Gator baseball team shuts out No. 5 Vanderbilt in series opener, 10-0 in seven innings

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - In front of a near sold out crowd, No. 7 Florida and No. 5 Vanderbilt clashed at Condron Ballpark in a highly anticipated series. The Gators (38-12) grabbed the series opening win over the Commodores (35-14), 10-0 in seven innings.

After a scoreless first inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Tyler Shelnut started things off with a double. Deric Fabian hammered a two-run homer to left field to take a 2-0 lead. A few batters later, Wyatt Langford smacked a RBI double to the corner of left field and Cade Kurland sprinted for home from first base, 3-0.

In the bottom of the third inning, two runners on for Fabian. The North Marion alum fired a two-run double to left. Luke Heyman and Shelnut score, 5-0. Fabian went 2 for 3 with his second homer of the year and a career high four runs batted in.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said about Fabian’s performance, “I’m not going to say I called it, but I did. I talked to Chuck (Jeroloman) last night and the thing about Deric is, obviously he’s been disappointed he probably hadn’t played as much as he’d like to, and he played a lot more last year. But the one thing he has not done, he has not put his head down. He’s always been a good teammate.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Cade Kurland scored off Jac Caglianone’s sacrifice fly to center field, 6-0. BT Riopelle brought home Caglianone off his 10th jack of the year, Gators led 8-0.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Caglianone with a bases loaded situation ripped it down the third base line for a two-run single. Caglianone finished the night 1 for 4 and three runs batted in. The sophomore has a team-high 72 runs batted in.

Brandon Sprout (7-2) threw a gem tonight giving up only five hits in six innings and rang up five batters.

O’Sullivan said, “I think Brandon kept his emotions in check. Obviously, it was a big strikeout there to end the first. But he’s been really good. He’s been really good the second half of the year.”

Hurston Waldrep heads to the hill for the Gators Saturday night as Florida looks to end the home finale with a series win. First pitch at 6:30pm.

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