Friday, May 10
Gainesville, FL
6:30 PM
Florida Gators
30-21, 10-15
10
vs
9
Tennessee
33-17, 10-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Tennessee
1
0
3
5
0
0
0
0
0
9
13
0
Florida
2
0
0
1
1
0
4
2
X
10
14
2
Nelson Maldonado homered twice on Friday, including the game-winner in the eighth inning.
Gators Rally Past Tennessee in Opener
Friday, May 10, 2019 | Baseball
WHAT HAPPENED: Florida overcame a seven-run deficit to beat No. 24 Tennessee 10-9 on Friday night at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville.
In the bottom of the eighth, Nelson Maldonado's two-run homer, his second home run of the night, completed the Gators' comeback and Nolan Crisp closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning.
Tennessee used a five-run fourth inning to take a 9-2 lead but the Florida bullpen allowed just three hits and no runs over the final 5.2 innings.
Kirby McMullen took over for starter Tommy Mace and pitched a career-high 3.2 innings with no runs allowed on two hits. Crisp pitched the final two innings to earn the win.
Florida chipped away at the lead with a RBI single in the fourth from Brady McConnell and Maldonado's solo homer in the fifth inning.
The momentum swung in the bottom of the seventh when the Gators cut the deficit to one. McConnell and Austin Langworthy led off the inning with back-to-back singles before two hit batters brought a run.
A sac fly from Kendrick Calilao brought home Langworthy before Jacob Young's two-out, two-run single closed the gap to 9-8.
Crisp worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning and McConnell got things going in the bottom half of the inning with a double to left center.
Maldonado's no-doubter brought the crowd of 3,542 to their feet as Florida took a 10-9 lead.
Five players had multi-hit games, led by Maldonado and McConnell with three hits apiece. Maldonado and Wil Dalton each had three RBI.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Nelson Maldonado – The senior captain went 3-for-5 on the night with two home runs, three runs scored and three RBI. He now has 10 home runs on the year, a new single-season career high, and 31 in his career.
STANDOUT STAT: 7 – The Gators' seven-run comeback is their largest since March 24, 2010. On that date, Florida trailed FGCU 8-0 but came from behind to win 13-8.
FROM THE COACH: Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan – On tonight's game: "We got together in the bottom of the fourth when we were down 9-2, basically the message was, 'Nobody's going to feel sorry for us.' We've had such a long tradition here, a long history, of playing the game the right way and we're certainly not going to put our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves. Now, it was a 9-2 game and you're certainly don't know that you're going to come back and score double digits, especially against their pitching staff who has been good the whole year long. [Redmond Walsh] came in at the end, he had a sub-1.00 ERA in the league.
"But we battled and battled and had some big at bats … Brady McConnell had a really good game at the plate obviously. It was great to see Nelly go out there, it's his last home weekend as a senior, hit the home run there in the eighth. I thought Jacob Young's at bat in the eighth was really big, swung at the first pitch and stayed aggressive and stayed in the middle of the field. There were just a lot of good at bats.
"Quite honestly, we probably don't win the ballgame if Kirby McMullen doesn't throw up 3.2 scoreless. You just never know."
NELSON MALDONADO - On the game-winning home run and the Gators win: "Coming into the eighth inning, I swung at the first pitch, I think it was a changeup up, and I just put a good swing on it … That one felt better than the first one … [running around the bases] the adrenaline takes over, I don't really remember much."
On the Gators win: "This was a huge win for our team, a much-needed win. I'm proud of these guys for getting on and attacking the zone. Kirby did a hell of a job on the mound, I think he went 3.2, and Crisp did what he's been doing all season, coming into the game and close it out for us."
UP NEXT: Florida and Tennessee meet again Saturday at 3 p.m. on SEC Network. The series finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.
In the bottom of the eighth, Nelson Maldonado's two-run homer, his second home run of the night, completed the Gators' comeback and Nolan Crisp closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning.
Tennessee used a five-run fourth inning to take a 9-2 lead but the Florida bullpen allowed just three hits and no runs over the final 5.2 innings.
