GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If you visited this space Thursday, you read about the Gators preparing to face a familiar foe in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Hey, let's play two!
For the second time in three days, the No. 1-seed Gators (44-13) and No. 4 Vanderbilt (39-18) square off at the Hoover Met. This time, one of them will be going home.
The Florida-Vanderbilt winner today (4 p.m./SEC Network) advances to face the the Arkansas-Texas A&M winner in Sunday's championship game.
Recent history favors Florida.
The Gators have won five consecutive games against the Commodores dating to last season, including by a combined 28-7 score in four meetings in 2023. The Gators won 6-3 on Thursday thanks to more heroics from catcher
BT Riopelle (see below).
Florida and Vanderbilt have been the top programs in the SEC East for more than a decade, and both programs have won national titles during that span: Florida in 2017, Vanderbilt in 2014 and '19.
Florida's five-game win streak over the Commodores is the second-longest under
Kevin O'Sullivan. The Gators won seven in a row in the series in 2011-12, a stretch that including a victory at the SEC Tournament and two over the Commodores in the 2011 College World Series.
The Gators' bats didn't wake up until late in Thursday's win, but UF has done damage against the Commodores pitching staff. Vanderbilt is 0-4 with an 8.31 ERA (30 1/3 IP, 34 H, 28 R, 28 ER, 18 BB, 33 SO) in the previous four meetings.
Let's take a look at the Florida-Vanderbilt matchup:
*****
PLAYER TO WATCH: Riopelle served an internship last summer in the finance sector and has career plans in that arena after the season. If so, he is making the most of his final stretch of baseball.
Riopelle is 3-for-8 with three home runs and eight RBI in the SEC Tournament, smacking game-winning homers in each of Florida's first two games. Riopelle hit a three-run walk-off in the bottom of the 11th to defeat Alabama on Wednesday, and on Thursday Riopelle's grand slam in the bottom of the seventh snapped a 2-2 tie against the Commodores.
BT Riopelle salutes teammates Josh Rivera, left, and Jac Caglianone as he reaches home following his grand slam Thursday night. (Photo: Emma Bissell/UAA Communications)
Riopelle has been clutch for the Gators since transferring from Coastal Carolina. He led all SEC catchers a season ago in home runs (15) and RBI (55), and with 16 RBI in his last eight games, Riopelle has upped his total to 58 this season.
"He's a leader,'' O'Sullivan said. " He's extremely good behind the plate. Obviously, he's got two games now that he's come up in big spots and has had two really good at-bats, but he's like a lot of our older players. He comes to the field every day, plays hard and winning is important to him."
*****
PITCHING MATCHUP: This one features a pair of young left-handers on the mound. Gators sophomore
Jac Caglianone (6-2, 3.96 ERA) is known more for his bat, but he delivered a pair of clutch outings in his final two starts of the regular season.
Caglianone beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky by pitching a combined 13 2/3 innings, helping Florida earn a share of the SEC regular-season title. Caglianone limited opponents to five hits and one run in the two outings, with four walks and 17 strikeouts. Caglianone's win over the Commodores on May 14 (6 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO) stands as his best outing of the season.
Freshman
JD Thompson gets the nod for the Commodores. Thompson will make his first career start after 12 relief appearances. He is 2-1 with a 4.67 ERA over 17 1/3 innings. He has allowed 14 hits, walked 11 and struck out 17. Thompson was on the mound in Florida's 10-0 win on May 12 when Caglianone drove home a pair of runs with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh for a run-rule victory.
Thompson is from Rusk, Texas, where he was 6-0 with 93 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings as a senior. Thompson has held opponents to a .215 average in his first college season.
*****
COACH CHATTER
Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan on his team's resurgent relief corps: "It just takes time. It's a long season and guys will figure it out, you just don't know who. We certainly have a bullpen now that we feel comfortable with. Some of those guys have stepped forward and really solidified out bullpen."
Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin on Friday night win: "Just a good ballgame for the boys, good bounce-back from a tough ballgame [Thursday] night. Hit the ball well. I thought we did a good job getting on base. We certainly pitched it well … which is really needed if you're going to go deep in this thing. We live to play another day."
*****
NOTABLES: The Gators improved to 4-8 all-time against the Commodores in the SEC Tournament with Thursday's win … Riopelle's grand slam against Vanderbilt was the 20th in SEC Tournament history.
