Major takeaways from Florida’s first SEC series vs Alabama
Florida’s first SEC series is in the books and the Gators walked away from a three-game set with Alabama Crimson Tide with a winning record of 2-1.
Both teams faced some adversity from Mother Nature. With a storm set to roll into Gainesville on Saturday, the final game of the series was moved to Friday, forcing the teams to play a doubleheader. For the position players, this isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it’s no easy task to manage a pitching staff when there are 18 innings being played in a day.
Of course, both teams were already figuring out their pitching plans due to starting the series on a Thursday, a day earlier than the rest of Florida’s weekend series this season.
UF played two very good games to start the series. On Thursday, Brandon Sproat did what aces do and threw a complete-game one-hit shutout to lead Florida to a 3-0 victory. The early game on Friday was a different story, though.
Alabama had the lead for most of the ball game, but Florida kept chipping back until finally delivering a walk-off, 8-7, win in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately, the Gators fell flat in the second game of the day, 6-3.
It was an encouraging first weekend of conference play in many ways for the Gators. Here’s what we learned about the team.
Brandon Sproat does not disappoint
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
The first thing anyone should mention when discussing the Gators’ performance this weekend is Brandon Sproat. Sure, [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] can strike out 13-plus in back-to-back weeks, but Sproat has this extra gear that he’s developed for big games. He showed how special he can be on Thursday.
Sproat struck out 11 and walked just two through nine innings of one-hit baseball. He also hit a batter, but who’s counting that against him with the rest of his line looking the way it is?
Alabama is a good hitting team, and Sproat silenced their bats. This is the stuff scouts and fans have been waiting for from him, and the start of conference play is the perfect time to start firing on all cylinders.
Jac Caglianone does, though...
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
Riding the Cagtahni train has been fun through the first month of the season, but SEC play hit Florida superstar [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] like a ton of bricks. At the plate, he went 0 for 11 with three strikeouts and one walk. On the mound, he had his worst performance of the year, giving up five earned runs in as many innings.
This wasn’t the total disaster I’m making it out to be, but there isn’t a whole lot of good to say about the way one of the most interesting players in college baseball performed this weekend. Seeing how he bounces back will be interesting because Caglianone should be the team ace next year.
It’s worth mentioning that Caglianone started the early game on Friday, which is a bit out of rhythm for him.
Florida State isn’t an easy midweek game, and No. 13 Ole Miss is a very good baseball team as well. He’s still tied for that national lead in home runs, but Caglianone should just be looking for a hit at this point.
The rest of the staff was a mixed bag
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
Everyone should cut the pitching staff some slack this weekend because it was a short week and the doubleheader made things even weirder than usual. But, we still have to look at who did well and who didn’t aside from Caglianone and Sproat.
Waldrep pitched the final game of the series and was a bit shaky. He walked four and only struck out seven despite lasting six innings. For comparison, he fanned 13 through six against Cincinnati and 14 through six against Miami. To his credit, Waldrep only surrendered three earned runs on the night (four in total), but Florida’s offense stayed fairly quiet after the first inning.
[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] pitched three solid innings for Florida in relief of Waldrep, giving up just two runs (one earned) on a homer in the eighth. After Caglianone left, [autotag]Nick Ficcarrotta[/autotag], [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag], [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] and [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] pitched.
Fisher gave up a hit to the only batter he faced, which allowed a run to score that Ficcarrotta had let get on base. Slater also gave up a run, but Abner was pretty sharp through the final four outs of the game.
All in all, there were no major meltdowns on a weekend that had an excuse for one. Maybe the bullpen didn’t have its best stuff, but it’s hard to be a problem when Sproat takes away a day of work from the staff.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that neither [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] nor [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] pitched this weekend.
Wyatt Langford is missed
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
The one glaring absence from this series (aside from Jac Caglianone’s bat) was Wyatt Langford. Florida’s future first-rounder is still on the mend after taking a foul ball off the groin.
The injury required minor surgery, but O’Sullivan says Langford is on track to return sooner rather than later. Langford’s bay is more than just a power option in the middle of the lineup. He bats in front of Caglianone, which forces opposing pitchers to deal with one or the other when giving up two free bases isn’t an option.
Getting Langford back is the difference between a sweep and a 2-1 weekend for Florida, and it would have been nice to have him on Friday. His future is what’s most important, though, and no one thinks he should risk his health to return early.
SEC play isn't going to slow down the freshmen
Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun
Perhaps one of the best takeaways from the series against Alabama is that freshmen on the team didn’t take a step back.[autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] has been special for the Gators both at the plate and at second base. He went 3 for 10 at the plate, including a pair of homers against legitimate SEC arms.
Luke Heyman also returned after coming out of the Siena series with a tweaked hamstring. He blooped a ball into center field for a single on the pinch hit but barely ran to first, so the injury is still clearly lingering for him. Still, it’s good to see Heyman get a chance even when he’s not at 100 percent. It means Kevin O’Sullivan considers him a major part of the team.
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