Tag: Yoel Tejeda Jr

Game Preview: Florida looking to get back on track against UNF

Florida might put a hurting on UNF after being swept over the weekend. The Gators are back at home Tuesday night to face the Ospreys at 6 p.m.

It was an ugly weekend for the Gators in Columbia, South Carolina, but the Florida baseball team has a chance to right the ship with a home game against North Florida Tuesday night.

Kevin O’Sullivan typically gives the reserves a chance to play during midweek games, but the starter might need a get-right game after losing to South Carolina in all phases of the game.

A few changes could be made, though. [autotag]Matt Prevesk[/autotag] could take over [autotag]Ty Evans'[/autotag] spot in right field. Evans has been scuffling and is hitting just below .100 against the conference following the weekend. Prevesk is hitting .240 and doesn’t walk a ton, but he’s the better option right now.

The Gators will go with freshman midweek starter [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]., who has made it through four innings in each of his starts since a rough outing against Florida Atlantic.

Here’s everything you need to know coming into the game.

Florida losing towering LHP for second-straight season

Florida won’t be getting left-handed pitcher Pierce Coppola back anytime soon, as the Gators provided an injury update Sunday that puts him out for the remainder of the season.

Some Gators fans spotted the 6-foot-8-inch left-hander in a brace on Sunday during the SEC Network’s broadcast of Florida’s 11-6 win over Georgia, but head coach Kevin O’Sullivan made things official and announced that redshirt freshman [autotag]Pierce Coppola[/autotag] will miss the rest of the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier in the week, according to Gators Online.

Coppola entered each of his first two seasons in Gainesville as the favorite to take over the Sunday starter spot, but injuries have continued to plague him and remove him from the conversation. Following just one start in 2022, Coppola ended his season early and underwent surgery for a bulging disc in his back. Now he’s out for all of 2023 and is hoping to play his first true season of college ball in 2024.

“Your heart goes out to him. It’s really disappointing,” Kevin O’Sullivan said. ” Nobody feels worse than he does. We all feel bad. The bottom line is we’re going to keep encouraging and we’re going to be there for him. We can’t wait until he gets back on the mound.”

The emergence of [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] as a viable starting option has made Coppola’s injuries easier for Florida to navigate, but having a player ranked No. 50 overall in 2021 by Perfect Game couldn’t hurt the team. In a perfect world, Coppola manned the Sunday spot in preparation for the ace role next year, with Caglianone finding his footing during the week.

O’Sullivan expressed hope for Coppola to be “100 percent” by SEC play, but it was apparent that he wouldn’t be ready by the time the Alabama series rolled around.

Assuming Coppola gets healthy for next year, he and Caglianone will be the top two guys in the rotation. [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] are first-round guys and won’t be returning, so the future is left-handed for the Gators on the mound.

It feels like the hope is to get either [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag] or [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]. ready for the Sunday spot, but transfers could come in and take that spot.

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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.

Key takeaways from Florida’s strong start ahead of SEC play

Florida is getting ready to begin SEC play on the diamond. Here’s what we learned about the team during non-conference play.

Florida baseball is 16-3, ranked fifth overall in the country and riding a seven-game winning streak heading into conference play, but everything isn’t perfect in Gainesville after a strong start to 2023.

Those three losses all have a common denominator, an implosion from the bullpen, and it’s no secret that relief depth is Florida’s weak point. Kevin O’Sullivan has been figuring out which members of the ‘pen he can trust, and there are fewer names on the list than he would like.

Still, starting pitching and hitting are two very strong areas for the Gators, so they’ll be in most games they play in. The weekend rotation has been particularly strong for UF this year, and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] has made a seamless transition as a two-way player. In front of him are two potential first-round picks, [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag], that have only gotten better as the season’s carried on.

The injury bug did bite the Gators last week, but most of the team should be healthy for the start of SEC play on Thursday against No. 24 Alabama. Florida has played just one series against a ranked opponent this season against Miami. UF took two of three games and ended the weekend with a mercy-rule win.

Things look good for Florida with conference play set to begin, but the Gators still have to get the job done on the field. Here’s a look at what we’ve learned about the team over the first 19 games of the season.

Major takeaways from No. 6 Florida’s midweek wins over FAU

The Gators finally took both games of a midweek series and will head into the weekend with a chance to put together the first five-game win streak of the season.

The No. 6 Florida Gators finally won both of their midweek games this week with victories over the Florida Atlantic Owls.

On Tuesday, UF outscored FAU, 18-11, in a game that was extended by a 41-minute rain delay. [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] lead the night with three hits, including two home runs and nine RBIs, and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] also had a three-hit night. [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyler Shelnut[/autotag] both hit home runs as well.

