No. 7 Florida used a 13-3 victory to clinch the series over Cincinnati in an eight-inning contest in front of 6,798 fans at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday evening.
The Gators delivered a complete game, including 11 hits at the plate, 15 strikeouts on the mound, and zero errors defensively.
Junior shortstop Josh Rivera got the action started for Florida in the bottom of the first, driving the first pitch he saw onto the right field berm for a grand slam, his first homerun on the season. Rivera finished the game with two hits in five at-bats while scoring two runs in the contest.
Florida’s starting pitcher, Hurston Waldrep, was electrifying on the bump in his 2nd career start as a Gator, completing six innings and allowing two runs, three hits, three walks, while striking out 13 batters. Waldrep is the first UF pitcher to strike out 13 batters in a game since Jackson Kowar vs. Texas on June 19, 2018 in the College World Series.
Waldrep’s strategy was to throw his breaking balls early in the count against Cincinnati, which he formed after watching the Bearcats try to jump on Brandon Sproat’s fastball early in the count on Friday night.
With a 5-1 lead in hand, Langford gave the Gators a boost in the fourth, blasting a two-run shot to left center which cleared the Dizney Grove fence for an out of the park homerun. Langford was the only Gator to collect three hits this evening, adding three runs, a walk, and a double to go along with his two RBI night.
Cade Kurland moved up to the Gators’ leadoff spot due to Michael Robertson’s absence (knee injury). The freshman snagged two hits on four at bats, adding a run and two RBIs in the game. Florida has a ton of talent at the infield positions, but if Kurland continues to hit like this, he’ll be impossible to take out of the lineup. Kurland leads the Gators with a .579 batting average.
Ty Evans cranked his first homerun in the bottom of the 8th, ending the game at 13-3 due to the new SEC run-rule. Evans leads the Gators with 15 RBIs on the season.
Right-hander Nick Ficarrotta took over for Waldrep in the 7th inning, pitching the last two innings for the Gators. Ficarrotta allowed one run, two hits, and one HBP while striking out two batters.
Two of the three Bearcat runs came from somewhat unfortunate circumstances. Their first run came in the top of the 2nd after Waldrep retired what should have been the last out of the inning, but the strikeout pitch got away from Riopelle, allowing Hegemann to reach on a drop third strike. Schupmann would later hit a ground rule double, scoring Vidourek from second.
The next Cincinnati run came across the plate in the 5th inning after a very questionable non call on an interference by Cincinnati’s Sean Springer, which would have resulted in an out.
Florida looks for the series sweep over Cincinatti tomorrow at 12:00 pm.