Florida Baseball: Gators pass first test without Langford

Baseball can be a long season, and yet 19 games into the season most games had played out the same for Florida baseball. The Gators hit at will, the bullpen kind of held up, and a good number of games have been done by the seventh-inning.

The three game set against Alabama to open SEC play reminded us that the Gators also can play different types of baseball, and they pass the test, despite missing their key star.

Florida Baseball: Send Alabama back to their sweet home

After getting hit by a pitch against Siena, Florida baseball star Wyatt Langford is out of commission for the time being. Given how potent the Florida office has been, it is a loss the Gators can overcome in the short term.

Through five innings on Thursday however, it seemed like no one was stepping up in his absence. Josh Rivera was the only Gator to get a hit and the possibility of wasting a Brandon Sproat gem was brewing.

Cade Kurland saved the day with a two-run homer in the 6th inning.

Sproat didn’t want to trust the bullpen and said “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

Ty Evans added an insurance run, but Sproat didn’t need it as he gave Florida the win with a complete game, one hit shutout.

Length of game was 1:50.

With rain possibility of Saturday, the two squads opted for a double header on Friday. And if for whatever reason you were bored by the lack of offense on Thursday, then the first game of the doubleheader was for you.

Jac Caglianone took the mound and unfortunately wasn’t sharp. Alabama tagged him for three in the first inning and five runs overall in five innings of work.

Yet Florida kept clawing back every time Alabama tried to pull away. BT Riopelle responded to Alabama’s first inning with a three run homer of his own. Kurland and Josh Rivera hit homers in the 5th and 6th innings to tie it at five.

Even heading into the 9th, Florida was down 7-6. No problem as Colby Halter tied it with a home run. Four batters later, Rivera hit a swinging bunt that scored Michael Robertson from third to give Florida the 8-7 victory.

Game three of the series didn’t go so well and the Gators fell 6-3. But Florida baseball took two-out-of-three in a series where Langford was out hurt and Caglianone was hitless.

It’s a positive sign because it’s only going to get harder as the season progresses and at some point in the postseason the Gators are going to have to prove they can win multiple ways.

They passed that test this weekend.