Florida shuts out Florida A&M in opening round of Gainesville Regional

The Florida Gators escaped the opening round of the Gainesville Regional with a 3-0 victory over Florida A&M in front of 7,367 fans, the largest postseason crowd in program history.

Junior shortstop Josh Rivera gave the Gators an early 2-0 lead after blasting a home run to left field in the bottom of the first, plating Cade Kurland from third base. The clutch two out bomb marked the 16th long ball of the season for the Avon Park native, setting a program record for home runs in a single season by a Gators’ shortstop, a record he shared with Brady McConnell.

Florida’s starting pitcher Jac Caglianone was dominant inside Condron Ballpark on Friday night, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just four hits and three walks. The hard throwing left hander struck out seven batters. Caglianone threw more strikes (64) than he threw pitches in 1 2/3 innings in his start at the SEC Tournament (59).

“Jac [Caglianone] was outstanding tonight, he kept his pitch count down for the most part and got us through six,” Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said during the postgame press conference. “He made some pitches there in the middle parts of the inning with runners in scoring position.”

“Three of his last four starts have been outstanding,” O’Sullivan said. “People tend to focus on the negative more than the positive and everybody was focused on his start last Saturday. Trust me, if I didn’t think he was going to go out there and give us a good effort, I wouldn’t have started him.”

The Gators turned to RHP Ryan Slater in the 7th, holding a narrow 2-0 lead. The redshirt sophomore needed just 15 pitches to record six outs, setting the Rattlers down in order in the 7th and 8th inning.

“I just said this to the other coaches, but where Ryan Slater started and where he is now coming off the injury, he was outstanding,” O’Sullivan said on Slater’s performance. “He looked comfortable, he was poised and he kept his pitch count to 15 pitches and got six outs. The pitching overall was outstanding tonight.”

True freshman Luke Heyman delivered a clutch RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, giving Florida a much-needed insurance run and a 3-0 lead.

Kevin O’Sullivan handed the ball to Florida’s closer, Brandon Neely, in attempt to put a stamp on this game.

Neely ran into a little bit of trouble, allowing three consecutive hits in the ninth inning. However, two of the hits resulted in an out.

UF defensive replacement Richie Schiekofer delivered a strike to the plate to cut down Joesph Pierini for the second out of the inning after Will Brown singled to right field. One play later, Ben Kim singled to shortstop before Josh Rivera hosed Will Brown at the plate to end the game. Two major base running errors and questionable coaching decisions kept this game from coming down to the wire.

“First, I would like to compliment Florida A&M,” O’Sullivan said. “Jamie [Shouppe] has done an incredible job with that program. They throw strikes, they play good defense, they hold runners at second and they did not give us anything tonight.”

Florida’s offense was sluggish today against a pitching staff that ranks 229th out of 295 division one teams. The Gators totaled just five hits and left seven runners on base across eight innings at the plate.

“The bottom line is we are going to have to generate offense in a different way than we have all year,” O’Sullivan said on the offensive struggles. “We may need to be a little more aggressive in some areas, but let’s compliment FAMU. They did a good job, but a win is a win this time of year. It is not anything to get upset about or overanalyze. It is just one of those games and hopefully our players learn from it and come out more aggressive tomorrow. As simple as that.”

Florida is set to face Texas Tech tomorrow at 6:00 PM, with the winner advancing to the finals.

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Marcinko
Nick is a recent graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in Telecommunications. He is passionate about all sports but specifically baseball and football. Nick interned at Inside the Gators and worked part time with Knights247 before joining the Gator Country family. Nick enjoys spending his free time golfing and at the beach.