Kirby McMullen took over for starter Tommy Mace and pitched a career-high 3.2 innings with no runs allowed on two hits. Crisp pitched the final two innings to earn the win.
Florida chipped away at the lead with a RBI single in the fourth from Brady McConnell and Maldonado's solo homer in the fifth inning.
The momentum swung in the bottom of the seventh when the Gators cut the deficit to one. McConnell and Austin Langworthy led off the inning with back-to-back singles before two hit batters brought a run.
A sac fly from Kendrick Calilao brought home Langworthy before Jacob Young's two-out, two-run single closed the gap to 9-8.
Crisp worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning and McConnell got things going in the bottom half of the inning with a double to left center.
Maldonado's no-doubter brought the crowd of 3,542 to their feet as Florida took a 10-9 lead.
Five players had multi-hit games, led by Maldonado and McConnell with three hits apiece. Maldonado and Wil Dalton each had three RBI.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Nelson Maldonado – The senior captain went 3-for-5 on the night with two home runs, three runs scored and three RBI. He now has 10 home runs on the year, a new single-season career high, and 31 in his career.
STANDOUT STAT: 7 – The Gators' seven-run comeback is their largest since March 24, 2010. On that date, Florida trailed FGCU 8-0 but came from behind to win 13-8.
FROM THE COACH: Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan – On tonight's game: "We got together in the bottom of the fourth when we were down 9-2, basically the message was, 'Nobody's going to feel sorry for us.' We've had such a long tradition here, a long history, of playing the game the right way and we're certainly not going to put our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves. Now, it was a 9-2 game and you're certainly don't know that you're going to come back and score double digits, especially against their pitching staff who has been good the whole year long. [Redmond Walsh] came in at the end, he had a sub-1.00 ERA in the league.
"But we battled and battled and had some big at bats … Brady McConnell had a really good game at the plate obviously. It was great to see Nelly go out there, it's his last home weekend as a senior, hit the home run there in the eighth. I thought Jacob Young's at bat in the eighth was really big, swung at the first pitch and stayed aggressive and stayed in the middle of the field. There were just a lot of good at bats.
"Quite honestly, we probably don't win the ballgame if Kirby McMullen doesn't throw up 3.2 scoreless. You just never know."
NELSON MALDONADO - On the game-winning home run and the Gators win: "Coming into the eighth inning, I swung at the first pitch, I think it was a changeup up, and I just put a good swing on it … That one felt better than the first one … [running around the bases] the adrenaline takes over, I don't really remember much."
On the Gators win: "This was a huge win for our team, a much-needed win. I'm proud of these guys for getting on and attacking the zone. Kirby did a hell of a job on the mound, I think he went 3.2, and Crisp did what he's been doing all season, coming into the game and close it out for us."
UP NEXT: Florida and Tennessee meet again Saturday at 3 p.m. on SEC Network. The series finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Crisp, Nolan (4-2)
L: Redmond Walsh (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Connor Pavolony 1
RBI: Jay Charleston 1 ; Andre Lipcius 1 ; Alerick Soularie 2 ; Evan Russell 2 ; Jake Rucker 1
SH: Justin Ammons 1 ; Ricky Martinez 1
SF: Andre Lipcius 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Justin Ammons 1 ; Jay Charleston 2 ; Andre Lipcius 1 ; Alerick Soularie 2 ; Connor Pavolony 1 ; Ricky Martinez 2
SB: Justin Ammons 1
HBP: Evan Russell 1
Batting:
2B: McConnell, Brady 1 ; Smith, Brady 1 ; Young, Jacob 1
HR: Maldonado, Nelson 2
RBI: McConnell, Brady 1 ; Maldonado, Nelson 3 ; Dalton, Wil 3 ; Calilao, Kendrick 1 ; Young, Jacob 2
SH: Langworthy, Austin 1
SF: Calilao, Kendrick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McConnell, Brady 2 ; Langworthy, Austin 1 ; Maldonado, Nelson 3 ; Smith, Brady 2 ; Dalton, Wil 1 ; Young, Jacob 1
HBP: Smith, Brady 1 ; Dalton, Wil 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
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OF/LHP
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RHP
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OF
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