Gators swept the two-game season series with UNF on Tuesday night.
The Gators’ pitching staff stifled North Florida’s bats on Tuesday, only allowing four hits, four walks and two runs run while striking out 11 in an 11-2 victory over the Ospreys at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
Through the first seven innings, Florida pitchers Brandon Sproat, Carsten Finnvold, Brandon Neely and Blake Purnell were lights out, silencing the Ospreys only allowing two hits and a pair of walks before Anthony Ursitti and Ryan Slater gave up two runs in the final frames.
After three scoreless innings to start the game, the Gators broke through on the scoreboard first. Center fielder Jud Fabian started the inning, sending a pitch back up the middle for a single. Then left fielder Wyatt Langford singled to right field, advancing Fabian to third. First baseman BT Riopelle followed with a walk that backed North Florida into a corner.
With the bases juiced, shortstop Josh Rivera ripped a pitch through the left side of the infield to drive in Fabian and Langford, making it 2-0. Designated hitter Ty Evans loaded the bases again with a full-count walk for catcher Mac Guscette, who then recorded a sac fly to score Riopelle.
Florida filled the bags full once more in the fifth and drew two more free passes to increase its lead to 5-0.
The Gators struck again in the sixth. Halter reached via a single and quickly stole second. Fabian then singled into left field to add another insurance run.
In the seventh, right fielder Sterlin Thompson blasted his fourth homer in nine games to increase Florida’s lead to 7-0.
The Ospreys tallied their first run of the game in the eighth inning. Ursitti allowed a lead-off double that advanced to third after a ground out. He then bounced a pitch to the plate that Guscette couldn’t corral, allowing the UNF runner to cruise across home plate.
The Gators went long again in the eighth and ninth innings, with third baseman Deric Fabian and Rivera both bombing two-run homers to left field, respectively.
The Gators will travel back to Gainesville and return to action Wednesday to play Florida A&M at Florida Ballpark at 7 p.m. EST.
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Florida baseball is hitting its stride and UNF is next up on the schedule.
Florida baseball is enjoying a five-game winning streak after dropping the opening series of the season to Liberty. The Gators will head to Jacksonville on Tuesday to face the North Florida Ospreys as they hope to continue their winning ways.
UNF is a familiar opponent for Florida seeing as the two programs met up just under a week ago. The Ospreys kept things tight, but the Gators walked away victorious, 3-1. Middle infielder Coly Halter made the difference in that one with a two-run home run in the third inning.
Following the loss to Florida, UNF was swept by Connecticut over the weekend. Home-field advantage didn’t seem to make much of a difference against the Huskies, and the Gators are coming into Jacksonville with some swagger behind them. Of course, UF’s offense has been spotty at times early on in the season and midweek pitching can always be questionable.
Timmy Manning got the start last Tuesday in hope of giving him a confidence boost before returning to the weekend rotation. He only threw one inning against the Hatters, but it seemed to help a bit in his start on Sunday. Left-hander Brandon Sproat, who struck out a career-high eight batters against UNF last week, will get the Tuesday start this week.
The Gators should be able to make it six-in-a-row Tuesday night, especially if they keep up the near 10-run average they managed against Georgia State over the weekend.
Florida’s bats fell quiet midway through the game, but strong pitching performances put the Gators over North Florida on Wednesday.
Florida Gators baseball will head into the second weekend of the season with a winning record after beating North Florida, 3-1, on Wednesday.
Sophomore right-hander Brandon Sproat pitched five strong innings and got the win for the Gators. He struck out a career-high eight batters and worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth while allowing just one run. Blake Purnell came in for his second-straight day of relief work and Ryan Slater shut the door with a save that lasted 2 1/3 innings.
Florida’s offense came early in the ballgame. Left fielder Wyatt Langford scored the first run of the game after reaching on a walk and advancing on a wild pitch and sacrifice bunt. Right fielder Tucker Talbott, who went 4-for-5 in his debut against Stetson on Tuesday, knocked Langford in with a groundout. Shortstop Colby Halter delivered the deciding runs with a two-run home run in the third.
