Florida Gators' comeback effort falls short in extra inning

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Needed wins in the worst way, the Florida Gators‘ comeback effort fell short on Sunday. The No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats used a four-run tenth inning to finish off a 7-5 win at Condron Ballpark. The loss made it six consecutive weekend series losses for the Gators, the most under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

The Gators gave up three runs in the second inning while Kentucky starter Mason Moore stymied Florida’s bats through six innings, allowing just one hit, a single where Hayden Yost was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. Jac Caglianone matched Moore after the second inning, throwing a scoreless third, fourth, and fifth inning before being lifted after getting the first out in the sixth inning.

The Gators made it a one-run game with a pinch hit, two RBI double from Ashton Wilson and tied the game with Tyler Shelnut’s solo home run in the ninth inning.

In the top of the tenth, Kentucky jumped back in front to take a 7-3 advantage. McCarthy reached on an RBI infield single to score Devin Burkes, followed by a three-run double to left field from Herrera.
 
Florida did not go quietly, loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the tenth. Yost brought the Gators within two, doubling down the left-field line with two outs to plate a pair of runs. UK reliever Ben Cleaver secured the save with the tying run on second base, utilizing a strikeout to end the game at 7-5.

Players of the Game

Hayden Yost: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI

Jac Caglianone: 2-4 (tied the school record with a 30-game hitting streak) 6.1 IP, 2H, 3R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 101 pitches

Notes

• Sunday’s official attendance was 6,083.
• Florida’s scoring streak of 131-consecutive games is the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
• Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 37 games and hitting streak to 30 in a row, tying Jacob Young’s program record set in 2021.
  • Caglianone is tied for the seventh-longest, single-season SEC hitting streak in league history and owns the longest hitting streak in the SEC since 2016.
  • Caglianone has hit safely in 49 of 51 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
  • Jacob Young (2019-21) holds Florida’s hit streak record at 30 games.
• In what could be his final home start, Caglianone allowed just one earned run (three total) over 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits and three walks against three strikeouts.
• Wilson came through with a pinch-hit, RBI knock for the second-straight game with his two-run double in the seventh.
• Shelnut hit his 13th home run of the season to tie the game in the ninth inning.
• The Gators are 55-20 at home since the start of last season despite an 19-13 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
• Across the team’s last 80 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 48-32.
  • That includes a 40-29 regular-season mark.
• The Gators are 49-29 in weekend series since the start of last season and 58-30 across their last 30 series.
• Florida is now 149-74-1 all-time vs. Kentucky including an 80-32 mark in Gainesville.
  • The Gators are 28-23 against the Wildcats under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan (13-11 at home).

Quotes

On his thoughts on the game…
“Just made a couple mistakes early in the game. Fly ball to right; Hayden called for the ball and then Jaylen called it, I guess, really late and that’s where the confusion came in. Obviously if Jaylen calls for it, it’s his ball but I think he called it so late, I think that’s where the confusion came in. And then a ground ball to third with Dale, probably had an opportunity to go home there but I don’t know if the runner shielded, maybe take one more step to your left and clear the lane. But certainly, probably an opportunity to go ahead and try to make that play anyways. But Moore was good on the mound, we just couldn’t really do a whole lot with him. Got his pitch count up there towards the end. Ashton came off the bench and had a huge at-bat for us, driving in two, and we felt really good once we tied it in the ninth there on Shelly’s home run. Kentucky did a good job with two strikes again. We got a two-strike double down the left field line, two-strike single in the six-hole, but then we walked Daly. And now we have bases loaded. I think we got Nicholson to pop up to third which we felt good about. And then we had a big strikeout and then the nine-hole hitter, I think he has four extra-base hits on the year, so the outfield is playing fairly shallow. We’ve seen it, Shelnut took a couple steps in and the ball went over his head. That was the difference. But we did get a chance to get two runners in scoring position and then base hit there again, and we just didn’t get it done, simple as that.”

On the top of the 10th inning…
“Yeah, it was a good pitch. We’re putting Luke [Heyman] in because they’ve been known to push bunt a ton, safety squeeze a lot. So, it was just one of those things, sitting in the wrong spot at the wrong time. It is what it is. I’m going to think about it tonight but it’s like, you know McNeillie closes the inning, throws the ball really good but it’s just like you don’t know how they’re going to react from the game from Friday. And you’ve seen Neely close games so many times in the past. I felt like we had all the momentum to go out there and put a zero on the board, I felt good that we could come in and score a run. And we didn’t have the opportunity to do that.”

On Caglianone’s overall development…
“I think the biggest takeaway is the importance of having a changeup. He didn’t have great command of his fastball, like he didn’t today. He got a lot of swing-and-misses on his changeup and his slider was good today. So, for all the young pitchers, everybody wants to talk about velocity and how hard they throw, but the ability to command your secondary pitches and the changeup, obviously, for Jac this year has been a really, really, really good pitch.”

What’s next for the Florida Gators

Florida has just three games left in the 2024 regular season. The Gators will travel to Athens for a three-game set that Florida must win.