Three takeaways from Florida’s series loss to Texas A&M

No.4 Florida (37-12, 15-9 SEC) dropped their second series of the 2023 season after losing 2/3 games to Texas A&M (28-20, 11-13 SEC) this weekend.

Gator Country provides three takeaways from Florida’s road weekend series loss.

NO OFFENSIVE MOMENTUM 

Florida totaled just ten runs at the plate this weekend, the same number of runs scored against South Carolina, the Gators’ only other series loss.

Seven of those ten runs were scored on home runs with six of them being solo shots.

The Gators hit .215 throughout the weekend series and struggled to find timely hits.

Florida was just 3-31 (.096) with runners on base, 1-22 (.045) with two outs, and 1-15 (.067) with runners in scoring position against a below average Aggies pitching staff.

In games two and three of the series, the Gators didn’t record a single hit with a runner on base (0-21).

With those offensive numbers, I would consider Florida lucky to have won one game this weekend.

“We just ran into a pitching staff, they certainly didn’t pitch like their (season) numbers this weekend,” Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after Sunday’s contest. “They were pretty good. Tough matchup. We saw a ton of lefties and it kind of minimized Jac a little bit this weekend and BT, other than Friday night. The bottom line is we just gotta get back to work.”

The long ball has saved the Gators in SEC play to this point, but you can’t rely solely on home runs if you want to be a consistent offensive team week in and week out.

IMPROVING BULLPEN

Perhaps the lone positive takeaway from the weekend was that the Gators’ bullpen was very sharp in games one and three of the series.

Cade Fisher, Philip Abner, Ryan Slater, and Brandon Neely, Florida’s top four relievers, combined for eight innings pitched, two runs, three hits, three walks, and nine strikeouts.

“The biggest takeaway from the weekend is I think we’ve solidified our bullpen,” O’Sullivan said.

O’Sullivan is going to roll with those four relivers, making it imperative that the Gators get quality starts from their starting pitches the rest of the way. If they can’t, Saturday’s blowout loss may be more of a frequent occurrence.

STARTING PITCHING

Florida’s starting pitching, which was thought to be a strength heading into the season, didn’t record a quality start throughout the weekend, putting Gators’ relivers in a really tough spot.

Hurston Waldrep has not been the same since the NCAA notified Florida of an issue with his delivery. His swing and miss stuff is there, but he’s struggled to command the ball over his last two starts.

Jac Caglianone pitched great through the first three innings of Sunday’s game, but ran into command issues in the fourth inning, forcing O’Sullivan to make a call to the bullpen.

“He was better,” O’Sullivan said on Caglianone’s start. ” The margin for error, we walked in a run with the bases loaded.”

“The margin for error to win in this league is very small,” O’Sullivan said. “We did some things that when you look back, they just kind of hurt us. That’s the bottom line. We’ll get back at this thing next weekend against Vanderbilt and hopefully get back on a winning track.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Despite dropping the series, the Gators moved into sole possession of second place in the SEC East standings after No.3 South Carolina was swept by Kentucky. Vanderbilt lost their series to Alabama, so Florida remains two games back of the Commadores.

Florida is set to face off against Vanderbilt in a critical three game series inside Condron Ballpark next weekend.

 

 

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.