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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Florida flashes power, gains experience in pair of non-conference series

Florida infielder Cade Kurland hits the ball in the Gators' 13-7 win against Cincinnati Bearcats Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023
Florida infielder Cade Kurland hits the ball in the Gators' 13-7 win against Cincinnati Bearcats Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

Freshman designated hitter Luke Heyman stood opposite Cincinnati redshirt senior pitcher Jackson Murphy. 

The Florida freshman saw the pitch from the fifth-year righty and launched a deep home run over the Bearcats’ bullpen in left field. The homer started a run of three straight long balls from the Gators Feb. 26 in a win that punctuated a week of power-hitting and strong offense.

The No. 7 Florida Gators (7-1) won four of five games in a pair of series against the South Florida Bulls and Cincinnati Bearcats. UF flexed its power and hit 18 home runs across the five games, including a program-record eight-homer explosion Feb. 26.

“I don't think I've seen that,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Feb. 26. “Offensively, it was a really good weekend, and we saw some good arms.”

Sophomore two-way player Jac Caglianone powered the Gators’ offensive performance. The sophomore hit six long balls through the five games. He capped off his dominant run with a three-homer performance Feb. 26 against the Bearcats.

Caglianone struggled early on the mound. He hit the second batter he faced and allowed a run after an error. The sophomore left-hander rallied to strike out six batters; he gave up two hits and three runs and walked four batters in just more than four innings of work.“Performance on the mound, I hold myself to a higher standard than that,” Caglianone said. “If one part’s kind of lacking, you’ve got to pick up the slack.”

Florida started the week with a dominant win over South Florida in Tampa. Freshman Cade Fisher made his first career start on the mound for Florida. The Dalton, Georgia, product played four innings. He struck out six batters and allowed one unearned run and four hits.

New arrivals helped spark the Gators’ offense, as well. Freshman second baseman Cade Kurland launched his first career home run, and junior Santa Fe College transfer Tyler Shelnut smacked his second homer of the season.

Florida’s dynamic duo of junior left fielder Wyatt Langford and Caglianone also hit long balls in a comfortable 6-1 win for the Gators Feb. 21.

The second game of the series against the Bulls started similarly. Another freshman pitcher — Yoel Tejeda Jr. — got the start and allowed four hits and two earned runs in three innings.

Redshirt sophomore pitcher Nick Ficarrotta made his season debut in relief and set a career-high with seven strikeouts in just over three innings. Florida’s bats continued to pile runs, including another homer from Caglianone.

The Gators took an 8-3 lead into the final inning, and they looked poised to wrap up another comfortable win. However, things unraveled quickly.

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A combination of hot hitting from South Florida and poor Florida fielding flipped the score. USF sophomore outfielder Jackson Mayo cranked a three-run shot into the outfield to tie the game. A pair of unearned runs gave the Bulls a two-run lead.

The Gators scored once but couldn’t retake their lead in the final frame. Florida dropped its first game of the new season.“The bottom line is: On the mound, we need to get some help from some other guys, especially in these midweek games,” O’Sullivan said Feb. 22.

UF closed the week with a three-game weekend series against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Gators returned to their starting rotation on the mound after they relied on their young arms in the midweek.

Junior Brandon Sproat went five innings and earned the win Feb. 24. 

Southern Mississippi transfer junior Hurston Waldrep dominated Feb. 25. The No. 10 overall prospect in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft struck out 13 batters and allowed just two earned runs in six innings.

“[I felt] a little more comfortable in the ballpark with the atmosphere and everything,” Waldrep said after the game. “Coming in today looking to land all four pitches, and that's basically what I was able to do for all six innings.”

Florida’s batters supported their pitchers with a weekend showcase of power-hitting. The Gators hit 13 home runs during the three-game series and scored 39 runs.

UF was particularly dominant Feb. 25. Junior shortstop Josh Rivera ripped a grand slam in the first inning — his first homer of the season — to get the Gators off to a hot start. 

Waldrep and Ficarrotta held the Bearcats to three runs. Sophomore right fielder Ty Evans ended the game with a walk-off home run in the eighth inning to trigger the 10-run mercy rule 

and clinch a series win.

Florida saved its best performance for last. The Gators set a new program record for home runs in a single game Feb. 26. Caglianone — who started the game as a pitcher and designated hitter — set a new career-high with three homers.

Rivera continued his hot hitting from Feb. 25 with his first-career multi-home run game. Heyman hit his first-career homer, junior third baseman Colby Halter hit his first of the season and Kurland added his second of the weekend series. 

Kurland played a key role for Florida against Cincinnati. The Tampa product replaced fellow freshman center fielder Michael Robertson in the lead-off spot after Robertson tweaked his knee in the first inning Feb. 24 on a fly ball in the outfield. 

"I asked him before the game. I said, 'Do you feel comfortable hitting leadoff?’” O’Sullivan said. “He said, 'I did it all last year.'”

Kurland went 7-14 at the plate against Cincinnati, hit two home runs and tallied six runs batted in. O’Sullivan had meetings about the freshman infielder’s role after an impressive start to the season, the head coach said.

The Gators will face a pair of local rivals as the season heats up: a two-game midweek series against the Jacksonville Dolphins Feb. 28 and March 1 before a weekend series against the No. 22 Miami Hurricanes March 3-5.

Contact Topher Adams at tadams@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @Topher_Adams.


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Topher Adams

Topher Adams is a fourth-year communications major and in his fourth semester with the Alligator. He previously covered football, baseball and women's basketball. He also enjoys professional lacrosse and Major League Soccer.


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