Gators Avoid Upset, 2B Cade Kurland Out for Season

Although leading up to this inning, it was a back-and-forth affair. 

It wasn’t a beautiful start Tuesday night for Florida’s freshman righty Jackson Barberi. The young arm struggled with his command in the first, issuing two free passes with two outs. However, he ended the frame with a swinging strikeout to bring up the bats in the bottom half. 

Building off Barberi's momentum, the Gator bats shined immediately.

Leadoff batter Justin Nadeau smacked a home run over the right field wall to give his team a 1-0 lead, and shortstop Colby Shelton replicated the same swing as Nadeau for the Gators' second home run of the inning a few batters later, doubling the lead. 

However, their two-run lead was quickly cut in half in the following inning. Beginning the second, Barberi was in-between with his control, and after getting it to a 2-2 count, his command let him down as UNF's Mitchell Collins cut the Gators lead in half with a home run of his own. 

Barberi did look to regain his footing in the inning by striking out the next two Ospreys but followed it up by walking another two. The pair of walks ended his day as head coach Kevin O’Sullivan signaled for lefty McCall Biemiller out of the pen to finish off the second. 

Biemiller’s day was short-lived, though.

Despite entering in the second to record the final out, the lefty only faced one more batter in the third before giving way to right-hander Caden McDonald. McDonald logged two strikeouts in the third as well as a ground out to keep the Gators lead intact going into the bottom half of the inning. 

In the third, Florida was able to recapture their two-run lead with another solo shot from Boser, who smashed one out of the park and onto the street behind left field to give the Gators a 3-1 lead.

However, UNF responded to Boser’s homer with a two-run fifth inning to tie the game. A solo homer to left field plated the first, and an error from Nadeau on a throw to first plated the second.

The Ospreys threatened to take the lead in the sixth, as well. UNF managed to put runners on the corners with just one out. However, after Florida brought in Jake Clemente out of the bullpen, they weren’t able to take the lead. 

This failure to score runs would come back to bite North Florida, too, as the Gators blew the game wide open in the sixth inning.

Florida threw up five runs on the scoreboard by the end of the frame and went into the seventh with an 8-3 lead. Donay started the scoring for the Gators with a solo home run, and the inning was then capped off by Boser, who crushed one over the center field wall for a grand slam and his second homer of the night.

UNF added one more in the ninth before Billy Barlow closed the game by forcing a groundout to third base.

Gators Laundry List of Injuries Continues to Stack

After the win on Tuesday, O’Sullivan issued an update on second baseman Cade Kurland, who has been dealing with a shoulder issue sustained earlier in the season against Miami. 

Kurland tried playing through the injury after going through some physical therapy but wasn’t able to and will undergo season-ending surgery, O’Sullivan revealed.

“Yeah, he’s going to have surgery,” the Gators' head coach said. “…I don’t think he was left with any other decision to make. He tried to do everything he could to play, even when he played against Florida State in Jacksonville. He tried everything.”

Starting catcher Luke Heyman also has an injury concern in this game, having to be taken out early. However, O’Sullivan stated it was precautionary. 

“It was just a little hamstring, just precautionary,” O’Sullivan said. “He could’ve still played, but we can't take any chances cause we got very little wiggle room on the weekends right now.”

Looking to Weekend

Up next for the Gators is the Vanderbilt Commodores on the weekend. They’ll host the Commodores for a three-game series that begins on Friday and runs through Sunday. Friday’s ball game has a first pitch scheduled for around 6:30 p.m.

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