Halter’s blast forced UNF to go to the bullpen and Florida’s bats quieted down for the rest of the evening. The Gators only managed one hit after the fourth inning, but it was enough to secure the win behind an encouraging performance from the pitching staff.
Sproat looks primed to wind up as the Gators Saturday starter, and Slater is the team’s closer heading into the weekend. Hitting is a bit more questionable, but this team is too talented to stay quiet at the plate for long. Designated hitter Kris Armstrong has struggled in particular, hitting just 1-for-20 (.050) over the first week of the season.
Florida opens the series against Georgia State on Friday with Hunter Barco as the probable starter.
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Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
After dropping its opening series, Florida baseball is looking to get back above .500 against UNF on Wednesday.
After a shaky start to the season, the Florida baseball team has a chance to get back above .500 against North Florida on Wednesday.
The Gators are coming off an 8-1 victory over the Stetson Hatters that settled some early-season hitting concerns for the team. Florida scored in four of the first five innings, establishing a healthy lead for the bullpen to work off of. Sophomore Timmy Manning started the game but only pitched one inning to get some confidence back before taking the mound again on Saturday.
Despite confirming Manning as the Saturday guy after the game, Kevin O’Sullivan didn’t name a starter for Florida’s game against UNF.
The Ospreys only have one win on the year after dropping their opening series to Presbyterian and losing a midweek game against UCF, 3-2. Projected to finish sixth in the ASUN Conference, UNF is Florida’s weakest opponent of the season so far on paper.
Still, Florida will need another strong performance from its young pitching staff. Nick Ficarotta established himself as a solid innings-eater with 4 2/3 innings of relief on Tuesday, but someone else will have to step up against UNF when Sully turns to the bullpen.
Nick Gabrelcik won his fourth career college title, contended at the Jones Cup and now continues his spring season with renewed putting confidence.
Winter golf has a way of stripping away big expectations. So despite having won his fourth career college title three days before the start of the Jones Cup, North Florida sophomore Nick Gabrelcik looked at his brother and caddie Donnie before the final round of the coveted amateur event and decided to throw scoring expectations out the window.
“They were probably the hardest conditions I’ve ever seen,” Gabrelcik said of that round at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia, when cold winds howled. “…I went into the round, my brother was caddying for me, and I just looked at him and I’m like, ‘Let’s just go play golf and try and have the most fun we can. Whatever happens, happens.’”
Gabrelcik added a final-round 74 to previous rounds of 68-76 and tied for fourth in his first time playing the Jones Cup. But the number – particularly on Sunday – doesn’t tell the whole story. Only two players in the field broke par.
“I wasn’t going to let the score determine how I felt I played,” Gabrelcik said of his mindset entering that round.
A challenge for Gabrelcik this season has been in keeping a level head no matter where he falls amid lofty expectations. With his Sea Best title, Gabrelcik has now won four times in 13 career starts as a college player. He rose to No. 26 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings with that win.
But how does one set goals after a freshman season that earned him national recognition as the Phil Mickelson Award winner, landed him as the No. 3-ranked player in the country, and ended with a U.S. Amateur semifinal run? In a word, realistically.
When UNF head coach Scott Schroeder sat down with Gabrelcik to talk about his goals at the start of the fall season, “he kind of looked at me and was like, your expectations are good but coming off the spring we know it’s going to be difficult to relive that or make it even better.”
Gabrelcik wants to win events, and he wants to make another run at the Haskins Award, given to college golf’s best player as voted on by coaches, peers, and golf media. The secret is in his putter.
Nick Gabrelcik hits a bunker on the 18th hole during the quarterfinals at the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. (Jason E. Miczek/USGA)
The 19-year-old didn’t win a college title in the fall, but has since begun work with Ramon Bescansa, a Jacksonville-based putting coach who works with a bevy of Tour players. Turns out it was the missing piece to get Gabrelcik back to the top.
“I’m a big confidence guy so if I’m not seeing the putts go in the hole, I kind of get down on myself which is something I’m working on,” he said. “That’s what I tend to do, I just misread putts at times and then Ramon gives me some drills and we look at stuff just green-reading wise.”
