GAINESVILLE — BT Riopelle hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning and Florida got two other home runs in a 5-4 victory over South Carolina on Friday in the weather-delayed opening game of the Gainesville Super Regional.
After a 2-hour, 37-minute weather delay, South Carolina's Will McGillis hit the second pitch of the game for a home run. Gavin Casas added an RBI-single for a 2-0 lead, but the Gators tied it in the bottom of the first on a two-out home run by Josh Rivera.
McGillis came to bat again with one out in the second and delivered an RBI single for a 3-2 South Carolina lead.
Florida (49-15) tied it in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Fort White High alum Tyler Shelnut and went ahead in the sixth on Riopelle's deep drive to straightaway center field. Rivera scored from second on a two-out single by Shelnut in the eighth inning.
"Our players came out and they were not flat," Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Sometimes you can come out a little flat, regardless, I know this is an important series obviously. But, we're used to that. Rain delays are a part of this time of year. But, BT can go through stretches where he swings and misses some. But, he does have a knack to come up with big at-bats at the right times. Certainly, he did that tonight and he did it last Monday too."
After South Carolina's three early runs, the Gamecocks were shut down by Brandon Sproat (8-3) and Cade Fisher, as the two did not allow a runner past second base in the next six innings. Brandon Neely came in to pitch the ninth and allowed a two-out home run by McGillis — his third RBI of the game — before Braylen Wimmer grounded out to end it.Sproat allowed three runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in six innings. Fisher allowed one hit in two innings and Neely picked up his 13th save despite giving up the home run to McGillis.
"He gave up three in the first two and put up four zeros," O'Sullivan said of Sproat. "I was going to take him out in the fifth, he was at 90 pitches, he had to really make a lot of leverage pitches. It was an emotional night for him. He begged to go back out there in the sixth and obviously he put up another zero. Cade Fisher was really good and I thought Neely, his stuff was as good as its been all year long. It was just a really good college baseball game on both sides."
Will Sanders (4-4), who gave up Riopelle's home run, took the loss for South Carolina (42-20).
Game 2 in the best-of-3 series is set for Saturday, with South Carolina playing as the home team.
"Credit their offense, they came out and swung the bats really good, really aggressive," O'Sullivan said. "Obviously, McGillis led off the game with a home run and we had another one we lost the ball in the twilight there. Gave up another one in the third, but then Brandon turned it around and put up four zeros in a row. Which is huge. Looking back at the game, probably the biggest at-bat of game other than Shelnut's single driving in the fifth run was Josh answering back with a two-run homer to get us right back into it. Because usually in games like this, the team that scores first gets momentum and it can kind of get away from you a little bit in this environment. We battled. South Carolina played great and just came down to one run. It's really that simple.