Through four innings, Saturday’s game two between No. 9 Florida and Alabama had the makings of a high-scoring slugfest. The game was tied 5-5 at that point, and the teams had combined for 13 hits. It felt like there were still plenty of twists and turns to go before the outcome was decided.
As it turned out, only one team was able to sustain their torrid hitting throughout the entire game. The Gators finished with 18 hits, including five home runs, their second-most in a game this year. Ryan Slater stabilized things on the mound, giving up just two runs on five hits in a career-high-tying five innings, and the Gators won 13-6 to clinch the series. The win also gave coach Kevin O’Sullivan his 600th career victory.
“I appreciate the players coming up at the end and saying some nice things, but, at the end of the day, the players are the ones who go out and play, and they’re the ones that have to put in all the hard work in the weight room and that type of thing,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a nice milestone. Not to sound too modest, but I’m just really glad for the players that we go on the road for our first SEC series and win the series.”
Eight of UF’s nine batters notched at least one hit, and six of them turned in multi-hit games. Remarkably, none of them were in the top-3 spots in the batting order. Wyatt Langford went 3-for-6 with two homers and four RBI. Kris Armstrong had the best game of his career, recording a career-high four hits, including a home run.
BT Riopelle and Kendrick Calilao both went 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBI. Josh Rivera went 3-for-5, while Deric Fabian was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
“I think that was one of the things we talked about [Friday] night – we left probably three runs out there – is to play offense for nine innings, and, hopefully, the message came across, and it did,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought we swung the bats really well the entire night. I thought we were competitive the entire night at the plate.”
The Gators (15-4, 2-0 SEC) jumped on Alabama starter Antoine Jean right away in the first inning. Langford lined a full-count pitch just over the wall in left for a two-run shot. Two pitches later, Riopelle launched a no-doubter well past the fence in right to make it 3-0.
UF starter Brandon Sproat seemed to have his best stuff in the first inning, working around a one-out double to put up a zero. Then things unraveled on him quickly in the second.
A double by Owen Diodati and an infield single by Eric Foggo put runners on the corners with two outs and seemed to fluster Sproat. He walked the next two batters to put the Crimson Tide (12-8, 0-2) on the board.
The Gators got that run back in the third when Langford hit an RBI groundout to short to make it 4-1.
However, Sproat’s wildness continued into the bottom of the inning and erased that three-run cushion quickly. A walk and a hit batter put two runners on with nobody out.
It looked like Sproat was going to get the double play that he needed when he got Drew Williamson to hit a groundball up the middle. Unfortunately for the Gators, the ball ricocheted off of Sproat’s leg and into shallow left-center field for an RBI single.
Diodati cut the lead to one by grounding into a double play one batter later.
Once again, the Gators didn’t let Alabama have the momentum for long. With runners on first and second and one out in the fourth, Deric Fabian lined a pitch deep into the left-center gap. The ball bounced off of Diodati’s glove. Rivera had to retreat to second base in case the ball was caught, so third-base coach Craig Bell gave him the stop sign. Rivera ran right through it and scored to make it 5-3.
Some good hitting and a bit of fortune allowed the Tide to tie the game in the bottom of the frame. Foggo lined a single to left to lead off the inning and end Sproat’s night.
“He was electric in the first, and I felt like he was prepared,” O’Sullivan said. “You got the bases loaded, and maybe some of the pitches were kind of close that didn’t go his way, but I think what happened with him with the walk and the hit by pitch to start the [third] inning, I think that’s probably what put him in a little tough situation, but we’ve all seen it. We’ve all seen him go out there and compete and make quality pitches when he needs to. He just needs to put it all together.”
Slater entered and got Bryce Eblin to make weak contact with a 1-2 slider. The ball landed between UF’s infielders and Langford in left for a bloop single. Jim Jarvis followed with a perfectly placed bunt single down the third-base line to load the bases with nobody out.
A fielder’s choice to second by Dominic Tamez scored one run, and a sacrifice fly to left by Zane Denton tied it at 5-5.
It was all Gators from that point on. Langford crushed Hunter Furtado’s first pitch of the fifth inning past the bullpen in left-center field to reclaim the lead.
Three consecutive singles by Calilao, Rivera and Armstrong loaded the bases, and Colby Halter walked to bring in another run.
With one out in the sixth, Langford lined a pitch off of Furtado for a single and then stole second. Riopelle grounded a ball just between the shortstop and second baseman to score him.
Riopelle then swiped both second and third to put himself 90 feet away from scoring.
“He’s got some instincts, and he may not be the fastest, but he certainly gets good jumps and gets good reads,” O’Sullivan said. “I think the thing with him offensively [is] he’s always been able to hit, but I think he’s doing a much better job against left-handed pitchers.”
Riopelle didn’t even need to steal those bases because Calilao smacked a long home run just to the left of the scoreboard in left field. Two batters later, Armstrong left the yard to make it 11-5.
The Gators added their final two runs in the eighth on Armstrong’s RBI double and Deric Fabian’s RBI single.
Meanwhile, the only run Alabama scored the rest of the way came on Diodati’s homer in the seventh. Slater struck out a career-high six batters and allowed UF’s offense to turn this game into a blowout.
The Gators will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 2.