Florida baseball vs South Carolina live updates, score, highlights

Jones led off the bottom of the 10th with a double down the left field line. The ball wasn’t hit hard, but it was enough. South Carolina wanted nothing to do with Lawson, so the Gamecocks intentionally walked him. Surowiec got the sacrifice bunt down to move both runners over, prompting another intentional walk, this time on Bowen.

Strayer fouled off seven balls until he got one he could hit a fly ball on. It only went to shallow center, but that was enough to score the speedy Jones from third and win the game. Strayer was mobbed, and everyone can celebrate.

Whritenour returned for the 10th. He hadn’t thrown more than 25 pitches all year long, but Sully let him go 44 today. He walked Bak on four pitches and started LeCroy out with a ball, prompting a visit from Kevin O’Sullivan. After a brief conversation, Sully left him out there, and it gave Whritenour new life. He struck out LeCroy on three straight pitches, ending the at-bat with a 98 mph fastball, and got Craddock to line out to center field.

Cyr swung at the first pitch he saw for a routine groundout to short, and McDonald fouled out to the third base side on the second pitch he saw. Miller broke up the no-hitter after 26 outs, singling through the left side.

Whritenour hit Carddock with the first pitch of the ninth. He went down 3-0 agaisnt Scobey, but the South Carolina shortstop swung away and popped it up into shallow left-center. A passed ball moved Scobey over to second. Lizama flied out to left, but Whritenour walked the next two batters to load the bases. At this point, the fans were tired of this strike zone and the jeers grew louder and louder.

Whritenour escaped the jam with a fielder’s choice up the middle. The field umpire had to get out of the way, and Schwarz had to make a backhanded play up the middle before flipping the ball to Lawson just in time for the out at second.

Lawson looked like he got a hold of one to open the eight agaisnt Valentin, but Lizama made a circus catch while crashing into the wall. The wind made it tricky, and Lizama made a really nice play on it.

Brandon Stone took over for Valentin after that. He struck out Surowiec swinging but walked Bowen. There were some questionable calls against Bowen in the at-bat, but he ended up on first base anyway. Strayer fouled off five balls in a row before striking out to end the inning. Good at-bat, bad ending.

Barberi struck out Haran to start the eighth, but an error put Hollins on base. Hollins popped up to the left side, but the wind pushed it from the outfield grass back to the dirt. Neither Miller nor Lawson read it well enough to make a play. Fortunately, Hollis wasn’t hustling and failed to take second. Miller was charged with the error.

Ernesto Lugo-Canchol took over for Barberi to get the left-on-left pitching matchup. He did his job and got Bak to line out to left-center. It looked like trouble off the bat, but Cyr got a good jump on it and made the play look routine. Sully quickly came out to make the change.

Joshua Whritenour struck out LeCroy on a 92-mph slider that he half swung at.

Strayer grounded out softly to second base to start the inning. Cyr worked a 3-0 count, and it looked like he’d get on base with a four-pitch walk. The home plate umpire missed the call, though, drawing a laugh from Cyr and some choice words from Kevin O’Sullivan. Cyr ended up walking anyway, but that was some drama that could have been avoided.

That ended the night for Gunther, who left with a no-hitter intact. South Carolina brought in left-handed closer Alex Valentin to replace, which started the pinch-hit chess game.

Caden McDonald pinch-hit for Kendall and drew a walk, moving Cyr into scoring position. Sam Miller hit for Stripling, but struck out looking. Colton Schwarz hit for Nadeau and walked to load the bases. Valentin wasn’t controlling any of his pitches, but he wasn’t getting much help from the umpire either. He put his hands on his head in disbelief a couple of times before getting Jones to ground into a fielder’s choice.

Still no hits for Florida. Only one between both teams.

Jackson Barberi took over for Peterson in the seventh. South Carolina attacked his slider early. Scobey grounded to third, and Surowiec threw the ball too high, allowing him to reach on an error. Lizama caught a breaking ball hanging and took it for a ride to right. Had the wind not been blowing in from the right, it might have been gone.

Barberi started throwing more heaters and touched 99 a few times, including the pitch he got Sutter swinging on for a second out. Evans swung at 98 up in the zone for a pop-out to second base. Lawson had a beat on it at first, but Nadeau took over when the wind pushed the ball.

Nadeau grounded out to second, swinging at the second pitch he saw. Jones got hit by a pitch to reach base with Lawson coming up, and he moved into scoring position with a swiped bag. Lawson worked the count full from 1-2 and walked, putting two on for Surowiec.

Paul Manieri came out to talk with Gunther and calm him down. Surowiec made solid contact off him for the third time on the night, but it went right to a glove once again. The flyout to right field still moved Jones from second to third, though.

Bowen connected with a breaking ball, but Harmon fielded it a third and made a strong throw to get the out at first and end the inning. Both teams are still scoreless, and Florida still doens’t have a hit.

Peterson got Harman looking and Hollins swinging for a pair of strikeouts. He caught that outer edge with a fastball and flashed his changeup to get the lefty, Hollins. As far as the umpire’s strike zone goes, it’s questionable, but you have to play with what’s given. Both pitchers are doing so, and the hitters are not adjusting.

