No. 14 Gators Trounce No. 22 Miami to Claim Series

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – No. 14 Florida dominated No. 22 Miami from start-to-finish, taking down the Hurricanes with an 11-3 series-clinching victory at Mark Light Field on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the win, Florida (10-3) has now won seven of the last-eight series over Miami (8-3). The Gators are 37-16 against the Hurricanes under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, including wins in eight of the previous-11 meetings. Following Friday’s series-opening loss, Florida outscored Miami, 19-4, to claim the final-two games.
 
The Gators were firing on all cylinders offensively from the very beginning, as the first-four batters of the game reached base safely via a hit against Miami starter Jake Garland. Colby Halter led off with a single to left extend his hitting streak to 15 games, followed by an RBI double down the left-field line off the bat of Jud Fabian. Sterlin Thompson then found a hole through the left side to drive in J. Fabian, with Josh Rivera capping off a three-run first inning with a sacrifice fly to right to plate Thompson.
 
Florida starter Timmy Manning took advantage of the trio of runs he was spotted in the opening frame, retiring the first-six Miami batters in order with three strikeouts to send the matchup into the third. With the help of Manning’s zeros, the Gators extended their lead to 4-0 as Rivera picked up his second RBI of the night with an RBI groundout to third to score J. Fabian.
 
Miami scratched a run across against Manning in the bottom half, putting runners on with a Dominic Pitelli single and CJ Klayfus hit-by-pitch before Jacob Burke put the Canes on the board with an RBI single to right field. That would prove to be the extent of the scoring for Miami until the final inning of play.
 
Manning held the Canes in check into the fifth, at which point he turned pitching duties over to right-hander Blake Purnell with one man down. The Boynton Beach, Fla. native needed just eight pitches to work Florida out of the inning and keep the lead at 4-1.
 
With Purnell taking care of business on the pitching end, the Gators began to pull away in the top of the sixth. After putting the game out of reach with a three-run homer in the ninth last night, Kendrick Calilao led off the inning with a no-doubt solo shot to left field. Seven batters later with the bases loaded and two outs, Wyatt Langford delivered a clutch, two-run double to left to plate the brotherly combo of J. Fabian and Deric Fabian, extending the Florida advantage to 7-1.
 
Purnell was in cruise control thereafter, blanking Miami in the sixth-through-eighth innings by utilizing four strikeouts. He finished with 3.2 scoreless innings before exiting.
 
Florida poured it on in the eighth and ninth, scoring four more runs to bring the score to 11-1. J. Fabian scored the lone run in the eighth, crossing home on a wild pitch. Kris Armstrong tacked on another with an RBI single to center in the ninth, while a bases-loaded walk by J. Fabian and 6-4-3 double play off Thompson’s bat produced the 10th and 11th runs of the day for the Gators.
 
The Canes plated two ninth-inning runs to make the score look more respectable, but right-handed reliever Ryan Slater came in and finished off an 11-3 Gators victory. Slater needed 20 pitches to shut the door, tossing 1.0 inning with one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
 
In his fourth start of the campaign, Manning pitched a career-high 4.1 innings. He allowed just one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out five.
 
Purnell (2-0) earned his second victory of the season, firing 3.2 shutout frames on two hits with a career-high four strikeouts. The performance extended Purnell’s career-opening scoreless innings streak to 14.0 frames across seven appearances (all this season).
 
Garland (2-1) received the loss for Miami. The righty lasted just 2.1 frames, surrendering four earned runs on five hits and one walk with one strikeout.
 
Halter (2-for-5) and Langford (3-for-3) registered multiple hits in the win.

NOTABLES

• Purnell extended his career-opening scoreless innings streak to 14.0 frames across seven appearances (all this season).

  • Purnell owns 14 strikeouts and just one walk this year.

• After launching his first home run of the season in game two, Calilao went deep for the second-straight day with a solo fly in the sixth inning.
• Following Friday’s series-opening loss, Florida outscored Miami, 19-4, to claim the final-two games.
• Following today’s game, Florida is now 130-133-1 including 51-81 on the road vs. Miami.

  • Florida has now claimed seven of the last-eight series over Miami.
  • The Gators are 37-16 against the Canes under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
  • Florida has won eight of the last-11 meetings vs. Miami.
  • The loser of game one between Florida and Miami has gone on to win three of the last-four series.

• The Gators have won nine of their last-10 games overall.
• Thompson and Halter extended their season-opening hitting streaks to 13 games.

  • Halter owns a 15-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

• Langford now owns an eight-game hitting streak.
• Manning pitched a career high 4.1 innings.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On battling back from a series-opening loss to outscore Miami 19-4 across the final-two games…
“Well, I think there’s a lot of things that went into this weekend. I think the first thing was is we ran [Carson] Palmquist’s pitch count up. And then we had a really good inning against [Gage] Ziehl, who threw 32 pitches. So, going into yesterday’s game, and obviously they went to [Andrew] Walters, he was in for 46 pitches on Friday. So, going into yesterday’s game, if Brandon [Sproat] could give us a good start, which he needed to because their starter was equally as good, then that would set us up for the weekend. And then going into today, swung the bats good. Obviously, got on the board early. We started fast offensively. But we knew if we could get to Garland, then that would put them in a little bit of a tough situation pitching-wise, and maybe keep Ziehl out of the mix. Walters was probably going to be available for one inning, but our offense really put us in a really good position to force them, to get their starter out early, and to go to some of their other relievers.”
 
On the impact of Blake Purnell and Nick Ficarrotta’s early-season effectiveness…
“I think that was the message. Fic was awesome last night and he came in in a really crucial situation… Purnell, he was awesome today, too. And I’m really pleased. I don’t want to word this the wrong way, I’m really pleased with coming down here because this is a challenge for us, to go on the road for the first time and win a series. But quite honestly, we need other people to help us. That was the message in there. I expect us to win every series we play. And it’s not going to happen, but I want us to have that mentality and I think for the most part, we are in a good spot mentally when it comes to believing in ourselves and thinking we can play with anybody. But the fact of the matter is, it can’t always be Fic and Purnell. We need some other guys to step up, that’s the bottom line…”
 
On what he’s learned about his team on this road trip…
“I don’t know – we played a really good Miami team. Faced two really good starters, then faced a really good closer. And we showed some resiliency. We lost the first game, came back and won the next two. So, I don’t want to sound like I’m not pleased with the final outcome in the weekend, but I’m looking at the big picture here…”

UP NEXT

Florida returns home for a two-game midweek series vs. Jacksonville. Both games will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, streaming live on SEC Network+.