Anticipating a big spring season – UNF will compete nine times – Gabrelcik used the winter break as his “lay-low period.” But before the Sea Best rolled around, he found himself struggling with putting again. An hour lesson made all the difference.
“Three days later I felt like I was prime Tiger with the putter in my hand and ultimately it led to having a great week at Sea Best.”
The momentum followed him to Sea Island, and now Gabrelcik is well on his way.
The man behind the medal
Look closely at the hardware that went home with Jones Cup winner Palmer Jackson and you’ll get a bit of a history lesson.
For the first time in 2022, the name Layne Williams is inscribed on the top of the champion’s medal. Officials have named the award after Williams, the longtime rules official who was instrumental in the rules side of the major amateur event.
Williams served as Official in Charge or on the Rules Committee at over 250 GSGA competitions and numerous USGA events, including the U.S. Open Championship, U.S. Amateur Championship, and U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. In 2015, Williams was a recipient of the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award, which recognizes 25 years of service to the organization.
Congratulations to our 2022 Jones Cup Invitational Champion, Palmer Jackson! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/YgOCF6KVVZ
While the Jones Cup past champions list is distinguished, featuring major winners like Patrick Reed (2010) and Justin Thomas (2012), a highly experienced player doesn’t always walk away with the title. To wit, LSU senior Garrett Barber was a senior in high school when he won the title in 2018 and a 17-year-old Akshay Bhatia claimed the trophy the year after that.
Top juniors are well-represented in the field and often factor in prominently at the top of the leaderboard. This year’s junior head-turner was Ben James, a University of Virginia commit who finished solo third after rounds of 69-75-73. James racked up junior golf victories in 2021, winning the Scott Robertson Memorial plus three AJGA Invitationals as well as the New England Junior Amateur.
Benjamin James claimed his first invitational title at the Team TaylorMade Invitational. (AJGA photo)
James gained entry to several amateur events in the summer of 2020 but told Golfweek a year later that he got a little beat up in those events.
“It was a great learning experience for me to see how those guys play because they are really good,” James said in May.
Now James is applying those lessons, and they floated him all the way to the top.
Mid-amateur presence
The Jones Cup field featured seven mid-amateur players. Not surprisingly, reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad logged the best finish, a tie for 24th. Hagestad was in the mix early before falling down the leaderboard with a final-round 80
“I’m trying to knock the rust off and will try to be competitive,” Hagested told AmateurGolf.com before the Jones Cup. “I didn’t really play after the Mid-Am last year through the end of December. I played 18 holes here and there, but it’s not like I spent four or five hours on a Saturday working on my game like I’m starting to do now.”
Also of note, 2019 Western Amateur champion Garrett Rank finished T-63.
Here is a look at the odds for tonight’s Gator game against the North Florida Ospreys.
Florida basketball returns to the parquet on Wednesday night against the North Florida Ospreys looking to make amends for its historic loss to the Texas Southern Tigers on Monday. The defeat was not only the second-straight game that the Gators looked completely overmatched, but also the first-ever by a Southeastern Conference team to a school in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
UF was favored by 22.5 points heading into that tangle and instead had the tables turned on them for a 15-point upset; it was also a 1.5-point favorite before the road loss to the Oklahoma Sooners. The good news is that the Ospreys might be even weaker than TSU and the bookmakers’ numbers seem to reflect that.
On Wednesday morning, the Tipico Sportsbook favored the Gators by 26.5-points over the Ospreys while the over/under is set at 139.5. The money lines for Florida and UNF are minus-10000 and plus-1500, respectively, as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday inside the O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Florida. The game will be broadcast by the SEC Network, livestreamed on the ESPN app and can be heard on the Gators IMG Sports Network.
All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook
No one expected a loss to Texas Southern on Monday. Can the Gators get back to playing like a top 25 team against UNF?
Florida isn’t getting much time to recover from a shocking loss to Texas Southern on Monday, but moving on to a second game in three days against North Florida might be the best way to get past that horrible performance.
