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The financial services industry will have to wait awhile longer for BT Riopelle. Florida’s clutch-hitting catcher has already let his future boss to let him know it could be awhile before he reports to work.

Photo Credit UAA - Graphic Brenden Martin

“I actually texted my boss the other day,” Riopelle said Friday night after his 400-plus foot home run to dead center field in the sixth inning helped propel the Gators (49-15) to a 5-4 win over South Carolina in game one of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional at Condron Family Ballpark. “He’s like keep winning.”

The Gators can win the super regional and punch their ticket to Omaha for the College World Series with a win Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN2). The Gators will send Hurston Waldrep (8-3) to the mound against South Carolina's Jack Mahoney (7-3).

It was an 0-1 pitch, a change-up according to South Carolina reliever Will Sanders, that Riopelle launched about three feet farther than his towering fly ball that Gamecock center fielder Will Tippett caught two innings earlier when the vast majority of the 8,439 people squeezed into the stadium groaned in disappointment. Riopelle didn’t disappoint the second time around. It was his 16th home run of the season, the sixth since the postseason began a couple of weeks ago at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, and this one sent the largest on campus crowd for a baseball game in state history into an absolute frenzy.

The Riopelle home run broke a 3-3 deadlock and gave the Gators their first lead of the game. An inning earlier, it was Tyler Shelnut’s turn to come through with the big hit just when the Gators needed it the most. Shelnut deposited the very first pitch he saw off James Hicks to start the fifth over the berm in left field for his seventh home run of the season.

Shelnut came to the plate again in the eighth with runners on first and second and two out, this time facing South Carolina reliever Nick Proctor. Shelnut smacked a 2-0 pitch through the third-short hole into left field to drive home Josh Rivera with the fifth run of the game. Shelnut admitted it wasn’t exactly a quality swing, but it got the job done and it delivered the insurance the Gators needed since South Carolina’s Will McGillis hit his second home run in the top of the ninth.

“I kind of knew going into that at-bat, it was like man, we only got a one run lead,” Shelnut said. “All it takes is like one big swing, somebody be on time just once and just one good swing and and it'll tie the ballgame. So going into that I was like I know I have to get this run across. However that's going to be I have to get on base. Just keep turning the lineup over, and it wasn't the most ideal, I guess, or the prettiest swing but we did it and that's all I needed.”

There were other heroes on this night. Josh Rivera was one. When South Carolina roughed up Florida starter Brandon Sproat for a couple of first inning runs, Rivera hit a monstrous 2-out, 2-run home run to left field with Jac Caglianone on base to answer in the UF half of the inning. This was a no-doubter the moment it left the bat. By the time it fell from orbit it was on the street some 453 feet away.

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan knows just how critical Rivera’s 17th home run of the season was.

“Looking back at the game, probably the biggest at-bat of the game other than Shelnut’s singling and driving the fifth run was Josh answering back with a 2-run home to get us right back into it because normally in games like this, the team scores first it gets momentum. It can kind of get away from you a little bit, especially in this kind of environment,” O’Sullivan said.

The word that best captures Brandon Sproat’s performance is resilient. He can heat up the fast ball to 100 miles per hour almost on demand but some games it takes awhile before he finds his groove. Early in the game, with South Carolina sitting dead fast ball, Sproat had two innings worth of issues. Hitting in the leadoff spot, McGillis hit his first home run almost straight down the left field line for a 1-0 lead. Braylen Wimmer hit a sky high fly ball into center field that Wyatt Langford lost in the lights. Sproat struck out Gamecock slugger Ethan Petry on three pitches, but Cole Messina singled to center. A fly out later and Gavin Casas singled into right center for a 2-0 lead.

Rivera’s homer in the bottom half of the inning tied things at 2-2, but South Carolina scored one in the top of the second and was on the verge of breaking the game wide open with the bases loaded and only one out. That was the point in the game that Sproat really began to relax and take control of the game. He induced a come-backer to the mound from Cole Messina, flipped it home to Riopelle for the force and then Riopelle completed the double play with a strike to Jac Caglianone at first.

Starting in the third inning, the tactics changed. Sproat began mixing in more change-ups and breaking pitches. He still heated it up occasionally to 99 miles an hour, but the offspeed stuff put the kibosh on the South Carolina hitters. Sproat set down all six batters he faced in the third and fourth innings, but ran into some trouble in the fifth when a controversial play at first base was ruled Florida’s way. Wimmer hit a bouncer right of the mound that Sproat fumbled a bit, then made an off-balance throw that sailed past Caglianone and into foul ground down the right field line. Making a looping turn at first, Wimmer caught Caglianone’s foot and fell down. When he got back to his feet, Wimmer thought first base umpire Greg Street awarded him second base.

Meanwhile out in right field, Shelnut was on the move to back up Caglianone the moment he saw Sproat try to field the ball. He ran the ball down and threw a strike to Rivera standing on second. Rivera applied the tag for the out, which was immediately followed by South Carolina coach Mark Kingston bursting out of the dugout to protest the call, but the call stood.

“So my job was just to be there and as it kind of unfolded,” Shelnut said. “I was a little confused as to what the runner was doing. He thought the play was over, but the biggest thing that we're taught is the play’s never over. So, I just made sure I got the ball and got it as quick as I could because the play you know, obviously, wasn't over even though there was some confusion. So getting the ball in and getting the out that was big.”

It was a big day for Shelnut, a small town kid from Fort White, population 619, who came to Florida after spending two years at Santa Fe College. Asked how many more people were at the stadium Friday night than live in Fort White, Shelnut grinned and replied, “Probably like 8,300.”

Shelnut’s play in right field proved critical because Petry followed with a sharp single to right field. It would have almost certainly scored Wimmer if he had made his way to second and could have ended Sproat’s night on the mound. The play on Wimmer was huge, but so was Riopelle’s throw from his knees that nailed Petry trying to steal second. That was the second out. Messina drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third when Riopelle’s throw sailed into center field, but Sproat was unfazed, striking out Talmadge LeCroy on five pitches for the final out.

Sproat (8-3) finished his night in the sixth when he got a pop-out and a strikeout after Michael Braswell’s 1-out single. In his six innings, Sproat allowed nine hits, but only two after the first two innings. He walked two, but one was intentional, and struck out seven. After encountering so much difficulty in the first two innings, Sproat was basically untouchable the rest of the way.

“All you could do is ask your starter to go six innings, give it three runs or less,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s what we define as a quality start. Regardless of when he gives up the three runs that just shows the maturity of where he's at. Maybe a couple years ago, he wouldn't have been able to recover but he's just matured tremendously over the last couple of years and you know, he hung in there and like I said before zeros he put up after that right. It was just an outstanding effort.”

Sproat was relieved by freshman lefty Cade Fisher, who needed only 28 pitches to dispose of the Gamecocks in the seventh and eighth innings, holding them to a single in the seventh. Brandon Neely got the ball in the ninth to earn his 13th save of the season. He struck out two and gave up a solo homer to McGillis before getting Wimmer on a bouncer to third for the final out of the game.

Saturday’s SEC games

Gainesville: South Carolina (42-20) at FLORIDA (49-15), 3 p.m., ESPN2 (Game two)

Winston-Salem: Alabama (43-19) at Wake Forest (50-10), 12 noon, ESPN (Game one)

Hattiesburg: Tennessee (41-19) at Southern Miss (45-18), 3 p.m., ESPNU (Game one)

Baton Rouge: Kentucky (40-19) at LSU (46-15), 3 p.m., ESPN (Game one)