Florida baseball vs Stetson live blog updates, score, highlights

Barlow closed out the game, striking out Apple and getting Dessureault to ground out back to him. Barlow made a nice defensive play, tossing it underhand to first for the out. The Gators’ bench loved it. Gonzalez hit a base knock up the middle, but Russell grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Apple robbed Lawson of a leadoff base hit, making his second diving catch of the game. Surowiec hit it hard, but it was right into the shift to new second baseman Cade Centracchio — he pinch hit for De la Cruz. Corey Robinson did the same for Gonzalez in center field.

Jacob Kendall pinch hit for Blake Cyr, but he fouled to the left side. We’re playing nine!

Hoyt came back out to start the eighth. He started off fine, striking out Mercado for his third consecutive punchout. Kevin O’Sullivan came out to get him after a four-pitch walk on Harley, though. Billy Barlow came in to take over and got two outs on four pitches, both fielder’s choices that went from shortstop to second base.

Jose Roig took over on the mound for Stetson, and Jack Harley replaced Napolitano at third base.

Schwarz fouled out to the right side, and Myers struck out swinging over a slider for two quick outs. Yost extended the inning with a four-pitch walk, giving the top of the order a chance to do something. Yost took second on a wild pitch, putting the walk-off run in scoring position, but Jones grounded out to send us to the eighth.

Jackson Hoyt came in to pitch for Florida. He got Dessureault to ground out up the middle, which Lawson fielded easily. The ball didn’t get a piece of Hoyt, but it might have shaken him up a bit. He hit Gonzalez on the next pitch and got behind Russell 3-0 before working his way back for a check-swing strikeout. Griggs also checked his swing for strike three, giving Hoyt the third out. Not a bad showing from a true freshman.

Lathan Haywood took over on the mound for Stetson.

Jones grounded one to third base to lead off. He made a diving stop but rushed the throw and went over the first baseman’s head, allowing Jones to get to second. Lawson popped one into foul territory down the left field line, and Apple made a terrific diving catch on it. Jones swiped third without a throw as Gonzalez dropped the ball on the transfer.

Surowiec worked a 10-pitch walk, and Cyr doubled to center. The ball probably should’ve been caught, but the center fielder took a bad route to it and let it drop.

Strayer did what he does best: hit a sacrifice fly, his fifth of the season and fourth game in a row with one. The true freshman has 19 RBIs on the season.

Stanford struck out looking to end the inning a run short of the run rule. Florida can walk it off in the bottom of the seventh if they hold the nine-run advantage in the top of the inning.

McDonald put up another zero, working around a tough infield single. He struck out Napolitano to start the frame. De la Cruz reached first on a soft two-strike ground ball to right base. Myers made the best play he could, but De la Cruz 3was too speedy. De la Cruz stole second and moved to third on a groundout from Gonzalez, but Apple stranded him with a swinging strikeout.

McDonald ran into trouble early, but this has turned into a solid three-inning outing.

Stanford gave Florida another run immediately, crushing a no-doubt home run over the left field wall on the second pitch he saw.

Schwarz hit a deep ball to right field. It was just foul, but Hylton went sliding into the corner of the wall as he made one of the best catches of the night. The trainers went to check on him and decided to pull him from the game. Hopefully, that’s just a precautionary move. Hylton was an incredible prep player who played alongside Schwarz at Palm Beach Gardens High. Sean Griggs replaced him in right field.

Speaking of defensive replacements, Anthony Gonzalez took over for Fernandez behind the plate to start the inning.

Myers struck out after fouling off what would have been ball four. He probably chased another ball-four pitch, swinging under a fastball for strike three. Yost popped up behind home plate, allowing Gonzalez to make the putout in his first inning of action.

McDonald did what every pitcher is supposed to after the offense has a big inning: get them right back out there. He retired Russell, Hylton and Mercado on seven pitches.

Florida needs four more over the next three innings to satisfy the run rule.

Strayer got on top of a ball and chopped it to second base for a leadoff out, but Stanford singled up the middle. Schwarz reached on an error from the shortstop, who couldn’t get a grip and make a throw. Myers grounded into a near double play, but Schwarz disrupted the throw with his slide into second.

Yost came up big with a liner over the right fielder’s head, scoring Stanford and putting two runners in scoring position for the top of the order. That brought in sidearmer Andrew Lepine to pitch for Stetson.

Lepine didn’t fare well. He walked Jones on five pitches and hit Lawson to bring in a run. Surowiec hit a grounder to the right side, beating the shift, and two more runs came home.

Cyr sliced one down the right field line, and the right fielder misplayed it, leading to a bases-clearing triple. Florida now leads by six, and Stetson is making another pitching change.

Zane Coppersmith took over and got Strayer to pop up on the infield to end the inning, but Florida is now in firm control of this game.

Caden McDonald took over in the fourth for Florida and immediately gave up the first Stetson hit of the day. De la Cruz lined a single into left and moved to second easily while in motion as Gonzalez tapped one back to McDonald on the mound. Koly Myers made a nice play at third, crashing in on a soft ground ball and making the throw on the run to first.

McDonald couldn’t stop the run from scoring, though. Dessureault doubled down the left field line with an inside-out swing. Fernandez grounded out to Lawson at short, but it’s all tied up again in Gainesville.

Hayden Yost, who entered the day batting .077 on the year, got the first hit of the day for either club, a stand-up double into left-center. Jones advanced him to third on a groundout to the right side, but Lawson missed the RBI opportunity by watching a ball go down the pipe for strike three.

Fortunately, Stetson changed pitchers, bringing in Brayden Toro for Achey, and Surowiec lined one over the center fielder’s head to bring Yost in.

Cyr struck out on a breaking ball in the dirt to end the inning.

Sandefer kept the two strikeouts per inning streak going in the third, getting Jayden Hylton and Paul Napolitano around a Julian Mercado ground out to second. Sandefer looks sharp, but this might be it for him. He’s at 35 pitches, and Kevin O’Sullivan doesn’t want to push him too much before another SEC series.

Cash Strayer tried to go opposite field, but the wind killed a fly ball and made it an easy play for the left fielder. Cole Stanford worked a six-pitch walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Colton Schwarz laced a line drive to left-center that looked like a double off the bat, but Apple tracked it down, possibly with some help from the wind. Stanford smartly tagged up and reached third.

Stetson’s starter, Joe Core, hit his pitch count (37) and turned the ball over to Thomas Achey, who froze Kolt yers for an inning-ending strikeout.

Sandefer is working quickly and efficiently. In fact, he was one swing and miss away from an immaculate inning. Sandefer got Yohann Dsssureault and Samuel Fernandez swinging, and Landon Russell made contact with an 0-2 sweeper to softly ground out to second base. Really sharp stuff so far from the UCF transfer.

Kyle Jones led off with a liner to center field, something that happens nearly every game and speaks to Jones’ bat-to-ball ability. Brendan Lawson walked for the 27th time this season, which ranks third overall in the country. Teams are opting to pitch around him at this point, and it’s not subtle. The problem with that is Lawson has become a better runner and is a threat to take second, which is exactly what he did here.

Ethan Surowiec had a professional at-bat, working an eight-pitch walk, but Blake Cyr grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Russell Sandefer got right to business, striking out Juan De la Cruz and Renzo Gonzalez. He’s got some good armside run on his fastball, strong horizontal movement on his slider and what looks like a potential plus changeup. He got Foster Apple to tap one straight onto home plate, which Cole Stanford picked up and fired down to first to complete a 1-2-3 inning.