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Following an opening weekend series win over No. 9 Kentucky, No. 5 Florida fell to Team USA 4-0 Tuesday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

Florida head coach Tim Walton utilized his entire pitching rotation in the exhibition. “I’m pleased with our pitching staff,” Walton said after the game. “We’re in every single game, and eventually we’re going to click on a lot of different cylinders.”

Sophomore southpaw Rylee Trlicek got the start, but Walton wasted no time bringing in junior right-hander Elizabeth Hightower with two outs in the second inning. “Rylee [Trlicek] did a really nice job, she located well, threw good pitches,” Walton said.

In the top of the fourth, USA advanced its first runner into scoring position as Hightower gave up a leadoff single that led to a sacrifice bunt. The next batter hit a chopper that fortuitously sailed over the head of Florida third baseman Charla Echols and turned into an RBI-double, breaking the 0-0 tie.

After striking out the first batter in the top of the fifth frame, Hightower exited the game for freshman left-hander Haley Pittman. “With an exception of the one bouncing ground ball over Charla’s [Echols] head, everything else was really good,” Walton said. “I thought we probably only made one, maybe two bad pitches on the entire day.”

In her collegiate debut, the only two batters Pittman faced were a pair of former Gators — Aubree Munro and Kelsey Stewart. She walked both batters and threw two balls to the following batter before senior right-hander Natalie Lugo took the rubber in Pittman’s relief. “Definitely nice to give Haley [Pittman] her first go at it,” Walton said. “You just can’t give those guys that many free bases.”

But three at-bats later, Lugo surrendered a two-out, bases-clearing double that extended USA’s lead to 4-0. In the top of the sixth, Florida made its fourth and final pitching change as left-hander Katie Chronister entered the circle and recorded the last five outs.

USA southpaw Cat Osterman kept Florida’s bats in check all night. The 36-year-old gold medalist struck out eight batters across 5.2 shutout innings.

Florida center fielder Cheyenne Lindsey snapped Osterman’s no-hitter in the bottom of the third on a two-out, two-strike single that got through the right side. But the Gators’ offense generated only four hits and seven baserunners the entire night.

Final (R-H-E)

USA: 4-5-0

Florida: 0-4-0

Individual Stats *do not count toward season stat totals*

Trlicek: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Hightower: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Pittman: 0 IP, 0 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Lugo: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Chronister: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Lindsey: 1-4, 1 K

Adams: 0-3, 2 K

Lindaman: 1-3, 1 K

Echols: 1-3

Cottrill: 1-2, 1 BB, 1 K

Weekday Back-To-Back

The Gators face a quick turnaround as they’ll host North Dakota Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.