Junior right fielder Tyler Shelnut received a rare opportunity to start Friday night against the Missouri Tigers, and he made the most of it.
Shelnut delivered a three-run homer to ignite UF’s offense in the second inning and the game-ending run-batted-in single in the bottom of the seventh. The killing blow ended the ballgame via the mercy rule and capped off the Gators’ (33-10, 12-7 SEC) 11-1 win over the Tigers (24-17, 5-14 SEC).
Junior starting pitcher Brandon Sproat turned in an impressive performance. He blanked the Tigers through seven innings; he allowed two hits and one earned run and struck out seven batters.
“I think that may have been one of the most complete games we’ve played all year long,” Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.
Sproat struck out four of the first six batters he faced. The high-90s fastball paired with a devastating offspeed mix has been his calling card this year and kept the Mizzou hitters off balance.
O’Sullivan credited Sproat with utilizing his curveball earlier in counts.
“That's what this game is all about – making adjustments,” O’Sullivan said. “It's our responsibility to understand that and see that and to make adjustments on our end.”
Florida sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the second and came away with a 6-0 lead. The Gators set the table for a pair of three-run homers. The first came from Shelnut, whose towering drive over left-center field was his fifth home run of the year.
Sophomore first baseman Jac Caglianone hit the second. The ball blasted off of his bat for his nation-leading 24th longball of the season.
Mizzou senior left fielder Cam Chick made a unique diving catch on a line drive that sliced his way from UF junior third baseman Colby Halter. The ball popped out of Chick’s glove mid-dive, landed on his head, rolled down his shoulder and bobbled back into his glove.
Sproat’s three perfect innings ended with a leadoff double by Tigers junior right fielder Ross Lovich in the fourth inning. Lovich came around to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track from senior third baseman Luke Mann.
Redshirt freshman center fielder Michael Robertson launched his first collegiate home run to begin the bottom of the fourth. Robertson missed all of his freshman season with a hamstring injury and has been a key cog in the Gators’ lineup this year.
His solo shot extended UF’s lead to 7-1. The Gators’ dugout rejoiced as Robertson’s long awaited longball sailed over the right-field wall.
“He's a really strong and explosive kid,” senior catcher BT Riopelle said. “It's about time that he got one, and I look forward to watch him hit a bunch more.”
Riopelle joined the home run parade in the fifth inning with a solo bomb. Riopelle ripped his seventh homer of the season 441 feet to give Sproat an even larger advantage to work with.
Florida tacked on its ninth run of the night thanks to some two-out offense in the sixth inning. Freshman second baseman Cade Kurland sent a one-hop double off the right-field wall; he scored on junior left fielder Wyatt Langford’s single to left one batter later.
Sproat stayed under 100 pitches after completing his seventh inning of work. He stranded a Tigers runner at third base after forcing junior catcher Dylan Leach to pop out to shortstop.
UF faced two Tigers relievers in the bottom of the seventh and did not record a single out. Riopelle singled to start the frame, reached third on an errant pick-off throw and scored on a wild pitch. A pair of walks put runners in scoring position for Shelnut, who ended the game with a line drive up the middle.
The second game of the series, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, was moved up to noon due to expected inclement weather. Hurston Waldrep gets the ball for the Gators as they go for the series win. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
Contact Ethan Eibe at eeibe@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @EthanEibe.
Ethan Eibe is a second-year UF sports media major and covers Gators baseball for The Alligator. Outside of his writing, Ethan is a play-by-play broadcaster for UF student radio and has spent two summers announcing professional baseball with the Alpine Cowboys. He is a long-suffering Miami Marlins fan.