Although it wasn’t a great outing for freshman [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]., Florida scored more than enough runs to take the game in convincing fashion. [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag], [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag], [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] all got work in relief.

The pitching staff was much sharper on Wednesday. Starter [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] and left-hander [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] combined for an eight-inning, two-hit shutout. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] was the star on offense, collecting four hits on the day, including a walk-off grand slam that put the 10-run rule into effect.

Wednesday was the dominant win Florida has been looking for all year and finally leaves the team heading into the weekend on the right foot.

Siena might be Florida’s most favorable series of the season, and the Gatrors look like they are finally firing on all cylinders.

Series Preview: Florida hosting FAU for midweek series

Florida handled Miami over the weekend, and now the Gators are looking for the first midweek series win of the season over the FAU Owls.

Florida has won each of its three weekend series to start the season, but the Gators haven’t figured out how to take a two-game set during the week just yet. After splitting home-and-home series with Jacksonville and South Florida, UF will be hosting the Florida Atlantic Owls on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Like most of Florida’s midweek opponents, FAU isn’t the toughest team to beat in the nation, but it’s still a program that had 35 wins a season ago and is returning the heart of its lineup. Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan likes to throw young arms during the week, and this Owls lineup is the type to take advantage of such a situation.

Florida should be able to score more than FAU, though. The Gators lead the nation in hits (164), home runs (35) and slugging percentage (.671) and are top five in both batting average (.350) and runs scored (147). The tandem of [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] might be the best in all of baseball, and senior leaders [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] and [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] are both shining as well. Freshman [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] has also emerged as one of the team’s most consistent hitters.

Ninth-inning collapse leads to Florida’s first loss of season

An epic ninth-inning collapse led to Florida’s first loss of the season Wednesday night. USF splits the season series with a 10-9 win.

Florida (4-1) led for most of the game against USF Wednesday night, but a ninth-inning meltdown led to the Gators blowing a five-run lead and taking the loss, 10-9.

There was plenty to like from UF, including a decent outing from freshman right-hander [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]. in his first-career start, but the late collapse is going to overshadow any positives from the evening. For what it’s worth, every Florida starter got a base hit, and [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] was stellar out of the bullpen.

Game Recap

Tejeda got the start for Florida and lasted three innings. He had a clean first inning despite walking Bobby Boser on four pitches, but the second and third were tough for Tejeda. He got out of a jam in the second, stranding a pair of Bulls in scoring position, but wasn’t as lucky in the third.

Tejeda started what should have been a 1-6-3 double play, but shortstop [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] made an errant throw to first and allowed a run to score. The 6-foot-8-inch freshman should have been out of the inning, but he surrendered another run after giving up a walk and a single instead.

At that point, Florida’s offense hadn’t gotten going yet and only managed to score a single run through the first two innings. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] homered in the first, but it took until the second time through the lineup for Florida to add some more runs.

[autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] hit a long sac fly into foul territory to tie things up in the bottom of the third, and Rivera came through with a single to left-center that scored him and gave Florida the lead. Caglianone was intentionally walked in between the two at-bats.

Ficarrotta was strong in relief for the Gators. He lasted 3 2/3 innings, striking out seven without giving up a base on balls. Ficarrotta surrendered just one run on the evening and limited damage to get out of a fifth-inning jam that started with three-straight singles.

Florida also had a big fifth inning and scored three runs. [autotag]Dale Thomas[/autotag], who got his first start of the season at second base, started things off with a double, and [autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] moved him over to third on a bunt single.

Langford struck out looking at three pitches, but Caglianone drove in Thomas with a single to right field. Rivera followed that up with his second RBI single of the day, and [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] singled in a run as well. A double play from [autotag]Tyler Shlenut[/autotag] ended the run.

Left-handed freshman [autotag]Chris Arroyo[/autotag] got the final out of the seventh for Florida after Ficarrotta allowed a pair of baserunners. Arroyo returned for the top of the eighth but was immediately pulled after giving up a base hit to start the inning. Kevin O’Sullivan gave him a pat on the back after taking the ball from him, which probably means that he was pulled to fit the matchup against a pinch hitter rather than for poor performance.

[autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] was the third arm out of the bullpen for Florida and got out of the eighth without issue. He did walk USF’s No. 9 hitter with two out but nothing came of it.

[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] could have earned his second save of the season, but Florida added what it thought was a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.

[autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag] scored after doubling and getting knocked in by Thomas. Robertson extended the lead to five runs with an RBI single of his own, and Langford doubled on a checked swing to put men on the corners. Caglianone drew his second intentional walk of the night, but Rivera couldn’t come up big again despite entering the at-bat hitting .660 with runners in scoring position.

