Gator baseball team stuns Alabama, 7-6 on walk-off homer in extras to begin SEC Tournament

HOOVER, Ala. (WCJB) -BT Riopelle crushed a game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the top seed Florida Gators past No. 9 seed Alabama in Wednesday’s SEC Tournament opener, 7-6, completing a comeback from three runs down to start the inning. Florida (43-13) stays in the winners bracket and will play again Thursday at 9 p.m.

Riopelle’s game-winning blast, his 11th of the season, came with no outs and followed Josh Rivera’s RBI single that sent the winning run to the plate. Florida trailed, 6-3 after a bases-clearing double from Alabama’s Tommy Seidl in the top of the 11th.

Rivera put the Gators on the board early with his 15th homer of the season in the bottom of the first, a two-run shot, his first in 17 games. Florida led 2-0 after one.

Alabama plated single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings and took a 3-2 lead on Colby Shelton’s solo home run in the sixth.

Trailing 3-2 to start the eighth, Dale Thomas reached and scored when Crimson Tide pitcher Aidan Moza threw wild attempting to get batter Michael Robertson out at first. The game was tied, 3-3, but Florida had only four hits in the regulation nine innings. NCAA home run leader Jac Caglianone and Rivera both struck out with runners on second and third in the eighth. But all of that set the stage for the dramatics in extra innings.

Eighteen of Florida’s wins this season have been in comeback fashion (41.8%).

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