No. 3 UF slugs past No. 11 Tennessee in series premiere

Knoxville, Tenn. – No. 3 Florida claimed game one at No. 11 Tennessee in convincing fashion with a 6-1 victory at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Thursday night.

Back-to-back homers by Josh Rivera (1-for-4) and BT Riopelle (1-for-4) in the fifth inning accounted for four Gator runs, while starter Brandon Sproat did his job on the pitching end with 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

After trading zeros in the first inning, the Gators (26-5, 8-2 SEC) plated a lone run on the Volunteers (21-9, 4-6 SEC) in the top of the second. Cade Kurland and Colby Halter set the table by reaching on a fielding error and single to right, allowing Michael Robertson to open a 1-0 lead with an RBI infield single to shortstop.

Tennessee wasted no time responding, as Blake Burke led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to center field. The score remained even until the top of the fourth, when Kurland led off with a solo homer off his own – a line-drive shot over the right-field wall for his ninth blast of the campaign.

With a 2-1 lead in hand, Sproat blanked the Vols for the second-straight frame in the bottom of the fourth. Florida then broke the game open in the fifth, scoring four runs on back-to-back jacks by Rivera and Riopelle. With two on, Rivera launched an opposite-field big fly off the scoreboard for a three-run tank while Riopelle followed with a moonshot into the left-field seats to make it 6-1.

Sproat remained locked in through the middle innings, holding the Vols to their lone run before being lifted in favor of southpaw Philip Abner with two outs in the sixth. Abner struck out Maui Ahuna to strand the bases loaded, sending the matchup into the seventh.

The Gators were held in check in the latter innings, but Abner churned out zeros in the seventh and eighth to successfully hand the game over to closer Brandon Neely in the ninth. Neely ran into some trouble in the final frame, but worked through a bases-loaded jam to polish off a 6-1 series-opening win for the Orange & Blue.

Sproat (5-1) earned the victory after firing 5 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed on four hits and four walks. The right-hander struck out nine.

Tennessee starting pitcher Chase Dollander (4-3) dropped his third decision of the campaign, forfeiting four runs (three earned) across four-plus innings on the mound. The Vol ace surrendered four hits and three walks while striking out seven.

NOTABLES

• Florida rose to 7-0 on the road this season.
• Florida improved to 8-2 to open SEC play and is now 21-7 across the last 28 games against SEC opponents dating back to 2022.
• Sproat picked up his fifth win of the season, improving to 10-1 across his last 14 starts. Sproat has lost one decision across his last 14 starts. Prior to dropping last Friday’s start vs. Auburn, Sproat’s last loss occurred on April 23, 2022 vs. No. 1 Tennessee. – marking 342 days in between losses.
• Robertson extended his team-leading on-base streak to 28 games.
• Caglianone extended his hitting streak to nine games, which includes eight multi-hit performances.
• Florida has struck out double-digit batters in 22 of 31 games.
• Florida has struck out 347 batters in 268 innings – translating to 11.7 per nine innings. The Gators tied their season high with 18 strikeouts in game one vs. Tennessee.
• Through 31 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-150. The Gators have scored in 127 of 247 batted innings this season (51.4%).
• The Gators have 352 hits through 31 games (11.4 hits/game).
• Florida improved to 155-94 all-time against Tennessee including 25-20 under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan. The Gators are 68-48 in the series on the road (13-9 under O’Sullivan). The Gators snapped their five-game losing streak against the Vols.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN

On Sproat’s outing…
“Brandon was outstanding. I could tell during BP that our guys had a different mindset. They were locked in. I could tell that Brandon was a little bit different with his demeanor tonight. Really proud of the way he bounced back from last week. Offensively, we didn’t do a whole lot the first three innings but we did get Dollander’s pitch count up – 68 through three. Obviously, Josh’s three run homer was huge. Jac had a couple hits again. Cade had a really good night at the plate. It was a good road win, but most importantly, I was just really pleased with how we approached the game from the beginning.”

On the lineup shuffle…
“A couple things. I think Dollander’s given up 11 of his 17 runs in the first inning. So we wanted to get those guys up, maybe get one more at-bat with Wyatt, Jac and Josh who have been swinging the bat really good. It didn’t have a whole lot to do with Cade. It was more about Dollander being vulnerable, if he is vulnerable, he’s obviously very good, but to give up runs in the first and get more at-bats or one more at bat from the top of the lineup there. It worked out. It was just one of those things. Wyatt had led off last year, it wasn’t much different. I felt like those three could handle the velocity. Wasn’t quite sure how Mikey would handle it or where Cade was with a couple tough weeks. That was the mindset.”

On Abner’s relief appearance…
“I think it was six strikeouts in two and a third. That’s what you need to do on the road. You need to follow up a really good start with an outstanding performance. Philip was great again. Neely ran into a little bit of trouble but made some pitches when he needed to.”

On the mindset going in…
“I thought we went into this game thinking we should win. You’re not obviously going to win every game that you have a good mindset, but you certainly have to do that on the road in this league. That’s not always going to turn out the way that you want to. I thought the mindset of the team was really good going into this game.”

UP NEXT
Florida and Tennessee face off in game two on Friday, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Hurston Waldrep (5-1, 4.74 ERA) toes the rubber for the Gators while Chase Burns (2-2, 4.97 ERA) opposes him for the Vols.