South-Carolina
Florida stumbles, drops final regular season game versus South Carolina – The Independent Florida Alligator
One other 12 months, one other senior day for Florida baseball. The 2022 common season has been something however clean for head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s group, and Saturday’s sport versus South Carolina got here simply in time for one final bump within the highway forward of postseason play.
As an alternative of closing out the season with a optimistic convention document, UF stumbled to the end line, closing out the common season and not using a sweep and with yet another underwhelming loss.
Florida (35-20, 15-15) fell to South Carolina (27-27, 13-17) 4-1 in what might be the ultimate sport in Condron Ballpark for seven UF seniors.
The Gators produced early within the weekend. It started with a 14-5 steamrolling of SC on Thursday, together with 4 balls despatched over the wall by UF bats. Florida’s dominance continued Friday as freshman pitcher Brandon Neely threw a career-high 10 strikeouts on the best way to an 8-0 shutout.
The 2 wins introduced the orange and blue to their first plus-.500 document within the Southeastern Convention since March 27. Sunday was a possibility for UF to brush and finish the common season on a excessive observe.
The Gamecocks had been the primary to strike this time round, sending off a solo-shot dwelling run within the high of the primary and including one other run within the second to take an early 2-0 lead. Florida tried to reply, however deep balls from redshirt junior standouts Jud Fabian and BT Riopelle leaned foul on their manner out.
The Gators answered within the backside of the second because of errors on South Carolina’s behalf. Freshman outfielder Ty Evans reached second on an error, then scored after SC catcher Colin Burgess fumbled the out at dwelling plate.
Pogue continued to wrestle on the mound. The precise-hander allowed one other Gamecocks homer and put a runner on first base within the high of the third earlier than a flyout acquired him out of the jam.
After three innings, Florida trailed 3-1.
Issues picked up for Pogue from there. He snagged three-straight 1-2-3 innings together with two strikeouts within the high of the sixth. Heading into the underside of the inning, the Gators had been merely ready for his or her bats to heat up.
Forces of nature then put a pause on the sport. It will be over an hour earlier than Florida took the sphere once more after a prolonged rain delay. Upon resuming, the Gamecocks continued to roll with their momentum, tacking on two extra runs. UF is an abysmal 0-19 when trailing after the fifth inning, and nothing modified Sunday.
“I feel in the present day type of had a bizarre really feel,” O’Sullivan stated. “We misplaced our legs in essential spots, however I feel we’ve been taking part in nicely. We’ll simply transfer on and prepare to play on Tuesday.”
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Subsequent up, Florida rematches South Carolina in Hoover, Alabama, for the primary spherical of the Southeastern Convention Event. The Gators appeared to have the higher hand on the Gamecocks many of the weekend, however issues may actually play out in a different way with increased stakes.
First pitch is ready for Tuesday at 3 p.m. The sport will likely be broadcast on the SEC Community.
Contact Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@alligator.org. Observe him on Twitter @jaxacastellano.
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