Florida baseball vs High Point live blog updates, score, highlights

Sam Miller went up 2-0 on Shafer, but he ended up striking out looking in a critical moment. Jacob Kendall also started with a 2-0 count, but he lined one right to Allen in right field after taking another ball and strike. Kyle Jones ended the game ona flyout to center field. High Point takes the series.

McNeillie returned for the ninth and needed just eight pitches to get through it. He struck out Seojun Oh with a breaking ball, induced a first-pitch 4-3 ground out and got Jack Clark on a flyout in deep foul territory.

Last call for offense for Florida.

Bowen did his job at the plate, too, leading off the bottom of the eighth with a single up the middle. Cash Strayer couldn’t advance him on a strikeout, but Bowen took second on a wild pitch during Colton Schwarz’s at-bat. Schwarz swung through a 90-mph fastball up in the zone for out No. 2, and Landon Stripling watched one come back into the zone to strand Bowen. Sigh.

Luke McNeillie took over the pitching duties from Sandford. He got one out on one pitch, inducing a bunt right back to him, but Lane Allen singled into left center to put a man on. McNeillie lost control a bit and walked Landen Johnson to put a second guy on, and one in scoring position.

Karson Bowen went out to calm McNeillie down, or rile him up. McNeillie’s velocity climbed up to 98 for a swinging strikeout of Christian Smith, and he punched out Jake McCarter to end the threat

Schwarz shot one at the third baseman, Kohler, but he stabbed it on a dive and made the throw in time to first. These Panthers can play some great defense.

Stripling swung over a changeup for Brachbill’s fourth strikeout of the day. He’s nearing 100 pitches, but getting through nearly seven innings against an SEC team is as much as you can ask for.

Brachbill got to 0-2 on Sam Miller, but the Gators’ third baseman lined it down the left-field line for a double. That ends a streak of 12-straight retired by Brachbill.

Jacob Kendall lined one into right field for what should have been a single. Lane Allen dove for it and turned it into an RBI standup triple. Florida is finally on the board!

High Point brought in Tyler Shafer for a second straight night, and Florida hit him much better than on Friday.

Kyle Jones tapped one softly into shallow right field — something High Point has done consistently this series — bringing in Kendall and cutting the deficit to four runs.

Brendan Lawson worked a five-pitch walk, but Ethan Surowiec couldn’t drive in either baserunner. Shafer painted the outer edge of the zone with a 90-mph fastball that Surowiec was not looking for. He celebrated loudly as he stomped off the mound with the lead intact.

McCarter took Sandford deep to open the inning. Sandford hung a slider in the middle of the zone, and McCarter made good on it after striking out four times yesterday.

Sandford bounced back, with a groundout to second on Oh. He painted the black with 95 mph to strike out Kohler looking and got Kelly swinging at 96 after Clark poked a two-strike single into right field.

Florida still can’t string anything together against Brachbill. Surowiec, Bowen and Strayer went down on seven pitches — fly out, fly out, groundout. Where, oh where, has the Gators’ offense gone?

Schuyler Sandford is the new pitcher for Florida. Caden McDonald’s day is done.

Sandford came out pounding the zone with his 94-95 mph fastball and mixing in a 90-mph slider. He got Ponce to pop out to third and Allen to ground out to third on a combined six pitches. He nearly had a 10-pitch inning, but missed with a backdoor slider and gave up a double down the left field line to Johnson. Sandford ran his heater up to 98 mph against Smith for an inning-ending strikeout.

High Point’s starter is still in the game and gets an easy first out on a grounder to the first baseman, earning the putout. But there is lightning in the area, so the game is delayed.

Play restarted at 6:20 p.m. ET, with Brachbill still on the mound for High Point. It’s an 8-mile radius for lightning delays, so they waited until it was just outside that zone.

Jones popped out to second base for the second out of the inning. Lawson flied out to deep right, but it died 10 feet in front of the warning track for an easy third out.

McDonald comes out for another inning of work and allows a single through the right side on his first offering; the next pitch results in a flyout to center, followed by a deep drive to the straightaway part of the same part of the park for out No. 2.

A wild pitch in the dirt allows the runner to advance; he continues to feed the batter a steady diet of that same breaking ball to get the swinging strikeout. However, the next batter takes an 84 mph offering deep in the hole to shortstop, who had no play, allowing the runner to move over to third; the runner would steal second on a no-throw, putting a pair in scoring position.

A full count walk on a breaking ball inside to the batter loads the bases, but the first offering to the No. 9 hitter results in a shallow fly ball to center for the third out.

