Florida survived the first elimination game of the Conway Regional on Saturday, and now the Gators must exact revenge on ECU in a rematch of the opening round matchup UF lost.

Pierce Coppola gets the ball for the most important game of Florida’s season with a reasonably stocked bullpen behind him, including multi-inning closer Jake Clemente. In an ideal world, Florida only uses those two arms and receives plenty of run support to coast into the next round against Coastal Carolina. The Gators would have to beat the Chanticleers twice in a row to advance to Super Regionals, but that’s putting the cart before the horse.

Follow along with Gators Wire’s live blog coverage below. Updates will come each half inning, or sooner if necessary.

What channel is Florida vs East Carolina on today?

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Florida vs East Carolina will be broadcast nationally on ESPN+. Streaming options for the game include ESPN+.

Florida vs East Carolina time today

Date: Sunday, June 1

Sunday, June 1 Start time: Noon ET

The Florida vs East Carolina game starts at noon ET from Spring Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.

Starting pitchers, lineups

Florida

Starting Pitcher: LHP Pierce Coppola

Starting Lineup:

Order Pos # Player Bats 1 ss 6 Bobby Boser R 2 1b 11 Brendan Lawson L 3 dh 2 Ty Evans R 4 c 29 Brody Donay R 5 lf 5 Blake Cyr R 6 cf 16 Hayden Yost L 7 rf 30 Ashton Wilson R 8 3b 13 Landon Stripling L 9 2b 1 Justin Nadeau L 10 p 18 Pierce Coppola L

Fairfield

Starting Pitcher: LHP Bowen Baker

Order Pos # Player Bats 1 2b 26 Braden Burress R 2 rf 51 Jack Herring R 3 ss 1 Dixon Williams R 4 dh 66 John Collins R 5 cf 12 Ryley Johnson R 6 3b 10 Colby Wallace R 7 1b 21 Austin Irby R 8 lf 11 Alec Peltier L 9 c 24 Walker Barron L 10 p 98 Lance Williams L

First Inning: Florida 0, Fairfield 0

Top 1

Bobby Boser reached on an infield single to open the game, but Brendan Lawson and Ty Evans couldn’t advance him any further. Lawson flied out to left field, and Evans struck out, so Boser tried to swipe second and help jumpstart the offense. Walker Barron snapped the ball down to second and got Boser in time, though.

It’s not a conventional 1-2-3 inning, but Florida sent the minimum to the plate.

Bottom 1

Pierce Coppola took the mound for Florida and fielded a soft comebacker to his arm side. He opted to flip the ball to first from his glove, but it hung in the air long and left the call up to the umpire’s discretion. An air punch signaled that Coppola had made it in time, and ECU didn’t bother challenging the call.

That’s when the command issues started. He plunked Jack Herring square in the back and walked Dixon Williams on four pitches that weren’t particularly close to the zone. Kevin O’Sullivan came out to talk to Coppola, and that helped settle him down. Once Coppola found the strike zone, he regained command of his 94 mph fastball. He got John Collins to whiff on a high fastball for his first strikeout of the day and out No. 2.

Ryley Johnson tapped a bunt over Coppola’s head, and Boser didn’t have a play to make. With the bases loaded, Coppola struck out Colby Wallace to escape a hold-your-breath first inning.

Second Inning: ECU 2, Florida 0

Top 2

Brody Donay fanned at a slider to open the frame. Blake Cyr made contact with the same slider, but he skied it into left-center for a routine flyout. Hayden Yost struck out to end the inning on — you guessed it — another slider. Williams is known as a fastball pitcher, so Florida might be looking for that pitch specifically, but the approach has to change immediately. Florida can’t afford to fall behind in this one.

Bottom 2

Coppola had the same problems in the second. He couldn’t find the zone early, walking Austin Irby on four pitches to open the frame. Alex Peltier singled up the middle, and Landon Stripling made a throwing error at third to load the bases. Lawson tried to make the pick at first, but the short hop was too much to handle.

Back to the top of the order. Brady Burress poked one to right field, scoring the leadoff man, and then Brody Donay dropped a pitch that his glove, allowing Peltier to score. Everything just looked ugly, much like the first game against ECU, but Coppola responded with three straight strikeouts to limit the damage. His fastball above the zone is working well despite the command issues.

Third Inning

Top 3

Ashton Wilson went down on three pitches to open the third, but Florida found life after that. Landon Stripling hit a liner to left-center for a double, and Justin Nadeau sent a line drive single up the middle to bring him around.

Immediately responding to the other team scoring is how good teams stay in games. It would have been nice to see Boser and Lawson keep the rally going, but both sent tall fly balls to the warning track.

Bottom 3

More ugliness in the third. Coppola walked the only batter he faced and Sully decided he’d seen enough. It was time to bring in Billy Barlow with hopes of staying in the game, but he got ripped for three consecutive base hits, capped off by an RBI double.

Trailing 3-1, Florida went back to the bullpen, bringing in Jake Clemente, the team’s best relief arm. It’s clearly do-or-die mode, but no one seems to be playing with the fire necessary to emerge victorious. Clemente had the same command troubles Coppola did early. He hit the first batter he saw and then threw three straight balls. Back-to-back singles made it 7-1 before Clemente finally jammed Williams to get the first out of the inning.

A strikeout and flyout finally ended the onslaught, but Florida needs some serious if it’s going to come back and keep its season alive.

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