WHAT HAPPENED: The Gators opened the 2019 season hosting Long Beach State in the first game of a three-game series at McKethan Stadium. Florida scored in the first inning with two RBIs by Will Dalton that brought Brady McConnell and Nelson Maldonado home to score the first two runs of the 2019 season. Three batters later, Brady Smith recorded a pair of RBIs bringing Dalton and Kendrick Calilao home to give the Gators a 4-0 lead.

Long Beach State responded in the fourth with a run by Luke Rasmussen on a passed ball. Immediately following Rasmussen's run, a wild pitch brought Chris Jimenez in with an unearned run giving the Dirtbags their only two runs of the night.
 
A run by Maldonado on a balk call and unearned runs by Blake Reese, Smith and Dalton on a dropped fly ball in the seventh inning expanded the Gators' lead to 8-2 and secured the victory for Florida.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: First Freshman -- Kendrick Calilao became the first true freshman to start at first base on Opening Night since Ryan Shealy in 1999. An RBI by Brady Smith early in the first inning gave Calilao his first career run. Freshman Debuts – Two freshman pitchers, Kris Armstrong and Ben Specht, made their collegiate debut on opening night. Specht pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing two hits while striking out two. Armstrong closed things off with one inning pitched allowing no hits, no runs while striking out one. In addition to Calilao, third baseman Cory Acton and center fielder Jud Fabian made their first career starts.

FROM THE COACH: On the team's performance: "It was a weird night. We dropped two balls on the corners, which we haven't done, and we had some miscommunication between the pitcher and catcher—between Tyler and Brady. I think we had nine walks which is very uncharacteristic of us. But I wish there was something you could say to the players before the very first game because the unexpected is almost expected—you know—the first game. So, I'm going to expect us to get better as the weekend goes on and as time goes on. With so many new faces, it's not surprising that we made so many mistakes tonight—obviously, we were able to overcome them, but most nights, when you play like this, you're on the losing end."
 
On the team being young: "I can only judge where we're at right now on only one game. I go on what I saw on the fall, and the improvements that we've made from the fall to the spring. But the fact of the matter is that we have a new roster—15 new players—and it's going to be a learning curve. Hopefully this is a lesson for them—that we were able to win tonight. But with that being said, I do like our team. I think we're going to be fine. We expect some mistakes along the way and hopefully learn from them sooner than later."

STANDOUT STAT: 100 career strikeouts – Junior Tyler Dyson reached his 100th career strikeout. Dyson recorded four strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. Long Game – The first game of the 2019 season was longer than any game played by the Gators in 2018 running 3:58 long. Winning Tradition -- Florida entered the 2019 season with 421 wins—the most in the country this decade—followed by Louisville (419) and LSU (417). Opening Strong – Florida has won on Opening Night for six years in a row.

UP NEXT: Florida's Tommy Mace will take the mound on Saturday in Game 2 of the opening series against the Dirtbags. First pitch is at 4 p.m. The game will broadcast live on SEC Network+ and the Gator IMG Sports Network.