Hot bats on a cold night; No. 10 Gators trounce Dayton, 13-1

Blake Cyr slides headfirst across home plate in the second inning (Photo by Chris Spears)

It isn’t as if 10th-ranked Florida (5-0) needs any help. The Gators have potent bats up and down the lineup, but on a cold night at Condron Family Ballpark, the Dayton Flyers were much too accommodating. Dayton pitchers walked five, hit four batters and uncorked three wild pitches. The Gators, meanwhile, smacked 10 hits including Bobby Boser’s third homer of the season and stole five bases in a 13-1 run-rule game called mercifully after seven frigid innings.

Florida starter Liam Peterson (2-0) got all the help he would need in the bottom of the first when Hayden Yost led off with a double in the left center gap and Boser followed with a homer into the right field bullpen. The Gators added another run in the first and three in the second to give Peterson plenty of cushion. He went four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out five to pick up the win.

Kevin O’Sullivan split the final three innings among true freshman Jackson Barberi and redshirt freshmen Caden McDonald and Christian Rodriguez. Barberi allowed two hits and struck out one; McDonald gave up three hits, one run and struck out one; and Rodriguez gave up a hit while striking out two. Both McDonald and Rodriguez missed all of last season due to Tommy John surgery.

“Honestly, it was not an easy night to hit or pitch,” O’Sullivan said while praising his pitchers, adding that Peterson “made some big pitches when he needed to.”  

After Boser cleared the bases with his first inning home run, Colby Shelton walked, stole second and third, then scored on a ground out by Cade Kurland. In the second, Blake Cyr was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on Justin Nadeau’s ground out and scored on a Yost grounder. Later in the inning, Boser reached on a wild pitch third strike and stole second. Shelton was hit by a pitch and both runners advanced on a failed pickoff that sailed into center field. Following a walk to Brody Donay, Kurland delivered a 2-RBI single.

In the fourth, Donay singled off the pitcher’s leg, stole second and scored on a single to right by Brendan Lawson to make it 7-0.

The Gators closed out the scoring in the bottom of the sixth when they sent 10 to the plate while scoring six runs. The Gators got a bases loaded walk to  Kurland to drive in one run, an RBI by Lawson when he was hit by a pitch, also with the bases loaded. Luke Heyman hit a sacrifice fly, Cyr doubled in two runs and Yost hit a sacrifice fly to complete the scoring.

Through five games, the Gators have already hit nine home runs. They’re hitting .366 as a team and they’ve stolen 21 bases in 23 attempts. In 66 games a year ago, the Gators only stole 43 bases.

The Gators have a 1.32 team ERA. Florida pitchers have struck out 70 batters in 41 innings.

The Gators and Dayton play game two of their series today at 4 p.m. (SEC Network+).

UF SOFTBALL: GATORS 20, OPPONENTS 1 IN TWO FRIDAY GAMES

The 3rd-ranked Gators (15-1) served notice to the rest of the field at the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, Arizona, Friday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep of California Baptist and host Arizona State. The Gators hammered out an 11-0 run-rule win over California Baptist in the first game, then blistered Arizona State, 9-1, in game two.

Freshman Taylor Shumaker went 3-3 with four RBI while hitting her ninth and 10th homers in Florida’s rout of Cal Baptist. Shumaker hit a 2-run homer in Florida’s 9-run first inning and hit another 2-run homer in the fourth. Rylee Holtorf hit a grand slam in the first while Korbe Otis had a 2-run double and Kenleigh Cahalan hit an RBI double.

Falby had a 3-3 day at the plate with two stolen bases.

Getting the win in the circle was Ava Brown (4-0), who gave up three hits in four innings. Olivia Miller gave up one run while pitching the fifth.

Florida hammered out 12 hits against Arizona State to back the 6-hit pitching of Keagan Rothrock (7-1). Rothrock gave up five hits, walked two and struck out five.

The Gators put two across the plate in the second on a sacrifice fly by Holtorf and an RBI single by Falby. The Gators stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third on a sacrifice fly by Reagan Walsh. Two more scored in the fourth on Mia Williams’ fourth homer of the year and an RBI single by Shumaker.

Florida closed out the scoring in the top of the seventh with a 4-run outburst. Otis scored on a wild pitch, Williams hit an RBI single and Layla Lamar drove in two with a single up the middle.

Otis had a 3-3 game, while Shumaker, Jocelyn Erickson and Williams all had 2-4 days at the plate.

Through 16 games, the Gators are hitting .375 led by Shumaker (.511, 10 HR, 29 RBI), Williams (.465, 4 HR, 8 RBI) and Falby (.458, 15-15 stolen bases). The Gators have hit 26 home runs and they have stolen 38 bases in 40 attempts.

Florida pitchers have a 1.89 ERA.

Today, the Gators face New Mexico State (6 p.m.) and Grand Canyon (8:30 p.m.). The Gators will conclude play in the tournament Sunday against Iowa State (11 a.m.).