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Ashton Wilson Powers Gators Over Huskers 5-2

Ashton Wilson had three doubles, a home run and 3 RBI in a 5-2 Florida Gators win over Nebraska in Game 1 of the Stillwater Regional.

Bennett Solomon

Florida Gators Outfielder Ashton Wilson
Florida Gators Outfielder Ashton Wilson / FloridaGators.com
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All season, a common theme of Florida Gators baseball was one side worked and the other didn’t. Specifically, if the Gators offense showed up, the pitching usually didn’t. And that led to a mediocre regular season, but Florida still found itself in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th season in a row.

On Friday, both the offense and arms from Florida did a tremendous job. However, despite every hard hit the Gators had – and they had a lot of them – Nebraska’s defense answered with multiple diving plays which kept the Gators from blowing the game open. 

Through five innings, Florida recorded 10 hits and caused Nebraska starter Brett Sears to exit earlier than expected. But the Gators only scored three runs on those 10 hits. 

BOX SCORE: Florida 5, Nebraska 2

So, it was up to the pitching to keep the Cornhuskers from crossing the plate. In the bottom of the eighth with a 4-2 lead, Nebraska loaded the bases with one out. And although Florida got lucky due to Nebraska not tagging on a sacrifice fly, Brandon Neely threw three straight fastballs to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. 

After the strikeout, Neely looked into the Gators dugout, pumping his chest with emotion as he escaped the jam. 

Eventually, Neely secured the final out in the ninth giving the Gators a win in the opening round of the Stillwater Regional. They’ll face the winner of Oklahoma State and Niagra, Saturday. 

Right fielder Ashton Wilson has recently started playing due to the injuries of Ty Evans and Hayden Yost. Coming into Friday’s game, he had three doubles on the year. He started the game 3-for-3 with three doubles and hit a vital home run in the top of the ninth. It was his first of the year and padded the Florida lead to 5-2. 

He finished the day with three RBI, and along with Cade Kurland led the Gators to an opening round win. 

Kurland was responsible for the other two of Florida’s five runs. To lead off the game, Kurland waited on an offspeed pitch from Sears and belted the ball over the wall for a solo home run. 

Then in the eighth, Kurland hit an RBI single knocking in his second run of the game. 

On the mound, Kevin O’Sullivan went with freshman Liam Peterson. The freshman had been UF’s best pitcher over the last month of the season, and he recorded a strong outing Friday. 

Peterson went 5 ⅓ innings, giving up just two earned runs while striking out seven. Still, the Gators’ lead wasn’t comfortable, but behind a strong outing Neely and the insurance runs in the eighth and ninth, the three-seeded Gators got the opening round win. 

Florida will now turn its attention to the winner of Oklahoma State and Niagra. The Cowboys were winners of the Big 12 Tournament while Niagra won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for the first time in program history. 

The Gators will face the winner at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. A loss would put them in an elimination game Sunday. A win would set them up in the regional final on Sunday as well. 

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Bennett Solomon
BENNETT SOLOMON

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