Here’s how the Gators earned their 11th victory of 2022.
Florida baseball returned home to host the Jacksonville Dolphins for a two-game midweek series after a successful weekend in Coral Gables against the Miami Hurricanes. On Tuesday night against the Jacksonville Dolphins, the Gators earned a 1-0 victory in the first of a two-game midweek series to push their record to 11-3 on the young season.
Tyler Nesbitt took the mound for the first time since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, in which he made five appearances that included a start, tossing 11 2/3 innings of no-run ball, allowing seven hits and three walks while striking out and impressive 17 opposing hitters to earn a 1-0 record. He also had a wild pitch and hit a batter.
The 6-foot-3-inch redshirt freshman did not have the smoothest opening frame, bookending it with a pair of strikeouts while allowing a walk, hit and fly out, respectively. The Gators went down in order against JU’s Michael Darrell-Hicks to end the opening inning.
Florida cruised through the top of the second thanks to a tidy play in foul territory by Deric Fabian to get the first out and a typical Josh Rivera play to get out number two. Nesbitt put his offspeed and breaking balls to work to close out the frame. Wyatt Langford got on base with a first-pitch bunt in the bottom but was doubled off on a check-swing soft liner by BT Riopelle. Kendric Calilao followed that up two-out double but a sharp grounder by Rivera to third base ended the threat.
Ryan Slater took over at the top of the third, and Jud Fabian showed off his fielding skills on the first pitch with an all-star catch coming in on a soft fly ball. The 6-foot-3-inch pitcher worked quickly with a low-90s fastball and mid-80s slider to put away the ‘Fins in order on 10 pitches. Kris Armstrong led off the bottom half with an opposite-field short fly that fell for a hit, followed by a Colby Halter bunt that resulted in a hit and an error to put runners on second and third with no outs. But the inning was cut short by a Deric Fabian strikeout and a Sterlin Thompson line out.
Slater made short work of JU in the fourth, sending the Dolphins down in order. The Gators got a runner on base with one out in the bottom half but a Calilao grounder to third ended the inning with a double play. Jacksonville went down in order the next time around while Darrell-Hicks had a quiet fifth inning against the Gators despite a slow single against the shift for Armstrong.
In the sixth, Slater continued his hitless effort thanks to an over-the-shoulder catch by Calilao in foul territory behind first base to quickly shut down the ‘Fins. The Gators got on the board after a two-out walk to Langford that ended Darrell-Hicks’ day, followed by a beautiful bunt down the third-base line for Riopelle and a Calilao single to left to plate the game’s first run. However, a flyout to right put out the fire.
Jax opened the seventh with a bunt hit of their own down the third-base line but a fielder’s choice and an actual double play put any hopes of striking back to rest. Armstrong made it three hits on the day to open the bottom half of the frame, and after Deric hit into a fielder’s choice, the younger Fabian got doubled off on a fly ball to right to end the inning quietly.
Nick Ficarrotta took over in the top of the eighth, getting into a little bit of trouble after allowing a one-out single and a two-out walk. A coaching visit to the mound appeared to do the trick, as he got out of the inning unscathed after a soft grounder to second. Jud led off the bottom half with his first hit of the night on a liner to left after which Thompson’s 13-game hitting streak came to an end with a lazy fly to center. Following a Fabian stolen base UNF replaced their pitcher with Tyler Vogel.
Fabian made it to third on a deep flyout to right but Jacksonville’s fireballer got Riopelle to strike out, ending the threat. Ficarrotta mowed down the first two Dolphins in the ninth before issuing a two-out walk, but struck out the final batter to earn his third save of the season.
The Gators will do it again on Wednesday night at the same time, the same place against the same team. Garrett Milchin is scheduled to start for Florida while Jacksonville’s starter is still to be determined.
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