Gators Weather the Storm, Sweep South Carolina

Two rain delays and down multiple contributors in the bullpen didn't phase the Florida Gators, who swept South Carolina by a combined score of 39-8.

Ty Evans, seen here in the Florida Gators win over Jacksonville, hit a grand slam in the series opener against South Carolina on Friday. / Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Despite the rainy conditions doing all it could to disrupt the Florida baseball team on the weekend, the Gators weathered the storm and swept the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road, marking the program's fourth-straight SEC series win.

It was a dominating performance from the Gators in all three games, taking Game One, 9-5; Game Two, 22-3; and Game Three, 8-0. Sunday's win in the second of the double-header marked Florida's 11th conference win in its last 13 games and has put them squarely in the mix for a postseason bid barring any surprises down the stretch. 

Despite the Gamecocks being near the bottom of the conference, Florida's sweep is one of its most impressive performances to date after being without star shortstop Colby Shelton and a group of relief pitchers due to injury.

Furthermore, a really big positive from this weekend was outfielder Ty Evans and his bat. Evans was 5-for-13 across all games, including a grand slam in Game One, a bases-clearing double in Game Two and a solo home run in Game Three.

Big Fifth Inning Swing from Evans Propels Gators to Win

Florida was dealt an unfortunate blow to begin the series open on Friday, losing their ace Liam Peterson after just seven pitches thanks to a weather delay. 

Losing their best arm showed when play resumed as well. Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan was forced to start with righty Alex Philpott, who gave up two of the first three runs in the first inning. 

However, the Gators eventually took the lead in the fifth thanks to one swing of the bat from Evans. The outfielder walked into the batter’s box with the trio of Landon Stripling, Brody Donay and Blake Cyr occupying the bases and capitalized on with a grand slam over the center field wall that put his team in front 8-4. 

Closer Jake Clemente came in for another nine-out save, which gave the Gators a 9-5 win by the end of it. 

Weather Leads to Two Wins on Sunday

Mother Nature had her way again on Saturday, causing the second game of the series to be moved to Sunday. They did manage to get through 2 ⅔ innings on Saturday before postponing it, though. 

Once again, though, the postponement didn’t impact Florida too much on the mound or at the plate despite the change in schedule. In fact, Florida was able to run Peterson back out to the mound for the restart. He lasted 3 ⅓ innings before being replaced by righty Luke McNeillie. 

By the end of Game Two, the Gators finished on top 22-3. Most of the damage was done in the final two innings, scoring 16 of their 22 runs in the eighth and ninth. Freshman Brendan Lawson capped off the scoring with a grand slam, and Luke Heyman had a pair of homers with one in the fifth and one in the seventh

In the final game of this series, which was shortened to seven innings, the Gators pitching shined. O’Sullivan only needed to call upon three total pitchers, including a return for lefty Pierce Coppola. The three arms used combined for seven shutout innings, six strikeouts, two walks and four hits. 

With the pitchers blanking their opponents and the offense still hot at the plate, the Gators walked out of South Carolina with an 8-0 win in the finale of the weekend. 

Big-time Matchup Next Weekend

Following their latest SEC series win over South Carolina, Florida will travel to Texas to face off against the Longhorns starting on Friday. 

Before that, though, the Gators will host USF for a midweek contest on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.  

More From Gators Illustrated

feed