Florida's Sproat posts one-hit shutout in SEC opener against Tide

Under the lights on Thursday, Florida starting pitcher Brandon Sproat backpacked the Gators to a 3-0 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Gators’ SEC opener.

Sproat sawed through the Alabama lineup to the tune of nine innings pitched, 11 strikeouts (a career-high) and one hit all on 106 pitches on 64 strikes. Against the veteran SEC lineup, Sproat continued to sit hitters down with his high-90s fastball, high-80s slider and low-80s changeup.

Sproat made quick work of Alabama hitters, only walking two and hitting one batter. After a rough outing against the Siena last Friday, Sproat wanted to make his presence felt as SEC play kicked off, drawing praise from head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

“It’s really important,” O’Sullivan said about starting SEC play with a shutout. “That’s as good as he’s thrown since he’s been here. After bouncing back from last week’s start, to do what he did tonight, I think it speaks volumes about where he’s at mentally and maturity-wise. He was very special tonight.”

Florida gets on the board

As the deadlocked pitcher’s duel went on, the Gators finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Gators freshman second baseman Cade Kurland went yard into the visiting bullpen for a two-run home run to put Florida on the board, scoring Michael Robertson.

First SEC jack for the freshman! 👶#GoGators // 📺: SEC Network pic.twitter.com/mAp9FnAX4I

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

In the bottom of the seventh, Gators shortstop Josh Rivera singled, got to second on a pitch in the dirt, and then stole third on former Gators catcher Mac Guscette.

After some crafty baserunning from Rivera, the Gators extended the lead to three runs as Ty Evans grounded out to Alabama pitcher Hunter Furtado, who threw Evans out at first instead of trying to tag out Rivera who stormed home.

As the Gators warmed up Brandon Neely and Cade Fisher in the bullpen, Sproat continued to feel confident in his pitches as he walked back out to start the ninth, despite already throwing 98 pitches on the night. O’Sullivan said it wasn’t much of a discussion if Sproat would return to the mound for the ninth.

O’Sullivan trusted Sproat to finish out the game

“He was at 98. Obviously, you look at the pitch count and you kind of think, well should we run him back out there in the ninth? In all honesty, his stuff in the eighth didn’t look any different than it did in the first. I thought he earned the opportunity to finish it,” O’Sullivan said.

“Between 98 pitches and 105 is not a whole lot of difference. If someone would have got on or something, we probably would have went to the pen. Like I said, his stuff there in the ninth was just as good as it were in the first. It wasn’t that hard of a decision. Like I said, sometimes you just watch the stuff and he didn’t look like he had to make a whole lot of leverage pitches tonight and it worked out.”

Sproat only needed eight more to finish the final frame, causing three groundouts in the ninth to finish off his first-ever complete game shutout.

“It’s my first complete game ever,” Sproat said postgame. “I didn’t even throw one in high school.”

The Gators’ ace went on to say he made major strides mentally since his last start.

“It really all comes down to the mental side,” Sproat said. “Last week, I was struggling a little bit. This week, I had a ton of clarity and what I was going to do for myself and for the team. I just go out there and throw the ball as hard as I can every time. It works for me.”

Florida is likely to play a doubleheader on Friday as inclement weather is expected on Saturday. Official word on the status of the rest of the series will come Friday morning.

Stay tuned to Gators Online.