No. 5 Gators Baseball Silences No. 24 Crimson Tide

Fifth-ranked Florida baseball (17-3, 1-0) shut out the 24th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (16-3, 0-1) at home on Thursday, winning 3-0. The Gators take game one of the opening SEC series against the Crimson Tide.

COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUT. ONE HITTER. #GatorsWin | #GoGators
Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/stJGbrHPxQ

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 17, 2023

Sproat has a career night in a Gator uniform

Brandon Sproat started the first game of the series against Alabama on Thursday on the mound by hitting the first batter he faced but he did get a double play on the next pitch. In the second inning, the Crimson Tide had a single and a walk, but Sproat did not let anyone cross home plate. From there, the Alabama hitters could not get anything going against Sproat. Alabama only had one base runner from the third inning to the final inning of the game. Against the Crimson Tide, Sproat threw a complete game for the first time in his Gator career and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Additionally, he only gave up one hit and walked two batters.

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/1636527685806735361

Kurland lifts the Gators past Crimson Tide

Going by statistics, the Gators boast one of the best offenses in the nation in college baseball. However, it was quiet to start the game. Through the first five innings, the Gators only had one single. But in the sixth inning with two outs and a runner on first, Cade Kurland sent a home run over the left field fence to give the Gators a 2-0 lead.

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/1636522749589086209

Florida did add another run in the seventh inning as well with a ground out from Ty Evans that scored Josh Rivera to put the Gator lead at 3-0. This may not have been the most productive game on offense for the Gators, but it got the job done against Alabama behind the dominant performance on the mound from Sproat.

Schedule for the rest of the series

No matter what, both teams will face off on Friday for at least one game. Friday’s matchup is set to begin at 6:30 pm as of now. For Saturday, the game is slated to start at 4 pm. However, depending on the weather, Saturday’s contest might be moved to Friday for a doubleheader.