave [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] on second.

CMU stranded two more runners in the second and struggled to pull out in front. Taylor struck out the side despite hitting [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag], giving his squad another chance to strike first blood.

Shortstop Justin Simpson led off the third with a base hit to right-center, and things got worse from there. Jakob Marsee grounded out to the right side to move Simpson over to second, and Danny Wuestenfeld and Aidan Shepardson delivered hits No. 5 and 6 on the evening to break the tie. Chippewas up, 1-0.

Thompson responded immediately though, with a home run to left field in the bottom of the third. Taylor struck out [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag], [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] and Fabian (again) to get out of the inning. The strike zone was questionable all night, but both teams suffered equally for the most part.

Both pitchers settled in for the fourth, but Taylor slipped again and gave up a homer to [autotag]Colby  Halter[/autotag], who hit the ball in almost the same spot as Thompson did earlier. Sproat secured his fifth-straight quality start by working through a pair of base runners in the fifth and setting down the Chippewas in order in the sixth. Central Michigan ran into the final out of the fifth to help Sproat get out of what should have been a two-out jam with men on the corners, and gave him extra life to come back out for the seventh.

Things got easier for Florida once Taylor came out of the game. Garrett Navarra, a two-way player-struggled right out of the gate. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] added an insurance run off him in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out double to score Fabian and make it 3-1. That was enough to send Sproat into Justin Verlander 2012 mode, and he came out pumping 98 and 99-mph fastballs with 96 pitches already under his belt in the seventh.

After losing Simpson to a walk on a full count, Sproat called off Sully and demanded a chance to finish the inning. He’d get it done in two more pitches with a line out to left. Sproat’s final line: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 114 total pitches.

For a guy that was struggling to settle into the No. 2 spot when [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] went down, Sproat has been every bit of the ace Florida needed. Battling through a rough start and holding CMU to one run through seven innings is almost a metaphoric start for his season. Florida needed an ace to beat Taylor, and Sproat answered the call.

[autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] pitched the final two innings for UF, and it was a roller coaster of a finish. A leadoff single in the eighth proved to be harmless, but things got scary after Slater loaded the bases on two hit batters. He induced the second swinging strikeout of the inning, and Florida sat three outs away from a date with the Oklahoma Sooners.

Caglianone drove in two more runs with a single in the bottom of the eight to make it 5-1, and Navarra’s night came to a close. Ryan Insco came in to face two batters and then handed the ball to Jake Jones who gave up a two-run double to Halter. Langford struck out for the third time to cap off an uncharacteristic 0-5 night, but the 7-1 lead was more than enough for Slater to close things out.

CMU score two more runs in the ninth, but Slater didn’t need any relief and Florida saved another arm for tomorrow’s matchup against Oklahoma at 7 p.m. EDT. Central Michigan plays an elimination game against Liberty early on in the day. The winner of that game will play another elimination game against the loser of Florida-Oklahoma.

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2023 Recruiting Profile: 5-star QB Dylan Lonergan still an option for Florida?

Florida hasn’t locked in on one quarterback just yet, but Dylan Lonergan remains an option after naming the Gators in his top five.

Billy Napier did add three-star quarterback [autotag]Max Brown[/autotag] in his transitional 2022 recruiting class, but there’s still pressure on the first-year coach to strike big in the signal-caller department after getting a full year to recruit. One of those options is four-star Brookwood (Georgia) quarterback [autotag]Dylan Lonergan[/autotag].

A standout athlete in two sports, football and baseball, Lonergan has narrowed down his options to just five schools and Florida made the cut. The Gators appear to be the weakest link as of now with official visits scheduled with three other programs in his top five, but that could change if Napier is able to get Lonergan on campus.

Being able to play baseball in college is a big part of his decision, and there’s no guarantee [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] makes it work. [autotag]Miguel Mitchell[/autotag], a defensive back signee in the 2022 class, is expected to play both sports though, so it’s likely an option if the football team wants him that badly.

Still, things have been relatively quiet between Florida and Lonergan since he named them in his top five and the recruitment of [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] might be a sign that the Gators are moving away from him. A decision is expected to come in July, so Florida would need to get him on campus quickly to jump back into the conversation.