Brachbill remains in the game for the Panthers, allowing a deep drive off Schwarz’s bat that goes just foul before getting him to fly out to center. Stripling follows suit with a first-pitch fly ball to the same place, and the Gators quickly have two outs while down five.

Miller continues the trend, popping up to second on three pitches to quickly kill Florida’s fourth inning.

The righty Caden McDonald takes over on the mound and his first offering is a 90 mph fastball for a strike, which he works into a flyout to left after three pitches. He continues to pound the zone with his low-90s four-seamer before tossing a nasty 84 mph slider for the sword strikeout. Two outs.

A pop-up to Miller in foul territory near the wall gives the Gators an efficient 1-2-3 frame.

Jacob Kendall grounds to the first baseman, who throws to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. The second out comes on a terrific diving play by the center fielder on a short fly ball to center off Jones’ bat — not sure he has gone 0-for-2 to start a game this season before today.

Lawson slugged a two-out triple to deep right-center that almost leaves the yard, but given the Gators’ luck this afternoon, it figures it stayed in. Surowiec draws a walk on eight pitches, giving the Gators runners on the corners, and Bowen also earns a base-on-balls on seven pitches to load the bases and bring High Point’s coach out to the mound.

Strayer strikes out swinging and the Gators go down with a whimper.

First batter sends an 83 mph offering into the right field on a line drive, giving the Panthers yet another baserunner, but King gets the next batter out on a first-pitch fly ball to center. A wild pitch inside and low to the lefty sends the runner to second, but the batter ends up striking out on a nasty 82 mph changeup low and away.

Two outs, but a runner still in scoring position.

A walk to the cleanup hitter brings Sully out to talk to his hurler, who has thrown 61 pitches so far in just 2 2/3 innings worked. He came out early in his last outing, and his skipper is just checking in on his young stud.

King stays in and gets a grounder deep in the hole at third down the line that would not have gotten the play at first. But the lead runner turned the corner and headed for home, and Miller threw the ball way offline for an error, leading to the first run of the game; two outs, runners at second and third.

A deep fly ball to dead center that lands just inches short of the wall brings in the pair, and now the visitors are out to a 3-run lead while King’s pitch count continues to rise. For the second straight game, King has surrendered three unearned runs, but maintains his perfect ERA.

A short fly ball falls for a single in left field and brings home run No. 4 of the inning and Sully sticks with his pitcher against the righty; a double in the deep leftfield gap plates another and the rout is on. Finally, a flyout to left after nine pitches ends the bleeding.

Bottom of the second starts with a Karson Bowen single up the middle on the first pitch to give Florida its first baserunner of the game. Cash Strayer reaches on a hard-hit ball that hits the first baseman’s glove inside the foul line, reaching first and putting a runner in scoring position.

A soft grounder to third by Colton Schwartz results in what was called a 7-3 double play initially, but a review reverses the call, giving the Gators runners at first and second once again. The rain starts to fall lightly and some of the crowd head for cover, but the game continues.

Landon Stripling hits another liner down the right foul line, but this time the first baseman makes the snag; two outs. Sam Miller strikes out swinging on a high fastball and the threat is over.

King comes out in the second, having already thrown 22 pitches and looks a little lost on his first couple of pitches, but still manages to punch out the lefty with a fastball on the lower outside part of the plate. His fastball is showing good armside ride early, but it didn’t fool High Point’s No. 7 hitter, who drilled a line drive single to center off that offering.

One out, one on, and the next batter works a full count before poking a weak grounder to second for what should have been a double play, but the runner beats the throw at first. Two outs, but still one on and King’s pitch count continues to bloat, and the speedy runner steals base on a throw that arrives a little too low.

No worries, the No. 9 hitter grounds out to shortstop, ending the frame.

Kyle Jones takes a 92 mph fastball low and outside for a first-pitch ball before taking the next pitch for a ride out to the warning track, where the left fielder makes the catch easily. Brendan Lawson struggles with Brachbill’s breaking ball, going down swinging on that offering low over the outside part of the plate for the second out.

An 84 mph breaking ball gets Ethan Surowiec to fly out to right field for out No. 3. Not too often that the Gators go down in order to start the game.

First pitch of the game is a 93 mph fastball offering from Aidan King that hits the lefthanded batter at the belt, sending him to first base and starting things off on a sour note. He gets the righty up next out looking on a called strike three, but the lefty up next grounds a single through the right side to put runners on the corners.

During that at-bat, O’Sullivan and the umpire appeared to have a few words. But nothing came of it.

King gets the next batter out swinging, then chats with his catcher before facing the right-handed DH. Florida’s righty strikes him out looking, ending the threat and unclenching sphincters across the Gator Nation.