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Florida catcher BT Riopelle talks hitting two home runs, advancing to Super Regional

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber06/05/23
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Florida batter BT Riopelle reacts after he hit a three-run walk-off homer during the second round of the SEC Baseball Tournament at the Hoover Met Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Florida scored four runs in the bottom of the 11th to win the game 7-6. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

Florida is moving on to the Super Regional round, where they’ll face fellow SEC powerhouse South Carolina for a shot at the College World Series. Of course, that comes after the Gators wrapped up play in the Gainesville regional, capping it off with a second straight victory over Texas Tech on Monday afternoon, 6-0.

The MVP of this one, aside from the pitching staff, had to be catcher BT Riopelle, who blasted two home runs in back-to-back at bats in the early portion of the game.

Afterwards, he was the man the SEC Network crew wanted to speak with, asking him about breaking out of his slump with Monday’s massive performance.

“Just took it one pitch at a time, one play at a time. That’s really our mantra this year,” said Riopelle. “Just really attack our opponent and don’t let the game come to us, we go to the game and we controlled the tempo this weekend and we won three in a row, which is hard to do. But it’s a testament to the guys we have on the team.”

He went on to explain that it was tough to make it through five games in four days in the Florida heat and humidity at this time of year, but he’s just happy to be moving on.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to make an excuse for myself but catching five games in four days. This Gainesville heat isn’t super easy, but, you know, I’ll do anything for my team. I’m super proud and happy that we got to play today and send us to the next step of this journey. So I’m very excited for our team and it was a great win.”

The Gators made it through their regional on the back of a 1.64 era from their pitching staff, which Riopelle is obviously apart of as the team backstop. But he just credited the arms throwing it him when asked about the elite play at the mound.

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“Well, I didn’t do anything, I just caught all the pitches that they threw to me. Their stuff is immaculate. I mean, they threw their tails off this weekend. You know, all the work that they put in this year, from the fall until now, it’s really paying off for them and paying off for us. I’m pretty excited for the group and yeah, we’re just ready for the next week.”

Next, UF turns their focus towards South Carolina, a familiar face but also a team that bested the Gators in the regular season.

“Well, I think what’s good for us is we’re playing a familiar opponent. It’s a team that we’ve scouted before, we’ve played before. We did not have success before, so it’s a little bit more work for us that we’re excited to get after and get ready for them next weekend. We’re a confident bunch and we’re ready to take it into the next week.”

Heck of a game by BT Riopelle to send Florida through to the Super Regional. Below, you can see the two cracks off his bat that accounted for much of the Gator offense on Monday: