Florida Gators advance to College World Series with win over Clemson Tigers
CLEMSON, S.C. — The Florida Gators advanced to the 2024 College World Series with an 11-10, 13-inning win over the Clemson Tigers on Sunday afternoon. This will be the ninth trip to the College World Series for Kevin O’Sullivan in his 17 seasons at the helm of the Gators.
Junior Jac Caglianone earned the start and lasted 5.2 innings, allowing four runs (all earned). Caglianone struck out six on 82 pitches. Caglianone was replaced by Jake Clemente who threw 1.1 innings before Kevin O’Sullivan turned to closer Brandon Neely, who was asked to record the final six outs on Sunday after throwing 59 pitches on Saturday.
Florida (34-28) was one of the last teams selected into the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Gators, ultimately, their No. 1 strength of schedule and top-30 RPI were impressive enough to include into the tournament. Once they let the Gators in, Florida got hot.
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UF made it to the Stillwater Regional where they beat Big 10 Champion Nebraska before losing to the hosting Oklahoma State. The loss sent Florida into the loser’s bracket, needing to win three games in a row to keep their season alive. Florida beat Nebraska in a slugfest, 17-11. That set up a rematch with the Cowboys of Oklahoma State. Florida got a hero performance out of the bullpen from Brandon Neely. The junior closer threw 5.1 innings of relifm, striking out 11 on the way to his third save of the season.
Monday, Florida used a pair of freshmen — Jake Clemente and Frank Menendez — before turning the game over to Fisher Jameson. Jameson retired all 10 batters he faced to earn a save.
Kevin O’Sullivan’s career with Florida Gators
- 2017 National Champions
- .673 Winning Percentage Ranks 3rd Among Active Division I Coaches (min. 10 DI seasons)
- .605 SEC Winning Percentage Ranks 1st Since 2008
- 8x NCAA College World Series Appearances – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023
- 7x SEC Eastern Division Champions – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023
- 6x SEC Champions – 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023
- 3x SEC Coach of the Year – 2010, 2014, 2018
- 2x SEC Tournament Champions – 2011, 2015
- School-Record 16 Consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearances (ranks second nationally)
- 2023 ABCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year
- 2017 Skip Bertman Award Winner (National Coach of the Year)
- 2017 National Coach of the Year (ABCA/Diamond, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com)
- 2011 College Coach of the Year (Baseball America)
- 105 Major League Baseball Draft Picks
- 13 First-Round MLB Draft Picks since 2012 (second nationally)
