Jac Caglianone homered three times across the twin bill while Josh Rivera collected multiple hits in both games and scored six runs.
Oxford, Miss. – No. 3 Florida claimed victories in both ends of a Saturday doubleheader against No. 13 Ole Miss, winning by scores of 9-7 and 12-8 to clinch the series at Swayze Field.
The Gators (21-4, 4-1 SEC) overcame a three-run deficit to take game one and led from start to finish against the Rebels (15-8, 0-5 SEC) in the nightcap. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> homered three times across the twin bill while Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> collected multiple hits in both games including six runs scored and two RBI.
Game One | Florida 9, Ole Miss 7
Florida posted its 10th come-from-behind win of the season in game one, using a four-run eighth inning to surge ahead. Caglianone (3-for-4) led the charge with two long home runs and Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514> (1-for-6) provided the go-ahead, three-run double in the eighth.
Caglianone gave the Gators an early 1-0 lead over the Rebels in the very first inning of game one. With two outs and a 2-2 count, Caglianone unloaded for his 14th home run of the year, nearly clearing the batter’s eye to straightaway center field.
Ole Miss responded immediately with two runs in the bottom half. Ethan Groff crossed home on an RBI groundout by Jacob Gonzalez while Kemp Alderman singled in Calvin Harris to give the Rebels a 2-1 edge.
Starting pitchers Brandon Sproat<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-sproat/15508> and Jack Dougherty traded zeros across in the second and third before the Gators broke through in the fourth. Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/15491> made good on his namesake, knotting the game at two runs apiece with a two-out, RBI double to plate Rivera.
The Rebels had a three-run answer for the Gators in the bottom of the fourth, beginning with an RBI double from Peyton Chatagnier. Groff and Harris followed with RBI singles to make it a 5-2 ballgame.
The Orange & Blue loaded up the bases twice in the fifth, coming away with one run in the frame. Rivera brought the Gators within two by driving in Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> on a fielder’s choice to shortstop.
The two teams were held scoreless across the next four half innings until Ole Miss tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh. With runners at the corners, Anthony Calarco delivered a sacrifice fly to center field.
Facing a 6-3 deficit, the Gators came storming back in the top of the eighth. Rivera led off the frame with a solo shot to left, marking his 11th big fly of the season. Florida then loaded up the bases with two outs for Kurland, who produced a clutch, bases-clearing double into the right-center gap to put the Gators on top, 7-6.
Regaining the lead for the first time since the end of the opening inning, Florida turned to the relief tandem of Philip Abner<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/philip-abner/15488> and Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/15499> to close out the contest. The left-handed Abner allowed one unearned run over 2 1/3 frames before ceding duties to Neely with two outs in the eighth.
Caglianone gave the Gators some much-need insurance in the ninth, hitting his second homer of the day off the batter’s eye in center to lead off the inning. Rivera then worked a walk and swiped second, eventually scoring on an RBI groundout by Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495>.
Holding a three-run lead, Neely allowed a lone run in the bottom of the ninth before cementing a 9-7 victory. He improved to 4-for-4 in save chances, giving up one run on two hits across 1 1/3 innings while striking out a pair.
Abner improved to 3-0, allowing one unearned run across 2 1/3 frames. Rebels reliever Mason Nichols was charged with the loss, surrendering four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Sproat was handed a no-decision, pitching 5 1/3 innings with five earned runs allowed on eight hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out seven.
Ole Miss starting pitcher Jack Dougherty also received a no-decision, allowing three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. He gave up five hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Game Two | Florida 12, Ole Miss 8
Florida picked up right where it left off in the nightcap, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first for the second-straight game. Kurland drew a leadoff walk followed by an infield single by Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497>, with Kurland scoring thanks to a wild pitch and subsequent RBI groundout off the bat of Caglianone.
Having spotted starter Hurston Waldrep<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hurston-waldrep/15517> an early run, the right-hander went right to work in the bottom half. Waldrep quickly worked a scoreless inning, striking out two to send the game into the second.
Evans was plunked to lead off the following frame, then advanced to third on a single by Prevesk. Robertson then made it 2-0 in favor of Florida with a single to left field.
