Auburn Tigers Stun No.3 Gators Baseball; Game Two Of Series Saturday

The Auburn Tigers (18-7-1, 3-4) jumped out in front early over the number three Florida Gator baseball team (22-5, 5-2) and never looked back to take the first game of a three game series, winning 10-1. It was a very unusual night for the Gator offense. It only scored one run despite averaging 10 runs per game before this contest.

Back at it tomorrow.

Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/BU4AuiNlZe

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 1, 2023

Tigers get to Sproat early

Friday night’s starter Brandon Sproat did not have a good outing on the mound against the Tigers. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run homer to left field.

And it would get worse for Sproat in the second inning. He followed his first inning by allowing four more runs in the second. Two of the runs he walked in and the other two came from a double to right field. This made the score 6-0 in favor of Auburn and it marked the end of Sproat’s day on Friday. He went just 1 1/3 innings before being pulled for Tyler Nesbitt.

Before the inning ended, the Tigers added two more runs to make it 8-0 heading into the bottom of the second.

Tigers contain the Gators in the fourth

The Gators threw two scoreless innings in the third and fourth innings. And while they did manage to score a run in the fourth to make it 8-1 from a Michael Robertson infield single, it could have been much more. Wyatt Langford entered the batter’s box with bases loaded and two outs but struck out looking to end the inning.

Nothing but hustle from Mikey Rob 💨#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/hWRg65TDdJ pic.twitter.com/8yI30uh8vN

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 31, 2023

Offensive woes for the Gators over the final five innings

After scoring the one run in the fourth, the Gator offense was nonexistent over the final five innings. It did have a base runner in each of these five innings but none would come around to score.  Auburn scored one run in the seventh to move their lead to 9-1 over Florida and then added a run on a solo homer to make the final score 10-1.

After the game, Florida starting catcher BT Riopelle stated that every loss hurts, but that the team has to move on from this game and look to tomorrow.

Though it was a rough night for the Gators, head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said there were still some positives to take from the game.

However, O’Sullivan said consistency from the starting pitchers is needed.