Florida Gators finish weekend sweep of Columbia Lions

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An eight-run barrage in the first two innings was more than enough for the Florida Gators (5-1) to finish off a three-game sweep of the Columbia Lions. The Gators

It was Jac Cagliaone’s first start of the season. The two-way player struck out five of the first seven batters he faced. Meanwhile, the offense jumped all over Columbia starter, JD Ogden. Florida then hung five runs on the Lions (0-3) in the bottom half, beginning with doubles down the left-field line from Michael Robertson and Luke Heyman to plate the first. Ty Evans cranked a third double to left-center to score Heyman, followed with a 462-foot, three-run homer by Tyler Shelnut to break the game open at 5-0.
 
The Gator bats stayed hot into the second, adding three more runs to extend the lead to 8-0. With two men on, Caglianone singled to right to bring in Jaylen Guy while Heyman swatted his second double in as many innings – a two-run knock to right-center field.

Caglianone would allow three runs in the third after a walk, single, and a home run. His first outing lasted just three innings but he showed improved command from a year ago. Freshman Alex Philpott replaced Cagliaone on the mound. The right-hander struck out the side on just 10 pitches in the fourth inning. Philpott would strike out six and walk one over three innings of scoreless relief work on the way to his second career win.

Quotes of the Night

From Kevin O’Sullivan

On Caglianone, the pitching and the energy throughout the weekend…
“It was good to get Jac back out there. I thought he threw the ball good. Walking left on left to start the third, bottom half of the order there. The leadoff hitter just ran into a fastball, but overall, I thought it was good. His limit was about 60 pitches and it was a short turnaround from last night, but I thought he threw the ball good. And then Philpott, what can you say? He’s kind of a throwback; he can pitch, he’s got three pitches in any count he can throw for a strike. Today’s changeup was outstanding, even right on right, he got a bunch of strikeouts. I don’t know how many strikes he threw in a row, but it was 12 or 13, 14 strikes when he came in to start the fourth. He was outstanding. I can’t say enough about his effort today and obviously the two freshmen last night, Liam and Luke, so overall it was a great weekend. I thought the energy was outstanding. Today was one of those games where you have a short turnaround but we came out and swung the bats really well early and kind of set the tone. Overall, I thought it was a good weekend. Like I said, sometimes you can get some wins on the weekend early in the season and you don’t play very well and you kind of walk away going, we got some wins but we didn’t play particularly well. I thought we played well this weekend. Defensively, we were outstanding. I don’t know if we made an error all weekend. Other than the ninth inning last night we fell behind and tonight as well to give up those runs late, but overall I thought it was a really good weekend.”

On the freshmen that pitched in the series…
“Liam is someone who we are lucky to have on campus. He’s a tremendous prospect and Luke’s always been a tremendous strike thrower, and his stuff just keeps getting better and better. Alex, he’s just always been able to pitch and Grayson, he’s got a little bit of a different look. It’s more high-handed and he’s got a really good split. They all bring something different to the table, but obviously they all had good weekends.” 

On whether he’s surprised by the freshman arms and what to expect moving forward…
“You really don’t know what to expect, you just kind of put them out there and see what they can do. There’s no expectations. They’re here for a reason. We recruited them for a reason. All of them. They’ve shown the ability to have the chance to be successful here. I’m pleased, but things are obviously going to get more difficult as we move forward. There’s games where there is going to be some learning along the way. Next weekend is going to be a huge step for all of them, the first road series, it’s rivalry weekend. Then the next step is your first SEC series against Texas A&M, home. The next step is the first SEC series on the road against LSU. So, we’ve got some very interesting weekends moving forward for these guys, to see how they can continue to get better and handle different steps along the way.”

Stats of notes

• Sunday’s official attendance was 5,498.
• Florida has made just one error all season and has not committed an error across the previous 50 innings of play.
  • Florida position players have yet to commit an error this season.
• Florida struck out 46 batters against nine walks across the three-game series vs. Columbia.
• The Gators scored five runs in the first inning after plating 10 in the first inning in game one of the series.
• Florida’s first seven home runs of the season were his by seven different players, with Shelnut becoming the first Gator to hit double-digit big flies with his first-inning blast.
  • Shelton became the second Gator to do so in the fifth inning.
• Shelnut tied his career high with four RBI.
• Smith made his collegiate debut in the seventh and finished with 1 2/3 perfect innings with two strikeouts.
• Gomberg made his career debut in the eighth, concluding with one-plus inning of two-run ball on three walks and two strikeouts.
• Dating back to last season, Florida is 27-4 in regular season non-conference games and has won 18 of its last 19 such contests.
• Florida won its 12th-straight regular-season, three-game home series.

What’s next for the Gators

The Florida Gators travel to Stetson on Tuesday to take on the Hatters at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. Florida will play its lone home game this week on Wednesday night, hosting Bethune-Cookman.

The rivalry with the Miami Hurricanes is renewed this weekend with a three-game series set for Friday night in Coral Gables.