The Gators’ bats were still ringing after an 8-1 annihilation of the Stetson Hatters in Deland Tuesday night. On Wednesday, back at Florida Ballpark, the bats became as stagnant as ever.
Despite a rough outing from the Gators offense, a strong performance from sophomore pitcher Brandon Sproat and relief efforts from freshmen Blake Purnell and Ryan Slater were enough to bring Florida (3-2) back above .500, beating the North Florida Ospreys 3-1.
After a hitless first inning for both sides, UNF senior Cade Westbrook earned the first hit of the night off of Sproat, a soft shot that fell in shallow left. Sproat finished the inning with no further troubles, earning his third strikeout after two in the first inning.
Sophomore Wyatt Langford walked to open the bottom of the second inning, and he managed to work his way all around the bases without a single Florida hit. First, the Trenton, Florida, native stole second base on a wild pitch. Then, junior BT Riopelle grounded out, bringing Langford to third. Afterwards, freshman Tucker Talbott finished the job with an RBI ground out, bringing Langford all the way home. Florida was still in search of its first hit, but it had a one-run lead after two.
Sproat continued to deal in the top of the third, throwing another strikeout and keeping the Osprey hit count at one. He finished the game with four hits and one run through five innings and 74 pitches. An eight-strikeout performance set a new career high for the sophomore.
“Whether [Sproat] stays in the midweek or not, I don’t really know,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Tonight he threw really good. His command was outstanding, and his stuff is good enough to get anybody out.”
The Florida bats truly got their swagger back, for a moment, in the bottom of the third.
Junior Kendrick Calilao recorded his first hit of the season, a double to deep left, and was brought to third via a bunt from freshman Deric Fabian. Halter was up next. The sophomore opted to pass on a sacrifice fly-out, instead choosing a two-run shot off the batters’ eye with an exit velocity of 103 mph. As the lights of Florida Ballpark strobed, Halter rounded third on his first homer of the season, bringing the Gators’ lead to three.
“One through nine in our lineup, we’re all super good hitters,” Halter said. “It’s really one of the most stacked lineups I’ve ever been a part of. We’re gonna find our rhythm.”
O’Sullivan sent five pitchers to the bullpen to start the bottom of the fourth, a sign of things to come for the Gators on the mound. Florida’s side was retired after junior Kris Armstrong grounded into a double play, following Riopelle’s tag-out at third trying to turn a double into a triple.
With freshmen Philip Abner and Purnell beginning to warm up in the bullpen, Sproat faced the toughest inning of his night in the top of the fifth. Three-straight UNF hits juiced the bases to start the inning, but Sproat kept his composure and delivered two clutch strikeouts to work back into the inning. A two-out walk brought one run in, drawing the Ospreys within two, but an ensuing ground out to second closed out a potential disastrous situation for Florida.
“We can’t just stand back and take our swings,” O’Sullivan said. “We’re trying to be as versatile as we can offensively. When you don’t hit, it’s hard to score runs.”
After a quiet bottom of the fifth for the Gators, Purnell arrived on the mound to the tune of “Public Service Announcement” by Jay-Z. After a brief appearance on Saturday’s loss to the Liberty Flames, Purnell did his best to reintroduce himself to the Florida Ballpark crowd with a scoreless inning. Despite allowing a hit on his first faced batter, Purnell would get out of the inning with no damage on the scoreboard.
He would be right back out on the mound following a three-up-three-down bottom of the sixth for the Gators.
After hitting the opening batter, Purnell appeared to regain his cool, but a single to center field forced O’Sullivan to bring out Slater. With runners at first and third and two outs, a deep shot to right field stole the breath of the fans at Florida Ballpark. Talbott was able to reach the ball and close the inning, though, getting Slater out of the tight spot.
Needing a couple cushion runs to ease tension off of the defense, the Gators were still unable to generate any offensive production. North Florida once again put Slater in a stressful situation, as a double for Westbrook put the tying run at the plate in the top of the eighth. Two strikeouts in the inning, including one to close it, would still be enough to keep the Ospreys off the board. UNF was down to its final three outs.
Deric, Halter and Jud all failed to get on base in the bottom of the eighth, but it failed to matter as Slater retired the final Osprey batters with just one hit. Slater finished the game with four strikeouts, catching the final Osprey of the night looking on a game-ending K.
After losing the opening-weekend series to Liberty, Florida has put together two wins before a weekend series with Georgia state. The Gators return to Florida Ballpark Friday night for a 6:30 p.m. date with the Panthers. All three games of the weekend series will be streamed on SEC Network +.
Contact Carson Cashion at ccashion@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @CarsonCashion
Carson Cashion is a third-year sports journalism major at UF, and the sports editor at The Alligator for the 2022 summer semester. A native of Altamonte Springs, Carson spends his free time walking his dog, Baxter, and listening to good music. He is an avid Tennessee sports fan, and eagerly awaits watching one of his teams win a championship for the first time.
