For the first time since March 25 against LSU, the Gators won the opening game of a series on Friday night against Kentucky.
Brandon Sproat, Blake Purnell and Anthony Ursitti combined to give up just two runs, and the offense ignited for seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings after a sluggish start. The complete performance resulted in a blowout 9-2 victory for the Gators at Condron Ballpark.
“I think tonight we played together as a team, and I feel like the intensity was good right from the start,” right fielder Sterlin Thompson said. “I’d say it was a great win for us to get back on track.”
Jac Caglianone powered the Florida offense in his second career start, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. The two-way player made his collegiate debut against Tennessee last weekend. He underwent Tommy John surgery early last summer and still hasn’t been cleared to throw the ball. He was given the green light to start swinging the bat a few weeks ago, and they gave him some at bats against live pitching in practice before turning him loose in games.
He’s made a huge impact in his short time in the lineup, going 4-for-7 in three games with a home run last Sunday. He’s displayed a solid approach at the plate as well, as one of his hits on Friday was to the opposite side of the field in a two-strike count.
“He’s contributing, and I’m looking forward to getting him back on the mound next year, too,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You’ll see he’s got a really good arm in the future. He’s hopefully going to be the next two-way guy that we’ve had in the past here that has done a lot of different things for us.”
Thompson went 2-for-4 with four RBI, and Wyatt Langford and Josh Rivera collected two hits apiece.
Batting leadoff for the first time in his career, Langford opened the game with a bang in the bottom of the first. He got a 3-1 fastball from Kentucky starter Mason Hazelwood and didn’t miss it. The ball went sailing well past the fence in left-center field for his 14th home run of the year.
That would be all the offense for the Gators (24-17, 7-12 SEC) until the fifth inning, as they didn’t record a hit over the next three innings.
Fortunately, Sproat picked them up by tossing 5 1/3 shutout innings, with five hits allowed and five strikeouts.
It wasn’t smooth sailing for him, though. He ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings. Daniel Harris and Jacob Plastiak led off the fourth with back-to-back singles, and they stole their way into scoring position with one out. Sproat wiggled out of the jam by striking out Ryan Ritter and getting John Thrasher to ground back to the mound.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but I figured out a way to battle through it and give my team the best opportunity,” Sproat said.
Another leadoff single and a one-out walk put two runners on base in the fifth. This time, Sproat used a flyout and a pop out to keep the shutout intact.
“He gave us a good start,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he battled. I think he left eight guys stranded and made some really big pitches when he needed to. I think three of the first five innings the leadoff guy got on, and he didn’t get flustered and kind of held it together and made some big pitches when he needed to.
“I think what you saw tonight is a lot of the progress that he’s made from the mental side of the game. I’m not quite sure earlier in the year that he would have gotten through that. I think you’ve seen a lot of progress with him from the mental side, and I thought he pitched really good tonight.”
The Gators finally figured out Hazelwood in the bottom of the inning. Rivera lined a double over left fielder Jase Felker’s head to lead things off. Caglianone grounded a single through the left side against the shift, but Rivera seemed to forget that the shift was on and retreated to second in anticipation of a possible throw to third.
That baserunning mistake didn’t matter at all. Deric Fabian laid down a bunt to try to move both runners into scoring position, and he beat the throw to first to load the bases with no outs. Langford followed with a single through the right side to plate a run and make it 2-0. Hazelwood plunked Thompson to make it 3-0.
Daniel Harper replaced Hazelwood on the mound, but he couldn’t stop the bleeding. Jud Fabian lofted a sacrifice fly to left to score a run and finally put an out on the board. Harper tried to pick off Langford at second, but his throw sailed into center field and allowed both runners to advance.
The Wildcats (23-19, 6-13) then elected to intentionally walk BT Riopelle to load the bases and set up a potential double play. Instead, Kendrick Calilao hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 5-0.
Purnell took over on the mound for the Gators with one out and a runner on first in the sixth. He gave up a bloop single to Ritter but induced an inning-ending double play off of the bat of Thrasher.
UF poured on three more runs in the bottom of the frame off of reliever Mason Moore. Rivera and Caglianone singled to lead off the inning, and Rivera scored on a slow chopper to third by Deric Fabian. Two batters later, Thompson blasted a 1-0 offering off of the bottom of the scoreboard in right field to make it 8-0. It marked his first homer in 18 games.
“It felt good,” Thompson said. “It’s been a while, I’d say, but, that [at bat], I was just trying to get something middle-in and be on time with it, and I knew it right off the bat.”
Purnell pitched a scoreless seventh before giving up a solo shot to Plastiak with two outs in the eighth. Ursitti entered and recorded the final out of the inning, and Thompson provided an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out RBI single to right.
Things got heated between the teams in the ninth. Pinch hitter Devin Burkes launched a no-doubter to left center and then flung his bat high into the air like a graduation cap about three-quarters of the way down the baseline. Riopelle and second baseman Colby Halter took exception to his celebration, and both dugouts emptied onto the field. Nothing physical happened, but both sides were issued a warning.
Ursitti surrendered a double to the next batter but stranded him on third to close out the win.
Saturday’s game two looks a little bit more interesting now given the way that game one ended.
“[Bat flips are] part of the game,” Sproat said. “Let the kids have fun, but, when the score’s like that, have a little bit of feel.
“It’ll be a fun one [Saturday] to see how it goes.”