After racking up 25 runs on 33 hits over the final two games of the Georgia State series, the No. 14 Gators hit the cover off of the ball once again on Tuesday night at North Florida.
UF pounded out 13 hits in their 11-2 defeat of the Ospreys. Three of those hits left the stadium, which marked their third consecutive game with at least three home runs.
Freshman third baseman Deric Fabian turned in the first three-hit game of his brief career, including his first homer. His brother, Jud Fabian, also had a good game, with two hits and an RBI.
Josh Rivera went 2-for-4, including his second home run of the year, and drove in a career-high five runs.
Colby Halter extended his hitting streak to 11 games dating back to last year by going 2-for-3, while Kendrick Calilao went 2-for-2 off of the bench.
Sterlin Thompson also blasted his fourth home run of the season.
“We’re swinging the bats better,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I know we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but it’s encouraging to see that we’re getting some production up and down the whole lineup.
“I thought the dugout was outstanding. The energy was good; I think you could see it. And, when you’re getting a lot of guys contributing up and down the lineup, it makes it fun.”
The game actually started out as a pitchers’ duel for the first three innings, and it only took about 35 minutes to play those three frames. Florida (7-2) then scored in six consecutive innings to win the game going away.
Jud Fabian got things started in the fourth inning with a leadoff single up the middle off of Ospreys starter Ryan Jean. Wyatt Langford dropped one into right center to put runners on the corners, and BT Riopelle walked to load the bases with one out. Down in the count 1-2, Rivera pulled a pitch softly between third and short. Shortstop Aidan Sweatt dove for it, but the ball deflected off of his glove and into shallow left field to score two runs.
Mac Guscette added another run later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to right field off of Scott Griesemer.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out again in the fifth. Reliever Peter Holden struck out Langford and jumped ahead of Riopelle 1-2, but he plunked him with a pitch to bring in a run. Holden then walked Rivera to make it 5-0.
With two outs and nobody on in the sixth, Halter singled to right field off of Justin Parrish. He then stole second and came in to score on Jud Fabian’s single to left field.
Thompson provided the lone run in the seventh inning with his leadoff bomb to just left of straightaway center off of Clayton Boroski.
Deric Fabian hit his two-run shot to left field in the eighth, and Rivera followed with one in the ninth.
This was also yet another solid night of work for UF’s pitchers, as they carried a shutout into the eighth inning before North Florida (1-8) added a pair of meaningless runs.
Brandon Sproat got the start and struck out two batters in two innings.
“The way he’s looked the last two times is what I saw this summer, so I was really pleased with how he threw the ball tonight, and it gives us some options on the weekend for sure,” O’Sullivan said.
Carsten Finnvold threw a pair of scoreless innings to pick up the win, though he did have some struggles with his command and walked two batters. Brandon Neely struck out five batters in his two innings. Blake Purnell struck out two batters in his inning. Anthony Ursitti and Ryan Slater each gave up a run in their innings but finished things out.
The Gators will now return home for a Wednesday evening date with Florida A&M and then travel to Coral Gables for their much-anticipated rivalry showdown with No. 22 Miami this weekend. O’Sullivan said that he delivered a simple message to the players after the North Florida win.
“The final message at the end there was ‘We’ve got to worry about FAMU [on Wednesday]. We’re not looking past anybody’ and get through [Wednesday] night and hopefully play well again and get ready for the weekend,” O’Sullivan said.