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Florida Baseball Series Wrap-Up: Gators barley break sweat during sweep

By Benjamin Henderson

Florida's Wyatt Langford, back left, runs on a home run against Central Michigan in the top of the third inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.Ap Ncaa Cent Michigan Florid 3
Florida's Wyatt Langford, back left, runs on a home run against Central Michigan in the top of the third inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.Ap Ncaa Cent Michigan Florid 3 /
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Last season, the Florida Gators open their season by losing two out of three games to Liberty. It wasn’t a death sentence for Florida baseball, but it was precursor for a squad that just never felt like one of the elite teams in college baseball.

So, while sweeping Charleston Southern to open the 2023 season doesn’t warrant confetti, it does showcase what a top-level baseball team should do against an overmatched opponent.

Florida Baseball: Buccaneers walk the plank

Florida outscored Charleston Southern 37-5 over the three-game set. Two of the three games ended after the 7th inning due to mercy rule and yesterday’s contest was never in doubt either. Ty Evans was 6-10 with four doubles, two walks and ten RBIs. BT Riopelle was 6-12 with a homerun and Josh Rivera was 3-6 with five walks and a hit by pitch.

In fact, when you consider that Wyatt Langford was “only” 3-12 with two walks, the 37 runs scored are a very encouraging sign to start the season for a squad that struggled to score at time last year.

The three starting pitchers for Florida baseball all went at least five innings in their season debuts. Brandon Sproat was a bit unfortunate as he didn’t give up a hit in five and two-thirds innings of work, but he walked three batters and hit two more and three of those five baserunners were able to make it all the way around back to home plate.

Jac Caglianone was the most impressive pitcher for Florida. Making his pitching debut after spending last season at 1st base, Caglianone went six and two-thirds innings and gave up just two hits while striking out nine and walking just one. Blake Purnell and Brandon Neely teamed up to give Florida the shutout.

Sweeping Charleston Southern won’t raise any eyebrows, but the Gators were one of only six teams in the SEC to emerge undefeated after opening weekend. Georgia lost to Jacksonville State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas lost to TCU, Kentucky lost to Elon, Missouri lost to Oklahoma State, Auburn lost to Indiana, Mississippi lost to VMI, and Tennessee lost to both Arizona and Grand Canyon and have to figure out if Maui Ahuna is eligible to play.

Florida baseball will have a quick turnaround as they have two games this week against USF before a weekend series against Cincinatti.

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