Florida baseball will face a familiar opponent in its opening SEC Tournament game on May 20 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala. The No. 15
Florida Gators (37-19) will face South Carolina (28-28), in need of more wins to secure potentially hosting an NCAA Tournament regional.
Florida swept South Carolina from May 2-4, outscoring the Gamecocks 38-9 during the three-game stretch. The Gamecocks have struggled on the mound under first-year coach Paul Mainieri, ranking 15th out of 16 teams in the SEC in earned run average at 6.31. UF will send redshirt junior righty Billy Barlow to the mound to start against the Gamecocks. A Clemson transfer, Barlow has gone 1-4 in his first season at UF with a 5.95 ERA in 20 appearances and six starts. South Carolina is expected to counter with sophomore righty Brandon Stone as its starter. Stone is 2-6 on the season with 6.07 ERA. The winner of the matchup between 10-seed Florida and 15-seed South Carolina will face 7-seed Ole Miss on May 21 (5:30 p.m., SEC Network).
Hayden Yost's fifth homer of the season with one out in the fifth inning puts Florida up 7-1 on South Carolina. Florida now has three homers on the game (Boser, Donay, Yost). Three of Yost's five home runs this season have come against the Gamecocks. Florida 7, South Carolina 1 end 5th.
Florida baseball does more damage with two outs as Brandon Lawson belts a two out single and scores on a two-out, RBI double by Ty Evans to put UF up 6-1 on South Carolina. Freshman righty Blaine Rowland is on in relief of Billy Barlow, who lasted 3 2/3 innings. Florida 6, South Carolina 1, top 5.
Catcher Brody Donay blasts a solo homer, his 17th of the season, to right field, then Blake Cyr and Hayden Yost follow with back-to-back doubles to put Florida up 5-1 on South Carolina at the end of the third inning.
Florida baseball takes a 3-1 lead on South Carolina on a two-out rally in the second inning. Landon Stripling started it with a single, moved to second on a walk by Justin Nadeau and all scored on a three-run homer by Boser just over the center field fence at the 405-foot sign. Boser now has 16 homers on the season. Florida 3, South Carolina 1 end 2.
South Carolina goes up 1-0 on a double play grounder by designated hitter Jase Woita with the bases loaded in the top of the first inning. Florida starter Billy Barlow loads the bases with none out in the first inning on two singles and a walk but gets out of the jam by getting Woita to ground into the double play and getting Beau Hollins to ground out to shortstop to end the inning. South Carolina 1, Florida 0 mid 1st.
HP: Jeff Head, 1B: Kevin Sweeney, 2B: Jason Bradley, 3B: Brian deBrauwere.
South Carolina lineup: LF Jackson, SS Kaczmar, CF Hall, DH Woita, 1B Hollins, 3B Scobey, 2B Carrion, RF Stone, C Kaufer.
Florida lineup: SS Boser, 1B Lawson, DH Evans, C Donay, LF Cyr, CF Yost, RF Wilson, 3B Wilson, 2B Nadeau. Florida second baseman Justin Nadeau returns after missing the last three games against Alabama with a hand injury.
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