Miami drops series to Gators with 8-4 Sunday loss marked by five UF home runs
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes baseball team fell to the fourth-ranked Florida Gators, 8-4, in front of a sellout crowd at Mark Light Field Sunday afternoon. Miami took one of the three home games, and UM’s record against UF dating back to 2010 is now 12-36 … with just two series wins in that span.
After the Hurricanes (6-5) knocked off the Gators (8-3) Saturday afternoon, Florida responded in emphatic fashion Sunday. The Gators smacked five home runs, highlighted by Colby Shelton’s seventh career multi-homer performance. Shelton clubbed a pair of two-run blasts in both the first and ninth to bookend the derby.
“It was a roller-coaster of a weekend,” coach J.D. Arteaga said. “I said all along this weekend would give us a better idea where we’re at. We are obviously not where we want to be. The season’s not over. ACC play, not getting any easier with Virginia coming in (for the next weekend series). We know we have to work on some things to get better, where we want to be.”
In the fourth, junior right fielder Ty Evans and senior shortstop Tyler Shelnut socked back-to-back round-trippers to double the lead.
Florida starter and utility player Jac Caglianone crushed a solo shot an inning later, providing himself with a 5-0 cushion.
On the bump, Caglianone (1-0) recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts across six shutout innings. The junior southpaw limited the Hurricanes to just three hits.
Despite trailing 6-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Miami didn’t go down quietly.
Co-captain Dorian Gonzalez Jr. delivered a pinch-hit grand slam to pull the Hurricanes within two.
“That brought some excitement back to the dugout,” Arteaga said, stressing that his team needs to find more consistency.
Gonzalez says his big hit “brought momentum into the dugout,” but it wasn’t enough.
“We had a great game yesterday, thought we had a good plan in place going into today’s game, didn’t execute it,” Gonzalez said.
Shelton’s second home run of the day gave Gators closer Brandon Neely a four-run cushion in the ninth, as the junior locked down the series for the visitors.
Miami starter Herick Hernandez (2-1) was tagged with the loss. Hernandez surrendered three earned runs over five innings, striking out nine batters.
“Herick competed for five innings,” Arteaga said. “The long ball hurt us today. … We weren’t outclassed by any means, weren’t out of any game. Friday’s game was close for the most part, today no quit, kept working.”
Up next, the Hurricanes welcome Stonehill to Mark Light Field Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
“After any loss nobody feels good about themselves,” Arteaga said. “But there’s no quit in this team.”