Purnell came back out to pitch the ninth but things went south pretty quickly. He gave up a leadoff home run to start the inning and never recorded an out after an error in right field and walking a batter. O’Sullivan turned to [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] next, which turned out to be a mistake.

Jameson struck out the Bull with the highest average on the team for out No. 1, but it was all downhill from there. USF catcher Nelson Rivera singled in a run to cut the lead to three, and then center fielder Jackson Mayo sent the ball out of the yard to tie things up.

Disaster.

[autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] replaced Jameson but gave up a two-out triple to blow the lead. To rub some salt in the wound, USF scored what wound up being the deciding run on a passed ball.

[autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] pinch hit for [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag], who entered as a defensive replacement at third base for Tyler Shelnut, and drew a one-out walk to start a ninth-inning rally. USF ignored him on the base paths, so he easily got to third while [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] pinch hit for Heyman.

Riopelle struck out, but [autotag]Matt Prevesk[/autotag] batted for Lastres and singled in Kurland to put the Gators within one of a tie game. Unfortunately, [autotag]Richie Schiekofer[/autotag] grounded into a fielder’s choice on the very first pitch he saw to end the game.

Key Takeaway

The bullpen completely melted down after Purnell struggled to start the ninth. Jameson and Ursitti can’t afford to pitch like that when Sully puts them in a tense spot, and he’s unlikely to forget what happened.

The question is whether O’Sullivan will adjust or not. There were several times throughout the 2022 season when Florida made the wrong call out of the bullpen, and there were shades of that tonight. To be delicate, the only way Florida’s bullpen is below average in 2023 is through mismanagement.

The undefeated season may no longer be feasible, but at least Florida has now faced some adversity and can prove itself over the weekend against Cincinnati.

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5 major takeaways from Florida’s opening-series sweep over Charleston Southern

We learned a lot about the 2023 Florida baseball team over the weekend, and the good news is they might be even better than we thought before the season started.

Florida baseball began its season the right way over the weekend with a sweep of Charleston Southern that saw the Gators outscore the Buccaneers 37-5 over three games.

Things could have been even more one-sided, too. Both programs agreed to a 10-run mercy rule for the series, and Florida ended each of the first two games by the seventh. The Gators threatened a third-straight mercy-rule win on Sunday, but only scored eight runs and played the first nine-inning game of the season.

It’s too early to declare the team Omaha-bound, but Florida looked strong in every phase of the game through the first weekend of the season. That said, there’s an entire season left to play and the players have to endure a tough SEC schedule before getting to the postseason. Things could look very different in just a few weeks.

But right now, Florida looks just as good as advertised and there aren’t many negatives to take away from opening weekend.

2023 Baseball Season Preview: Bullpen

Florida didn’t lose a ton from last year’s bullpen, so the experience should help a good group become great in 2023.

With one day left until the start of the 2023 college baseball season, Gators Wire is looking at Florida’s bullpen.

The first thing that stands out is just how much depth there is separate from [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s starting rotation. The team is returning seven contributing arms from a season ago and has added one key transfer and four freshmen to the ‘pen.

In a big game, it’s fairly clear who would pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings for Florida, and there are plenty of options that can go long if a starter has to leave a game early. Florida’s only losing about 20 innings out of last year’s bullpen, so fans should see a considerable amount of growth from the sophomore class.

Leading the way statistically are [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] and [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag]. Junior college transfer [autotag]Clete Hartzog[/autotag] is in line to step into the closing role, at least to begin the season, and there’s a handful of second and third-year guys ready to eat innings.

This should be an efficient group for Florida, but the top of the bullpen is a lot stronger than the middle and bottom.

2023 Baseball Season Preview: Starting Pitchers

The Gators have an elite 1-2 punch at the top of the order, but there are some questions about how the rest of the rotation will play out with so much depth on the team.

Gators Wire is breaking up the pitching preview for Florida’s 2023 baseball season into two parts. The first will cover starters and potential starters for the team, and the second will discuss those who are primed to come out of the bullpen.

As usual, Florida has a fairly strong group of arms on the mound to lean on this year. Getting [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] back was massive for the program, and Hurston Waldrep transferring in gives Florida a pair of potential first-rounders at the top of the weekend rotation.

Things are less clear after those two, though. Florida’s would-be Sunday guy is stealing on the road back from back surgery, and there could be some early competition for that spot. Of course, Florida has plenty of four-game and five-game weeks in the early season, so some more depth will be needed.

The freshman class has some talent that could be used early, and the fans will always want to see [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag] on the mound after his legendary performance in the NCAA Tournament last year.