As bad as Texas Southern was heading into the game against Florida, North Florida might be coming to Gainesville in a worse spot. The Ospreys rank in the 300s in the NCAA men’s basketball NET rankings and have yet to win a Division I game this season, though they have chalked up a pair of wins over a Division II and NAIA opponent. Similar to Texas Southern, UNF has played a pretty heavy schedule to start the year. Losses have come against Texas A&M and Kentucky already this year, so Florida is hoping to keep the trend going of SEC dominance.
Florida moved Tyree Appleby out of the starting lineup after a bad night against Oklahoma, but the results were anything but expected. Phlandrous Fleming Jr. struggled with fouls and the team shot below 40% against what should have been an easy matchup. Appleby struggled again shooting just 1-7 on the evening and 0-6 from beyond the arc.
The Gators have the same projected lineup listed for Wednesday night, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mike White change things up to get some confidence back to the team. UNF tends to struggle to contain opposing guards. If there was ever a night for Appleby to snap out of his funk it would be this game.
A second-straight Quadrant 4 loss would be devastating to the Gators’ season. There’s plenty of basketball left to be played, but great teams simply don’t lose to bad teams twice in three days.
Here’s everything you need to know to follow tonight’s parquet matchup between the Gators and Ospreys.
Florida basketball is looking to right the ship tonight against the North Florida Ospreys in the O’Connell Center after suffering two straight losses — including a Quadrant 4 blowout on its home court to the Texas Southern Tigers on Monday. UNF on paper should be a good opportunity for Mike White‘s squad to work out some kinks, but that was said about the last game.
The Gators currently stand at 6-2 on the season and ranked in the top 20 of both major polls — though that will certainly change come next Monday. The Ospreys have put together a 2-8 campaign so far, with those two wins coming over the Weber International Warriors and the Edward Waters Tigers in their most recent game.
Here is a look at how to follow Wednesday night’s action across various media starting at 7 p.m. EST.
After an impressive freshman campaign at North Florida, Gabrelcik is still rolling this summer at the U.S. Am.
OAKMONT, Pa. — Nick Gabrelcik knew his game was something special back in 2018.
The Trinity, Florida, native was a junior at JW Mitchell High School and won the state match play that year, as well as a few junior events. The next summer he earned low-amateur honors at the 2019 Florida Open.
“That was the turning point where I knew I could compete with these guys on a regular basis,” Gabrelcik said on Thursday at the 121st U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club. The rising sophomore at North Florida won a hard-earned match against Liberty’s Kieran Vincent, 1 up, to continue what’s been an impressive year of play.
As a freshman for the Ospreys, Gabrelcik won three events and finished inside the top 10 in seven of nine tournaments. He set a program season record with 69.59 stroke average thanks to only four rounds over par.
“Just playing amateur events, playing against college kids as a junior leading up to college, it really got me comfortable with them,” said Gabrelcik. “I knew a lot of them and I’ve succeeded against a lot of them, so I just took that into college and ultimately worked out.”
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Gabrelcik shot rounds of 69 and 71 in the stroke-play portion of this week’s USGA championship, finishing T-29 at even par to earn the No. 35 seed and a match against Vincent, who provided a stout test in the first round of match play. Gabrelcik held a 3-up lead with four holes to play, but Vincent clawed his way back into the match thanks to a few miscues from Gabrelcik down the stretch.
“Normally my ball striking is the strength of my game. Unfortunately, that was kind of going away towards the end,” said Gabrelcik. “I don’t know if it was nerves or anxiousness to finish the match. I just talked to my brother who’s one of my closest friends, he’s my caddie, and he was telling me, ‘Calm down, you’ve done this before.’
“Me and him we were joking around a lot on the course just trying to keep the mood light and not get too serious,” Gabrelcik explained. “I know Kieran, too. We’re both in that Atlantic Sun Conference, so we knew each other.”
After losing Nos. 15 and 17, Gabrelcik settled down and clutched up, making par on the 18th to advance to the afternoon’s Round of 32 against one of the hottest players left in the field, recent Western Amateur champion and Stanford sophomore Michael Thorbjornsen.
“Normally towards the end of the round here I would have got frustrated but I’ve learned over the years that just keeping calm is always the better way to go,” said Gabrelcik. “Hopefully throughout the next few matches I don’t lose it towards the end but I know that I can obviously go out here and play well, win a match. Hope I can carry it to the next match.”
