Florida Baseball Advances to SEC Tournament Quarterfinals
As summer approaches and temperatures rise, alligators make their way out of the water. For Florida baseball Wednesday, the balls were making their way off the bats of Hayden Yost and company at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. From the leadoff hitter to Yost in the nine hole, Florida’s offense powered its way to a 8-3 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in the second round of the SEC tournament.
The Gators continued their trend of scoring early, touching home in the first inning in four of their last five games behind Brendan Lawson’s RBI double. Florida’s first three hitters in the lineup finished a combined 8-for-13 with two walks, two home runs and three doubles powering the early offensive production.
In the second inning, Yost stepped to the plate with no runners on base and drove an 0-2 pitch down the right-field line. As the ball traveled toward the foul pole, Yost watched from the batter’s box as it hugged the line, mouthing words of encouragement while tracking it the entire way. With the help of a strong breeze blowing toward left field, Yost hit his fourth home run in his last two games to lift the Gators to a 3-0 lead, finishing the game 3-for-4.
Earlier this week, sophomore Aidan King was named SEC Pitcher of the Year, and through four innings he showed why. But with two outs in the fifth, King’s fastball began to tail off and his off-speed pitches started settling into the glove of Karson Bowen just above the dirt. The Commodores chased King from the game after he allowed two doubles, a triple, three earned runs and a walk. Jackson Barberi entered to stop the damage and get Florida out of the inning tied at 3-3.
After moving throughout the batting order this season due to an oblique injury, Cade Kurland has found his stride in the eight hole. Now batting .269 on the season, Kurland went 1-for-4, but his lone hit proved to be Florida’s biggest. His single pushed the Gators ahead 7-3 in the seventh and put the game out of reach.
It became a bullpen game for Vanderbilt after starter Tyler Baird exited following two innings. The Commodores used six pitchers in an attempt to slow Florida’s offense, and many of them succeeded against designated hitter Caden McDonald. After a scorching April helped him earn a spot in the starting lineup, McDonald has become one of the few Gators to cool off late in the season, striking out nine times over his last four games, including three times against Vandy.
The SEC is testing the automated ball-strike challenge system (ABS) during the SEC Tournament. Each team receives three challenges and keeps successful ones. In the second inning, Bowen took advantage after a 1-0 pitch was ruled a strike, helping King finish the at-bat with his third strikeout of the game. King finished with five strikeouts, while Bowen went 3-for-3 on challenges behind the plate.
Commodores catcher Korbin Reynolds also found success with the ABS system in the sixth inning with runners on first and second. With Cyr at the plate, Reynolds challenged a 1-2 pitch that home plate umpire Eddie Newsom ruled a ball. Reynolds won the challenge, ending the inning for Florida.
But the ABS system did not always favor Vanderbilt. In the eighth inning, with the game slipping away, Reynolds challenged a 3-1 pitch to Lawson, saying he “might as well” use the challenge. Reynolds won it, bringing Lawson back to the plate with a full count. On the next pitch, Lawson sent a ball over the right-field wall as Reynolds and the rest of Vanderbilt’s defense watched.
The Gators return to the diamond Thursday at 8 p.m. against No. 4 seed Alabama. Florida will face a Crimson Tide team playing its first game of the tournament just 50 miles from its home field. The Gators have found success on the road this season, going 14-5, though three of those losses came against Alabama during a series sweep earlier in SEC play.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Baseball