Peterson last Bak with four straight balls after going up 0-2. Kevin O’Sullivan came out to talk and settle down Peterson. He got ahead on LeCroy, 1-2, but the hitter refused to get out, ultimately drawing a walk. Peterson stayed in to face the three-hole hitter, Craddock, and got him swinging with an 89-mph slide on his 99th pitch.

It was easy to tell Peterson wanted to get through the sixth, and he showed all that stored-up emotion after getting the swing-and-miss. Assuming he’s pulled after this inning, that’s Peterson’s first quality start of the season.

Cyr worked the count full after going down 0-2, but he was caught looking at another questionable strike on the outer edge of the zone. LeCroy framed it well. Jacob Kendall check swung but caught the ball with the bat for an easy groundout to second base. Stripling struck out looking on another heater on the edge of the zone; this one looked more like a strike with a left-hander in the box.

Florida is being no-hit through five.

Lizama lined out to center to open the fifth inning. He lined a 96-mph fastball from Peterson right at Jones, who barely had to move to make the catch. Peterson got behind in the count 3-1 against Sutter, but he worked his way back with a pair of high heaters to get his seventh strikeout of the day. Sutter disagreed with the call, and he might have had an argument. It was too close not to swing, though.

Peterson retired the side in order with a flyout to right field from Evans. That’s 70 pitches through five for LP.

Lawson reached base for the second time after taking a ball off his front foot. Surowiec swung at the first pitch he saw, a slider, and lined it center for an out. That’s two good swings for him, but nothing to show for them. Bowen grounded out to the left side, advancing Lawson to second, but Strayer couldn’t bring him home, lining out to left. Strayer’s ball was down the line with some topspin, but Lizama tracked it down for the out.

LeCroy fouled off a few pitches before singling through the right side. It was a veteran at-bat from the sixth-year senior, taking a 98-mph fastball where it was pitched for a base hit — the first of the day off Peterson.

Peterson induced a 5-4-3 double play to clear the bases and keep his pitch count low. Scobey geared up for fastball but couldn’t catch up to 98 mph or 97 for two quick strikes. He fouled off 97 to stay alive for one more pitch, but Peterson retired Scobey with a 90-mph slider that led to a lineout right at Lawson at shortstop.

Peterson’s only at 58 pitches through four innings and is cruising. His ERA is approaching 3.00. A few more scoreless innings should do the trick and get him his first quality start of the year.

Stripling swung at the first pitch he saw, flying out to left-center. Nadeau swung over a 78-mph breaking ball, getting Gunther through the order relatively unscathed. Jones tapped one back to Gunther for a 1-3 groundout. Neither team has a hit. Florida’s only baserunner has been Lawson on the walk.

Peterson extended his strikeout streak to four with an 88-mph slider to Dawson Harman. The breaking ball has some good bite, and everything is coming in at an increased velocity, compared to normal.

Beau Hollins lined one to Landon Stripling at first. It was a hard-hit ball, but Stripling got to it fast and snapped his glove out to make the catch, drawing a nice applause.

Peterson retired the side with a strikeout on Bak, who swung under a 96-mph heater at the top of the zone. Bak laid off a curveball that looked like it caught the edge earlier in the at-bat to extend the inning. Peterson was walking off the mound, and everyone in the park thought it was a strike.

Cash Strayer saw only three pitches from Gunther. He watched a 93-mph two-seamer go by. Blake Cyr got his first at-bat in nine days. He grounded out to short for out No. 2 of the frame. Kendall got under an 80-mph offspeed pitch up above the zone. The ball went straight up and came back down into the catcher, LeCroy’s glove.

Gunther had some command issues in the first, but he’s looked sharp after the walk to Lawson. He’s at 28 pitches through two innings.

Scobey grounded out up the middle to the right side of second base. He turned around a 98-mph fastball for 100 off the bat, but Justin Nadeau had him played perfectly. Peterson got Ethan Lizama and Logan Sutter to strike out. Lizama went down swinging, and Bowen made a side-armed throw to first that was offline, allowing him to reach base. Sutter stared at a breaking ball in the zone for strike three.

Peterson made it three straight Ks with a 97-mph heater on the lower-outside corner against Patrick Evans. If the ball wasn’t in the zone, Bowen brought it back in with a nice frame. Evans stood there frozen.

Kyle Jones led off for Florida with a pop-up to the left side of the infield. KJ Scobey, the shortstop, drifted over toward third and got under it for the catch. Brendan Lawson worked a five-pitch walk to put the first baserunner of the day on. Lawson stole second while Gunther struggled with command. It was a sketchy transfer from glove to hand from the catcher, but the throw was closer than expected.

Surowiec got a hold of a cutter left in the zone, but it went right to the left fielder’s glove, and Bowen struck out looking to strand Lawson.

Gunther is working 91-94 mph on the fastball, a high-70s breaking ball and high-80s cutter.

Liam Peterson’s first pitch of the day was a 97-mph fastball above the zone. He worked back in the zone to get a lineout to left field from Tyler Bak on the second pitch, then retired Talmadge LeCroy on four pitches — a popup to shallow center field that Kyle Jones tracked down. Peterson flashed 99 mph on a heater to LeCroy.

He struck out Will Craddock to end the inning with a goose egg. Peterson went to an 89-mph slider to get the swing and miss. Everything looks sharp.