GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators face a familiar foe on Thursday night in their second game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
No. 1-seed Florida (43-13) plays fourth-seed Vanderbilt (38-17) in an SEC East rivalry at the Hoover Met. The game is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. ET, or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the LSU-Arkansas game.
The Commodores have been kind to the Gators this month.
First, Florida swept Vanderbilt at Condron Ballpark in its final regular-season home series, overtaking the Commodores in the SEC East standings. The Gators outscored the Commodores 22-4 in the three-game series. And then, on Saturday, after Florida beat Kentucky to conclude the regular season, Vanderbilt defeated Arkansas to give the Gators a share of the SEC regular-season title.
The Gators advanced to the winners' bracket with a dramatic 7-6, 11-inning win over Alabama on Wednesday night.
BT Riopelle's three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning sent the Gators back to their hotel in a joyful mood.
Vanderbilt beat Auburn 6-4 to advance, using a stellar relief outing from
Patrick Reilly (5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 SO) to hold off the Tigers.
Let's take a look at the Florida-Vanderbilt matchup:
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PLAYER TO WATCH: Vanderbilt center fielder
Enrique Bradfield Jr. is the straw that stirs the drink for the Commodores. Take Wednesday night's 6-4 win over Auburn, for example. Bradfield finished 0-for-4, but that didn't stop him from impacting the game. He walked, reached on an error, and used his speed to steal two bases and score twice. Bradford leads the SEC with 36 stolen bases.
The Gators did an excellent job keeping Bradfield quiet when the teams met in Gainesville. Bradfield went 1-for-10 in the series and did not score a run. Riopelle threw him out on his only stolen-base attempt of the series.
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Brandon Sproat during his win over Vanderbilt on May 12 at Condron Ballpark. (Photo: Ashley Ray/UAA Communications)
PITCHING MATCHUP: This is the type of meeting that will have plenty of MLB scouts holding their radar guns and notebooks. Florida's
Brandon Sproat (7-3, 4.85 ERA, 78 IP, 100 SO) will oppose Vanderbilt lefty
Hunter Owen (4-0, 3.16 ERA, 57 IP, 67 SO).
Sproat tossed six shutout innings against the Commodores on May 12 at Condron Ballpark, a 10-0 UF victory. He gave up five hits, walked three and struck out five in a 97-pitch outing. Sproat last pitched on Friday at Kentucky (5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 7 SO), taking the loss in a 6-4 defeat.
Meanwhile, Owen will return to the mound following a bout with shoulder soreness. Owen, a 6-foot-6 left-hander, missed Vanderbilt's final two regular-season series and did not pitch when the Commodores visited Gainesville earlier this month.
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COACH CHATTER
Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan on Wednesday's comeback win: "It gives you belief that no matter what the score is, that you've got a chance to get yourself back into it. You have to have those experiences throughout the season to believe that you can do it. It's one thing as a coaching staff to sit there and say, 'we can do this, we can get back in this thing,' but when you do it numerous times throughout the year, the belief becomes real."
Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin on getting swept by Gators: "They played very well that weekend – pitched well and defensively and offensively – we just didn't have many answers. But to get to this point, we flushed that pretty quick because we had a lot of things in front of us, and we did."
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NOTABLES: According to the
SEC Network, Florida's 7-6 win over Alabama marked the first time in SEC Tournament history that a team came back from a three-run deficit in extra innings to win … Florida is 3-8 all-time against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, last playing the Commodores in 2015, a 7-3 victory in the championship game.
