Let's do it the hard way: Florida facing elimination after falling to Texas Tech

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Florida couldn’t get the big hit when it needed to Saturday night and fell to Texas Tech, 5-4, sending the Gators to an elimination game on Sunday with hopes of playing two and forcing a Monday game.

UF had plenty of opportunities to bust the game wide open. The fifth inning stands out in particular when a trio of consecutive singles from the bottom third of the order was wasted. Time and time again, the Gators failed to come through, which isn’t typically the team’s modus operandi.

Scoring hasn’t come easy in the Gainesville Regional, at least not for the Gators. Now, the team must do things the hard way if it wants to advance to the Super Regionals. Florida needs not one but two wins on Sunday over the UConn then Texas Tech to force a third and final game with the Red Raiders.

Have a night, Gavin Kash! He demolishes a go-ahead, two-run home run to dead central to give Texas Tech a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning! pic.twitter.com/p2n6j3g8ub

— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) June 4, 2023

The biggest villain in Gainesville right now might be Texas Tech’s Gavin Kash, who blasted a pair of home runs Saturday night to beat the hometown club playing as the road team on the scoreboard. The solo shot came on a mistake pitch from Brandon Sproat, who had a relatively strong outing, in the fifth, and the two-run dagger came off Ryan Slater at a crucial point in the bottom of the eighth.

Austin Green’s two-run shot in the fourth inning accounts for the rest of Texas Tech’s scoring. Sproat struck out seven over six innings of three-run baseball. He came out pumping 100-101 mph but Texas Tech figured things out as the night went on and the adrenaline waned.

Phillip Aber pitched the eighth in relief of Sproat. He loaded the bases with two outs but ended up striking out the side to keep the game knotted at three runs apiece. Ryan Slater gave up the second home run to Kash in the eighth after needing just 15 pitches to get through a pair of innings on Friday.

Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone were the only two major bats for Florida today. Langford went 2-for-4 and scored a pair, including on the home run Cags hit in the sixth — his 29th of the season.

JAC US UP, CAGS!!!



#GoGators //

https://t.co/Wb8gZgDArK pic.twitter.com/co9GYeGuL7

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 3, 2023

Dale Thomas came up with a big pinch-hit triple in the ninth and scored on a Cade Kurland ground out. Florida had a chance at the end after Langford legged out a near-impossible infield single, but Caglianone popped up behind third base for the final out of the game.

Florida faces UConn at noon on Sunday and would play again at 6 p.m. EDT against Texas Tech with a win.

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By: David Rosenberg
Title: Let's do it the hard way: Florida facing elimination after falling to Texas Tech
Sourced From: gatorswire.usatoday.com/2023/06/03/florida-baseball-texas-tech-gainesville-regional-game-recap-brandon-sproat-jac-caglianone-wyatt-langford/
Published Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2023 01:28:16 +0000

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