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The Florida Gators battled for nine innings Friday night but ultimately fell, 5-3, to the Tennessee Volunteers in the first game of a three-game series to open up conference play in the 2025 season.
Both teams threw their ace named Liam, Peterson for Florida and Doyle for Tennessee. Neither ended up with the win, but Peterson took the loss after a rough fifth inning that saw the Volunteers plate three runs and take a 4-3 lead. Despite being responsible for four earned runs on six hits and three walks, Peterson pitched much better than his final line indicates. He struck out eight and was a strong presence until that big inning.
The game was a pitcher's duel through the first four innings. Peterson ran into a little trouble in the second, giving up a double to freshman Manny Marin and then a run off a single from the nine-hole hitter Jay Abernathy. Doyle was dominant the first time through Florida's lineup, retiring the first seven batters he faced. Luke Heyman notched the first Gators hit of the night in the third and Justin Nadeau won a nine-pitch battle for a walk later in the frame, but neither came around to score.
Doyle's trouble came in the fourth on a mistake pitch to Blake Cyr, which was crushed over the left field wall for a game-tying home run. Florida kept things rolling with Brendan Lawson being hit by a pitch and Brody Donay singling past the shortstop, but Hayden Yost grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Tennessee knocked Peterson out of the game in the fifth after four straight batters reached, including a two-run double from Hunter Ensley. Peterson walked the first batter of the inning on four consecutive pitches and a bloop single kept things going to set up the big double.
Luke McNeillie took over for Peterson with two on and no outs and struck out the first two batters he faced. An intentional walk loaded the bases up and a wild pitch scored the third run of the inning. McNeillie walked Marin to reload the bases, but he got out of the inning without any more damage.
Florida responded quickly in the top of the sixth with back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles, the fourth of which came off the bat of Donay and scored Cyr and Colby Shelton. The damage came against Tanner Franklin, who took over for Doyle in the fifth. Franklin ended up recording just one out and was pulled in favor of Dylan Loy. A popped-up bunt, wild pitch and bunt is all he'd throw before Tony Vitello came back out and signaled for Nate Snead.
Snead caught a break on a ground ball up the middle that should have scored a run but instead resulted in an unassisted double play thanks to a questionable interference call on Heyman sliding into second. That call shifted the momentum of the game over to Tennessee, and Snead was dominant for the rest of the night.
McNeillie gave up a one-out triple in the bottom of the sixth, aided by a misplayed ball in right field. Gavin Kilen drove in the run with a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat. Had Nadeau read the ball correctly off the bat, the triple is a double and the run doesn't score on the fly ball. It ended up being a meaningless insurance run as Florida failed to score in the final three innings, though.
McNeillie pitched through the eighth, keeping the rest of the bullpen fresh for the rest of the weekend.
It's a tough loss for Florida, which had opportunities to win the game, but there's still two more games in the series and Tennessee is undefeated for a reason. Saturday's matchup has been moved from 6 p.m. EDT to 3:30 p.m.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball vs. Tennessee Volunteers Game 1 recap
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Both teams threw their ace named Liam, Peterson for Florida and Doyle for Tennessee. Neither ended up with the win, but Peterson took the loss after a rough fifth inning that saw the Volunteers plate three runs and take a 4-3 lead. Despite being responsible for four earned runs on six hits and three walks, Peterson pitched much better than his final line indicates. He struck out eight and was a strong presence until that big inning.
The game was a pitcher's duel through the first four innings. Peterson ran into a little trouble in the second, giving up a double to freshman Manny Marin and then a run off a single from the nine-hole hitter Jay Abernathy. Doyle was dominant the first time through Florida's lineup, retiring the first seven batters he faced. Luke Heyman notched the first Gators hit of the night in the third and Justin Nadeau won a nine-pitch battle for a walk later in the frame, but neither came around to score.
Doyle's trouble came in the fourth on a mistake pitch to Blake Cyr, which was crushed over the left field wall for a game-tying home run. Florida kept things rolling with Brendan Lawson being hit by a pitch and Brody Donay singling past the shortstop, but Hayden Yost grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Tennessee knocked Peterson out of the game in the fifth after four straight batters reached, including a two-run double from Hunter Ensley. Peterson walked the first batter of the inning on four consecutive pitches and a bloop single kept things going to set up the big double.
Luke McNeillie took over for Peterson with two on and no outs and struck out the first two batters he faced. An intentional walk loaded the bases up and a wild pitch scored the third run of the inning. McNeillie walked Marin to reload the bases, but he got out of the inning without any more damage.
Florida responded quickly in the top of the sixth with back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles, the fourth of which came off the bat of Donay and scored Cyr and Colby Shelton. The damage came against Tanner Franklin, who took over for Doyle in the fifth. Franklin ended up recording just one out and was pulled in favor of Dylan Loy. A popped-up bunt, wild pitch and bunt is all he'd throw before Tony Vitello came back out and signaled for Nate Snead.
Snead caught a break on a ground ball up the middle that should have scored a run but instead resulted in an unassisted double play thanks to a questionable interference call on Heyman sliding into second. That call shifted the momentum of the game over to Tennessee, and Snead was dominant for the rest of the night.
McNeillie gave up a one-out triple in the bottom of the sixth, aided by a misplayed ball in right field. Gavin Kilen drove in the run with a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat. Had Nadeau read the ball correctly off the bat, the triple is a double and the run doesn't score on the fly ball. It ended up being a meaningless insurance run as Florida failed to score in the final three innings, though.
McNeillie pitched through the eighth, keeping the rest of the bullpen fresh for the rest of the weekend.
It's a tough loss for Florida, which had opportunities to win the game, but there's still two more games in the series and Tennessee is undefeated for a reason. Saturday's matchup has been moved from 6 p.m. EDT to 3:30 p.m.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball vs. Tennessee Volunteers Game 1 recap
Continue reading...