Peter Woods’ Recruiting Profile

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Florida falls short in SEC Tournament championship game against Tennessee

The Vols were clearly the better team, but Florida’s run to the SEC Tournament championship game had the team in much better spirits heading into regionals.

Florida fell just short of winning it all in Hoover, Alabama, on Sunday losing to the Tennesee Volunteers, 8-5, in the final round of the SEC Tournament.

The Gators threw [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag], a freshman out of American Heritage Del Ray in Palm Beach County, Florida, and he kept Tennessee quiet through four innings. His low-speed fastball kept the Volunteers off balance and quiet through four innings, but the No. 1 team in the country got going in the fifth.

[autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] sent a ball to first that [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] couldn’t snag to put a runner on second with no outs. Blake Burke singled Evan Russell over to second and Finnvold got Cortland Lawson swinging. Seth Stephenson bunted for an RBI-base hit on a ball that Finnvold could’ve made a play on if he wasn’t tripped up by his own team. Luc Lipcius took strike three looking for out two in the inning.

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] decided to walk the bases loaded for Tennessee’s No. 4 hitter Drew Gilbert and it almost paid off. Finnvold got a fly ball to left field, but [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] came in on the ball and let it go over his head to clear the bases. Four runs were scored in the inning and none of them were earned for Finnvold.

[autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] came in to get out of the inning, but he’d get back into trouble in the sixth. The Vols put up a three-spot on the Gators’ best reliever and took a commanding 7-0 lead. [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] pitched the eighth for UF without much trouble. Only a Stephenson single threatened throughout the inning.

[autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run shot against Ben Joyce, who was throwing over 100 mph. Joyce was Tennessee’s fourth pitcher of the night after lefty Camden Sewell gave the Vols a five-inning start. Will Mabrey and Mark McLaughlin were first out of the bullpen, then Joyce and Zander Sechrist, and finally Kirby Connell finished it up through eight.

The Gators added one more run on a two-out [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] single, but [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] hit a weak grounder to third for an easy tag out of Jud Fabian.

Gilbert got ahold of another one in the ninth and made it 8-3 with a solo shot. Lipscomb doubled and knocked Abner out of the game for [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag]. Russell almost took another ball out, but Langford got it on the warning track.

Redmond Walsh finished it off for the Volunteers. Pinch hitter Kendrick Calilao popped up on a 2-2 count into foul territory for the first out of the inning. Langford doubled to start the final push, and [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] doubled him home.

Riopelle moved Thomspon over to third, and [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] drove him in on an error by the second baseman who was shifted out of position. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] gave a ball a ride, but the left fielder tracked it down and Florida’s rally fell short. It’s a disappointing end to a great run by the Gators, especially considering four of Tennessee’s runs came unearned.

Going into the tournament, Florida’s postseason hopes looked bleak. A win or two in the regional round seemed to be the best possible outcome, but this SEC Tournament run has Florida in the conversation to host a regional. The NCAA will announce hosts at 8:30 p.m. EDT Sunday night.

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Game Preview: Gators looking for revenge vs Vols in SEC Tournament championship

After outscoring Alabama and Texas A&M 20-6 on Saturday, the Gators will play for the SEC Tournament championship against Tennessee at 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

Florida baseball was mercy-ruled by Texas A&M on Thursday and there were few at that point who would have predicted a Gators run to the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, but that’s precisely where [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] and Co. find themselves on Sunday staring down No. 1 Tennessee in Hoover, Alabama.

The Gators were swept by the Volunteers at home in late April and the Tennessee players celebrated with some of the football team’s gear. That rubbed Gator Nation the wrong way and had many questioning whether the baseball team wrote a check the football team couldn’t cash come the fall. Before [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s group gets a chance at revenge, the baseball team will get another shot at the Vols and it comes while UF is playing its best ball of the season.

In a split-double header against Alabama and No. 5 Texas A&M on Saturday, Florida outscored its opponents 20-6, including a 9-0 revenge shutout of the Aggies. There’s no guarantee that things carry over from day to day, but the entire lineup is hitting well and, perhaps even more shockingly, the pitching has held up like a College World Series caliber staff would.

