South-Carolina

Gators a win away from CWS return after beating South Carolina in Game 1 of Super Regional

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The Florida Gators are one game away from their first trip to the College World Series since 2018.

A 5-4 come-from-behind win against South Carolina before a record crowd Friday night in Gainesville positioned coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s program to end a surprising, frustrating stretch of postseason futility. The Gators (49-15) and the Gamecocks (42-20) are scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Saturday at Condron Ballpark during Game 2 of the best-of-three series.

“All we got to do is win one,” right fielder Tyler Shelnut said. “That’s what we were saying at the end: ‘Nine more innings; let’s not wait until Sunday.’ If we give these guys another chance, then it’s going to be a dogfight.

“They’re going to come out tomorrow, their season’s on the line. We just gotta beat them to the punch.”

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Catcher BT Riopelle continued to come through in the clutch during the postseason. A solo home run to center field in the top of the sixth off reliever Will Sanders gave the Gators their first lead at 4-3.

“A lot of work has gone into it,” Riopelle said. “There’s been a lot of chances in my life where I didn’t get the hit. Now it’s the opposite of it. That could flip in a day, a pitch or an at-bat.

“I’m just enjoying the ride. But I don’t want it to be my last.”

Riopelle now 6 home runs during the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

“He’s older; he’s mature,” O’Sullivan said. “BT can go through stretches where he swings and misses some. But he does have a knack to come up with big at-bats at the right time.”

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The home run was the Gators’ third of the night during a dramatic game delayed 2:36 by weather but still drawing an announced crowd of 8,439, a UF record.

“We had a 2½-hour rain delay and it was electric,” O’Sullivan said.

Florida’s Josh Rivera (24) celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run home run 453 feet against South Carolina during the first inning June 9, 2023, in Gainesville. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Spectators barely had time to settle into their seats before the action began.

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The second-seeded Gators quickly fell behind when No. 15 Gamecocks tagged pitcher Brandon Sproat from the jump.

Leadoff hitter Will McGillis ripped Sproat’s second pitch — a 97-mph fastball — out of the ballpark and just inside the foul pole left field to give South Carolina a 1-0 lead.

Shortstop Braylen Wimmer then reached base when outfielder Wyatt Langford misplayed a fly ball to center. After an Ethan Petry strikeout, clean-up hitter Cole Messina singled to center field. Two batters later, first baseman Gavin Cass of Pembroke Pines brought home Wimmer with a two-out single to put runners on the corners, but Sproat struck out second baseman Michael Braswell to finally end the inning.

“They came out and swung the bats really good,” O’Sullivan said. “They were really aggressive.”

But the 15th-seeded Gamecocks, fresh off a dominant 3-0 showing during the Columbia Regional, could not contain one of the sport’s most explosive lineups, a collection responsible for 129 home runs — three shy of the school record set in 1998.

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A 2-run, 2-out home run by shortstop Josh Rivera, the 17th of the season for UF’s clean-up batter, traveled 453 feet over the left-field bleachers after South Carolina pitcher James Hicks served up a 92-mph fastball down the middle on a 2-0 count.

“We”ve always talked about it: We’re never out,” Riopelle said. “This offense can really put up runs when it matters the most. But that ball was smashed.”

Florida pitcher Brandon Sproat shook off a tough start against South Carolina to finish with 7 strikeouts through 6 innings on 105 pitches for the Gators in Gainesville. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

South Carolina pulled ahead again after left fielder Dylan Brewer opened with an single to right field and scored two batters later on a McGillis single to left center. Yet  Sproat, who allowed 7 hits and 3 runs on 38 pitches, settled down and forced a double play to end the inning.

Sproat stopped relying on a fastball in the high 90s and turned to his breaking ball to weather four more innings. He ended the night having yielded 9 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 bases on balls and recording 7 strikeouts.

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“That’s what great pitchers do,” right fielder Tyler Shelnut said. “It’s real easy to kind of crumble at that point when you start struggling, but he didn’t. He stays the course. He’s a veteran guy.”

The Gators tied the Gamecocks in the top of the fifth on a solo shot by Shelnut and took the lead on Riopelle’s sixth-inning effort. A Shelnut single in the eighth scored Rivera for an insurance run the Gators would need when McGillis hit a 2-out solo homer in the ninth off closer Brandon Neely, who forced a Wimmer groundout on the next pitch for the win.

“Normally in games like this the team that scores first can get momentum, it can kind of get away from you,” O’Sullivan said. “We battled.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com



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