Florida left fielder Wyatt Langford took a few practice swings and dug into the batter’s box, staring down a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the third with two outs and second baseman Colby Halter 90 feet away from home plate. He watched a ball and a strike sail by.
Then Georgia State pitcher Ryan Watson hurled a pitch that caught too much of the plate. Langford unloaded on it and sent a rocket out to dead center, giving Florida baseball a 4-3 lead that it would never surrender to defeat the Panthers, 13-4, and clinch the weekend series on Saturday.
Halter started the second game with a bang versus Georgia State. He blasted a no-doubter to right-center to give the Gators the 1-0 lead.
However, the lead didn’t last long as coach Kevin O’Sullivan elected to go with pitcher Phillip Abner after Pierce Coppola was a late scratch due to back stiffness. Abner struggled with his command following a solid first inning, allowing two walks while skipping a few pitches to the backstop. The Panthers pounced on the opportunity and brought a runner all the way around to tie the game.
Abner’s woes continued in the third, hitting a batter and surrendering a double that put two runners in scoring position that eventually touched home plate after he was relieved by Blake Purnell.
Florida quickly answered in the bottom half via a sac fly from right fielder Sterlin Thompson to score third baseman Deric Fabian plus a Langford homer to grab the lead. Later in the fifth inning, catcher BT Riopelle grounded to third and drove in Thompson to add another run. First baseman Kris Armstong padded the Gators’ lead in the sixth with another dinger, and Thompson drove in Halter with an RBI single.
Florida added another six runs in the late innings, and the Panthers hit a solo shot in the top of the ninth to get to the final score. The team tallied 16 hits in the ball game but also committed two errors on defense.
The Gators return for the final game in the series against Georgia State to try to earn the sweep at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday.
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