The problem is Florida has run deep into its well of pitchers and we’re approaching short-rest territory with plenty of relievers and maybe even a starter. Regionals begin on June 3, so running [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] out there on four-days rest is a bit iffy considering he’ll have to go again so soon. That said, who is left? [autotag]Garrett Milchin[/autotag]? [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag]? Against Tennessee, you want [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] or Sproat, and the former is shut down for the year.

Whoever it is, they’ll need some run support against the best offense in the country. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] seems to be back to his normal hitting self and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] continues to make the SEC coaches pay for not naming him to the conference’s First Team. The bottom of the order is also hitting well. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] is the hottest No. 6 hitter in the country right now, and even [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] is out there blasting home runs in multi-hit games.

Everything is rolling for the Gators right now. They just need to finish it off.

“We’re here,” [autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] said. “We might as well win.”

Game Preview: Florida takes on Alabama in SEC Tournament elimination game

The Gators got back on the sticks against Arkansas on Friday and held on to a lead to advance in the SEC Tournament. Next up is ‘Bama.

After managing just one hit against Texas A&M in the second round of the SEC Tournament, Florida baseball got back to business as usual and outscored the Arkansas Razorbacks, 7-5, on Friday. That sets up another loser-goes-home matchup with Alabama on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. EDT for the Gators.

[autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] have already pitched so the Gators are running thin on starting pitchers coming into the game. [autotag]Garrett Milchin[/autotag] was an option, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] is going with freshman [autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] on the bump Saturday. It’ll be the former Canterbury Cougar’s first start at the collegiate level after throwing 18 2/3 innings out of the bullpen over the regular season.

On offense, Sully’s switch-up of [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] in the lineup seems to be a winner. Fabian played longball for just the second time since hitting three out against USF on May 3, and Riopelle is just too hot to keep in the five-hole.

[autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] have also been red-hot, with the latter driving in the first three runs of the day against Arkansas. Halter, of course, delivered the walk-off against South Carolina in round one and went deep on Friday.

If the bats don’t fall quiet as they did against Texas A&M, the Gators should be able to fight their way into the conference semifinals. That would be a huge boost to the résumé going into regional play regardless of the team’s finish in the SEC Tournament.

Florida baseball mercy ruled in SEC Tournament by Texas A&M

The bad news: Florida got mercy-ruled by Texas A&M in the postseason
The good news: We only had to watch seven innings of ugly baseball

The Florida Gators baseball team was embarrassed in the SEC Tournament Thursday by Texas A&M. The Aggies won 10-0 thanks to a 7-run sixth inning.

Freshman [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] got the start for the Gators, but he looked far from the pitcher that went seven scoreless innings last week against South Carolina with 10 strikeouts. Getting ahead of batters was an issue all night and eventually, Neely’s lack of control led to a two-run shot from Trey Werner in the third.

During a mid-game interview, head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] said that he liked what he saw from Neely early on, but things would just go from bad to worse. He’d escape the fourth despite giving up a single, walk and double in the inning thanks to a double play to get the leadoff baserunner.

Offensively, Florida was at its worst. Out ahead of a pitcher who came into the game with a 6.10 ERA, the Gators struck out seven times to Aggies starter Micah Dallas. [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] almost led things off with a leadoff dinger, but Jordan Thompson caught the ball and held onto it as he slammed into the centerfield wall. After that, Florida’s bats looked lost at the plate aside from a [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] single in the second.

A bit of trouble came in the third after [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] reached on an error from shortstop Kole Kaler and [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] stayed in the box to take a ball off the elbow, bringing up [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] to the plate. The junior saw nine pitches in the at-bat but ultimately hit a grounder right to Werner at third for the unassisted final out of the inning.

“(Dallas) has done a really nice job locating his breaking ball,” Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We got fortunate on the first pitch of the game that that ball stayed in the ballpark. He hurt himself with a few baserunners there, but he made a really nice pitch to Fabian. He’s a tough hitter.”

Sully met with his team before the fifth, but it didn’t change much. Dallas struck out two to close out his final inning of the day in a 1-2-3 fashion. Neely’s day also ended in the fifth, but it came in the middle of an inning after a third run scored on a Jack Moss single. In came [autotag]Jameson Fisher[/autotag] to get the final out of the frame.

