The No. 6 Florida Gators finally won both of their midweek games this week with victories over the Florida Atlantic Owls.
On Tuesday, UF outscored FAU, 18-11, in a game that was extended by a 41-minute rain delay. Josh Rivera lead the night with three hits, including two home runs and nine RBIs, and Wyatt Langford also had a three-hit night. Ty Evans and Tyler Shelnut both hit home runs as well.
Although it wasn’t a great outing for freshman Yoel Tejeda Jr., Florida scored more than enough runs to take the game in convincing fashion. Ryan Slater, Nick Ficarrotta, Phillip Abner and Brandon Neely all got work in relief.
The pitching staff was much sharper on Wednesday. Starter Tyler Nesbitt and left-hander Phillip Abner combined for an eight-inning, two-hit shutout. Jac Caglianone was the star on offense, collecting four hits on the day, including a walk-off grand slam that put the 10-run rule into effect.
Wednesday was the dominant win Florida has been looking for all year and finally leaves the team heading into the weekend on the right foot.
Siena might be Florida’s most favorable series of the season, and the Gatrors look like they are finally firing on all cylinders.
AP Photo/Gary McCullough
Tyler Nesbitt had a strong year for Florida in 2022, but he only ended up starting two games over the season for the Gators. Nesbitt’s first start of 2023 might lead to more for the fourth-year right-hander. He gave up just two hits in the first inning and then buckled down to complete five shutout innings with six strikeouts.
The Owls proved that Florida Atlantic is no easy out on Tuesday, too. Nolan Schanuel was held to just a single after a three-homer night on Tuesday.
Southpaw Phillp Abner earned the save Wednesday with a three-inning, no-hit performance. It looks like he’s taken a big step forward from last year and is one of the top arms out of the bullpen early on for Florida.
If Nesbitt can be relied on to start Florida’s second midweek games, it solves a big piece of the puzzle for the Gators moving forward.
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
Last week, we highlighted Josh Rivera as one of the biggest pieces of Florida’s early success in 2023, and he followed it up with a 4 for 8 performance against FAU over two games. Most of that production came on Tuesday when he smacked a pair of home runs over the fence and collected nine RBIs.
Rivera was always going to be a key piece of the roster this year –…
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