The Clemson men’s golf team won The Hayt this week as head coach Larry Penley draws closer to college victory record.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Larry Penley drew closer to Jesse Haddock’s all-time coaching record for men’s college tournament titles.
Penley’s Clemson Tigers made it 81 victories for their outgoing coach on Monday by winning The Hayt at Sawgrass Country Club, pulling away from host University of North Florida to tie the tournament record at 19-under-par 845.
The Tigers got all four of their scoring players among the top-10, led by Kyle Cottam (67) in second place at 8-under-par 208, two shots behind individual winner Nick Gabrelcik (69) of UNF.
Turk Pettit (71) tied for third with Florida State’s John Pak (71) at 7 under, Colby Patton (69) finished sixth at 4 under and Jacob Bridgeman (69) tied for 10th at even par.
Clemson’s 12-under 276 in the final round tied another tournament record previously matched in 2001 by Augusta University and in 2013 by UNF.
Clemson has won two of its last three starts. Penley is one behind Haddock for the all-time record of 82, and he will have at most, four more events: the Shoal Creek Invitational, April 5-7 in Birmingham, Alabama; the ACC Championship, April 22-26 in Atlanta; an NCAA regional May 17-19; and if the Tigers qualify, the NCAA Championship, May 29-June 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“We’re just trying to go out there and play as good as we can and get a couple of wins for coach [Penley] so he can go out on top,” Cottam said. “Our goal is to do a little better each tournament and be ready to peak when the ACC and the NCAA comes up, and we’ll be at our best.”
Clemson won The Hayt, named for John Hayt, the UNF program’s long-time benefactor, in its fourth-ever start in the tournament. The Tigers finished second in 2003, tied for fourth in 2004 and finished sixth in 2019.
Clemson senior Turk Pettit hitting his tee shot at No. 17 at Sawgrass Country Club at the Hayt. (Photo: Florida Times-Union)
“This is one of my favorite courses and I know it’s one of my players’ favorites,” said Penley, who has been at Clemson for 38 years. “It’s special to win on this course and even more special to have Mr. [John] Hayt’s name on the trophy.”
Clemson pulled away from UNF on the middle holes. The four players who scored played Nos. 7 through 14 at 8-under, with one bogey. UNF played the same stretch of holes at 8-over.
Penley’s team began the day one shot behind the Ospreys and when the final group was through five holes, the two teams were tied.
Cottam led the charge with four birdies in six holes from Nos. 7-12.
If his team couldn’t win the tournament, Schroeder was happy that Penley’s team did.
“Larry is a first-class guy with a really good team this year,” Schroeder said. “They’re a veteran team [Penley started three seniors and a junior] and Sawgrass usually identifies a really good team. Right now, they’re better than us.”
“I really didn’t anticipate being able to pull away like that,” Penley said. “I thought it was going to be a real dogfight and for a while, it was.”
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Gabrelcik won his second tournament title as a freshman, shaking off a triple-bogey at No. 13 after he hit his second shot out of bounds, and a bogey at No. 16 when he inexplicably hit driver off the tee of the downwind 380-yard hole, which has a fairway sloping down towards a water hazard in front of the green.
Gabrelcik said he was trying to hit a “chip-driver” at No. 16. He dropped, hit his third shot over the green, then pitched back on and made a 3-foot putt for bogey and dropped into a tie with Cottam.
“I was feeling confident. … the water was not really on my mind,” Gabrelcik said. “As soon as I saw the ball, I deeply regretted it.”
But Gabrelcik, who had a four-shot lead through 12, hit his next two fairways to set up his winning birdies, on a 4-foot putt at No. 17 and a two-putt from 40 feet at the par-5 closing hole.
Cottam had a chance at No. 18 but three-putted off the front fringe from 40 feet away for par.
“He’s a kid who’s going to keep fighting,” Schroeder said about Gabrelcik. “He hit the wrong club off the tee at No. 16 but after the triple, he didn’t mishit a golf shot. That shows you what he has inside of him.”