Joseph Menefee picked up right where Dallas left off in the sixth, baffling the UF hitters. Langford struck out swinging, Thompson struck out looking and Fabian went do hacking. Pain.

Then, the floodgates opened up. The Aggies put together a 7-spot in the inning they’ve done the most damage all year. According to the SEC Network broadcast, Texas A&M has outscored opponents 64-15 in the sixth inning. To the tune of three homers, TAMU went up 10-0 and put the tournament mercy rule into play. [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] pitched in relief of Jameson in the inning.

The Gators went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, but the game did end in some controversy. Caglianone grounded out on a ball that he never left the box for because he thought it hit his foot. The umpires ruled it fair and the game ended with the play being non-reviewable.

That sets up a matchup with the Arkansas Razorbacks to open Friday for the Gators. Florida did take two of three against Arkansas during the regular season, but the team will be on its third pitcher coming off a blowout loss. That’s not an ideal situation to go into staring down elimination.

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Game Preview: Gators draw Texas A&M in first double elimination game of SEC Tournament

The Gators made it to the double-elimination round of the SEC Tournament, and first up are the Texas A&M Aggies.

After beating South Carolina in extra innings Tuesday, the Florida Gators baseball team advances to the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. UF will play Texas A&M on Wednesday at 5:30 EDT, assuming the weather cooperates.

The Gators swept the season series last year, but this will be their first taste fo the No. 2 seed Aggies in 2022. Texas A&M has gotten the best of Florida in tournament play, but the pitching matchup should be in UF’s favor if [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] takes his normal place in the rotation. There’s a chance [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] deviates from his typical plan though, as this round of the tournament is double elimination.

Florida also has a pretty bad track record against Texas A&M in this tournament. The Gators have dropped all three games, including the 2016 championship game. While the conference tournament isn’t the “big one,” a strong run would help Florida’s chances at hosting a regional after a down year. That’s when the road to the College World Series really begins to take shape, and a 15-15 finish against the SEC doesn’t really cut it.

A win would set up a game against the winner of 11-seed Alabama and 2-seed Arkansas, both of which lost to Florida twice in the regular season. The losers of each game will also play on Thursday.

SEC Tournament: Florida edges South Carolina in extra innings

After giving up the tying run in the ninth, Florida bounced back to win it in the bottom of the 10th versus South Carolina.

Florida baseball third baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] hit a fly ball to center field with two runners in scoring position with only one out in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Gators’ right fielder [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] tagged up at third base as South Carolina’s Evan Stone made the catch. Stone then heaved the ball home that beat him home by a country mile and Gamecocks’ catcher Talmadge LeCroy tagged Evans out. But the baseball popped out of his glove after the tag.

The home plate umpire ruled Evans safe, and Florida will live to fight for another day as it beats the Gamecocks, 2-1, in the opening round of the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday. The No. 7-seeded Gators advance to the second round where they will play No. 2-seeded Texas A&M on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

Through the first three innings, Florida’s lineup only registered two hits and a walk. Head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s team then scored its lone run of the game in the fourth inning. Shortstop [autotag]Joshua Rivera[/autotag] doubled down the right-field line. Designated hitter [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] followed by singling to shortstop and then South Carolina committed a throwing error to plate Rivera.

Starter [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] outdueled Gamecocks’ starter Will Sanders who went seven innings while only surrendering four hits, three walks and one run that was unearned. Sproat meanwhile went 8 1/3 innings and finished allowing four hits, one earned run and a walk while striking out seven Gamecocks. He also carried a no-hitter until the seventh inning.

South Carolina finally broke through in the ninth inning. O’Sullivan made the gutsy call to stick with Sproat with just over 100 pitches thrown. Second baseman Braylen Wimmer and designated hitter Josiah Sightler singled to put runners on the corner with one out.

Florida then called on reliever [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] to try to force a ground ball for a double play. Right fielder Andrew Eyster hit a ground ball to Halter but it was too slow with the glove. The Gators only got the pinch-runner out at second, and South Carolina knotted the game up at 1-1.

Then the Gators walked it off in the bottom of the 10th via Halter’s sacrifice fly.

The Gators will return to the ballpark in Hoover to face the Aggies at 5:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network.

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