Scoring in the third-straight inning to open game two, Florida busted the game open in the third. Caglianone got it going with his third home run of the day – a moon shot to right field for his 16th of the year. Riopelle one-upped Caglianone with a two-run shot to right, while Prevesk capped it off with an RBI groundout on the heels of a Halter triple.
With the Gators roaring out to a 6-0 lead, the Rebels put together a five-run frame. Groff and Alderman both swatted RBI doubles to highlight the outburst, with a pair coming home on Groff’s two-bagger down the left-field line.
On the heels of a scoreless fourth, the Orange & Blue found the scoring column in the fifth. Riopelle tripled in Rivera and then raced home on a wild pitch to extend the Gator lead to 8-5.
Langford provided Gator Nation with an encouraging sight in the sixth, depositing an 0-1 offering into the right-field bullpen for an opposite field home run. Ole Miss got the run right back, as TJ McCants came home on an RBI groundout by Groff in the bottom half of the sixth.
Both squads were held scoreless in the seventh and eighth thanks to strong relief outings from Cade Fisher<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-fisher/15513> and Nick Ficarrotta<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/nick-ficarrotta/15493>. Ficarrotta fired the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his first save, allowing two earned runs on two hits while striking out one.
Ole Miss managed to score two late runs before it was all said and done, as Alderman hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Waldrep (4-1) picked up the victory after tossing five-plus innings with six runs (five earned) allowed on six hits and three walks. He struck out nine.
Rebels starter Grayson Saunier (1-2) was hung with the loss, lasting two innings and forfeiting four runs (three earned) on four hits while striking out seven.
NOTABLES
* The Gators notched their first doubleheader sweep since taking two from Seton Hall on March 12, 2022.
* Florida’s game one win marked the team’s 10th comeback victory of the campaign.
* It also represented Florida’s largest comeback of the season.
* Neely improved to 4-for-4 in save opportunities in game one.
* Caglianone connected for two home runs in game one and hit his nation-leading 16th long ball with a third homer in game two.
* The performance marked Caglianone’s fourth multi-homer game of the season.
* Rivera has collected multiple hits in six-straight games.
* Rivera extended his team-leading reached base streak to 24 games (27 including the 2022 season.
* Robertson extended his own on-base streak to 21 games.
* Florida has struck out double-digit batters in 19 of 25 games.
* Florida has struck out 276 batters in 205 innings – translating to 12.1 per nine innings.
* Through 25 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-130.
* The Gators have scored in 105 of 195 batted innings this season (53.8%).
* The Gators have 276 hits through 25 games (11.0 hits/game).Florida improves to 56-53 all-time vs. Ole Miss including 21-33 in Oxford.
* The Gators are 19-14 in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>, featuring a 10-7 mark on the road.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the doubleheader sweep…
“Yeah, we told everybody that Ole Miss got an older lineup and they can hit. We withstood some back and forth a little bit. First game, Brandon gutted it out and got us into the sixth inning. Abner was good again. Really good. And Neely was good to finish it off. Obviously, Cags had a great day at the plate. Cade had the big extra-base hit in right-center field to put us ahead in the first game. Good to get Wyatt back out here again. Cags and Josh had a really good game offensively in the first game. And then in the second game, we had a six-run lead and gave up a five-spot in the third. But, the most important thing is that we gave up two zeros after that. You don’t want to give up a six-run lead, but at the same time, we put two zeros up after that.”
On Kurland’s game-winning knock in game one…
“Well, the bottom line is the game always seems to come back to you. If you have a bad first at bat or a tough first at bat, or tough second and bat, you never know when the game’s going to start calling. The game called him at that time and he came through and obviously that was really, really big.”
On Caglianone’s bounce-back week…
“It’s a game of statistics and there’s going to be ups and downs. The bottom line is, all of us understand that you’re going to go through stretches that you might not be seeing the ball as well as you’d like. Obviously, he was seeing the ball really well today.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Ole Miss face off in the finale on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET with coverage on SEC Network.
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