Gators use ninth inning outburst to take series over Mississippi State
For the second night in a row, there was drama in the ninth inning. Saturday night it was the Florida Gators who provided the late-inning scoring. The Gators powered home six runs in the ninth to take the series over Mississippi State with a 9-3 win.
The Gators came alive in the top of the ninth. Tied 3-3, Sterlin Thompson kicked the inning off with a single. After a strikeout and a walk, freshman Jac Caglianone stepped up with a chance to break the tie. The freshman doubled to left field, plating Thompson to give Florida a 4-3 lead but that was just the start. Josh Rivera was intentionally walked and senior Kendrick Calilao made the Bulldogs pay. Calilao stroked a double down the right-field line to score two and make it 6-3. Freshman Ty Evans went opposite field for a three-run homer to blow the game wide open.
The win improved Florida’s record to 28-18 and 10-13 in league play. The Gators RPI moved up to No. 14 in the country, which will help when it comes time to pick teams for the NCAA Tournament.
Gators and Bulldogs play it close for 8 innings
Just like Friday, Florida got on the board first. Wyatt Langford led the game off with a double, advanced to third after a pair of walks, and scored on a BT Riopelle sacrifice fly.
Freshman Brandon Neely earned the Saturday start. He allowed a run in the first but struck out five in the first two innings. Neely would last four innings, allowing two runs, and strike out seven before being pulled.
Trailing 2-1 in the fifth inning, Caglianone doubled to bring home two and give Florida a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs would tie it in the seventh before the Gators’ offensive outburst in the ninth.
“Jac came up with two hits tonight with three RBIs. Ty Evans runs into that three-run homer there in the ninth. So, a lot of contributions from a lot of different people,” O’Sullivan said. “We played errorless baseball and it was a good night overall.”
Gators’ bullpen gets the job done
Florida had to go to the pen in the fifth inning. Neely gave up a leadoff double and a walk before getting replaced by Philip Abner. The lefty threw a double play and a fly ball to get out of the jam. Kevin O’Sullivan used a trio of freshmen to get the last 15 outs.
“This has been a learning experience. This is a really difficult place to play in. The fans are into it. There’s not a whole lot of places that you play at this level where it gets as excited as it was tonight. But, what can you say, you hold Mississippi State to three runs over nine innings with four freshmen on the mound,” O’Sullivan said. “Hopefully, this shows what they’re capable of doing and hopefully their confidence builds a little bit more. Hopefully, a night like tonight can really propel us moving forward.”
Next up
The Gators will look for a sweep on Sunday at 2:00 pm. Florida went into the weekend with plans to start Fisher Jameson in the series finale. The freshman threw 1.1 innings and 21 pitches on Saturday night, which will probably exclude him from the staring pitcher conversation. Florida could turn to Tyler Nesbitt to start, with a plan to use whoever else is available behind him. The Bulldogs will send righty Cade Smith
(4-2, 4.20 ERA) to the mound.
The game will be streamed on SEC Network +.
Box Score
