The No. 23 Gators had Vanderbilt beat in the series finale on Sunday. They led 3-1, and reliever Tyler Nesbitt had two outs and two strikes on Spencer Jones in the bottom of the ninth.
Then Jones hit a groundball against the shift to the left side for a single.
Once again, Nesbitt got the Commodores down to their final strike by jumping ahead of Jack Bulger 0-2. He left a changeup a little bit up, and Bulger crushed it over the 35-foot wall in left for a game-tying homer that sent the game into extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, UF third baseman Deric Fabian got a 1-0 fastball from Christian Little. He lined it just over the big wall in left field to give Florida a 4-3 lead.
Then, in the bottom of the frame, Nesbitt quickly retired the first two batters and was again one strike away from securing the win. Enrique Bradfield hit a routine groundball to second. Colby Halter fielded it cleanly but threw the ball well wide of first base to allow Bradfield to reach. A balk later advanced him to second base.
For the fourth time, Nesbitt had Vanderbilt down to its final strike. This time, Javier Vaz hit a chopper to second. Halter’s throw was perfect this time, and the Gators held on to win 4-3 and avoid being swept.
Given that they had lost seven consecutive road games and blown leads in the later stages of each of the first two games of the series, the Gators easily could’ve gone into “Here we go again” mode after failing to finish off the Commodores when they were down to their final strike three times. Instead, they battled through the adversity and found a way to escape Hawkins Field with a much-needed win.
“Obviously, it was a big win for us,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It was a resilient win for us. I’m glad we hung in there. It’s been a tough weekend for us, but I do think we’re getting closer and closer. It’s a pitch here or a play there or an at bat here or there.”
The Gators (22-14, 6-9 SEC) opened the game with four consecutive hits against Bryce Cunningham to grab a quick 2-0 lead. With runners on second and third and one out, Wyatt Langford hit a mile-high chopper to third. He beat Davis Diaz’s throw to first for an RBI infield single. BT Riopelle followed by grounding into an RBI fielder’s choice to second.
UF tacked on an additional run in the third when Jud Fabian lined a 2-2 slider over the wall in left-center.
On the other side, Florida freshman Brandon Neely was spectacular on the mound in his second career start. In a career-long 6 1/3 innings, he gave up just one run on three hits. He struck out a career-high seven Commodores and didn’t walk a batter until the final batter that he faced in the seventh.
Neely retired the leadoff batter in all seven innings that he started, and he faced the minimum in three of his six full innings. His only mistake was a 1-0 fastball to Parker Noland in the fifth that was supposed to be on the inside part of the plate but instead ran over the plate. Noland hit it the opposite way to left-center for a home run that got Vanderbilt (25-10, 7-8) on the board.
“He kept us in the ballgame, and, obviously, I think everybody in our dugout knew how important today was,” O’Sullivan said. “For a freshman to step up on the road like that was really important for us.”
The Gators had a chance to get that run back in the following half inning. Riopelle hit a soft flyball to shallow left field. Vaz, the left fielder, didn’t see the ball until it was too late, and it got down and rolled past him. Riopelle made it to third easily, and third base coach Craig Bell waved him home for a potential inside-the-park homer.
Instead, Vaz threw the ball to shortstop Carter Young, who fired the ball home to catcher Dominic Keegan in plenty of time to tag Riopelle out.
Nesbitt replaced Neely with a runner on first and one out in the seventh. He retired the first seven batters that he faced until those back-to-back two-strike hits in the ninth tied the game.
Though he blew the save, he was credited with his first win of the year and just the second of his career. He struck out three batters in 3 2/3 innings.
“I think it all started on the mound,” O’Sullivan said. “I think we got the leadoff hitter each inning, which was different than [Saturday]. Obviously, six of the eight guys got on [Saturday]. We did a nice job of getting the leadoff hitter. We only walked two. I thought Neely was really, really good, got us into the second part of the game.
“I thought [Nesbitt] did a really nice job. It comes down to the last pitch there, and credit Bulger. He ran into an 0-2 pitch. The bottom line is [Nesbitt] was throwing strikes.”
Jud Fabian (2-for-5) and Riopelle (2-for-4) were the only Gators with multiple hits, as Vanderbilt’s Cunningham, Grayson Moore and Little combined to give up just three hits over the final seven innings.
The Gators will return home for an eight-game homestand that begins on Tuesday night against Stetson. They’ll face an enormous challenge next weekend when No. 1 Tennessee visits Florida Ballpark.