Florida plated five unanswered runs in the final three innings but the comeback came up short.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 24 Florida’s late rally came up short against South Carolina by a 9-8 tally at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday evening.
The Gators (17-17, 6-8 SEC) collected 12 hits in the loss, including a career-high four knocks from Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> (4-for-4). Evans homered and doubled twice to finish with nine total bases while Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> (1-for-4) hit his 19th home run of the campaign. On the mound, left-hander Pierce Coppola<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/pierce-coppola/16367> made his much-anticipated return to the hill, starting for the Gators for the first time in 783 days.
The Gamecocks (25-10, 8-6 SEC) opened the scoring with a two-run home run to right-center field from Ethan Petry in the top of the first inning. Florida responded with a two-spot in the bottom half, with Caglianone matching Petry via a two-run blast of his own to deep right field.
South Carolina tacked on three more in the second to take a 5-2 lead, as Cole Messina doubled in two with a drive to center while Petry singled to center to plate the former. Florida had another answer in the bottom of the second, cutting the deficit to 5-3 thanks to a solo homer down the left-field line off the bat of Evans.
Having relieved Coppola in the second inning, right-hander Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/16631> blanked the Gamecocks in consecutive frames in the third and fourth. Back-to-back walks to open the fifth prompted Florida to call on righty Blake Purnell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-purnell/16374>. After allowing a single and subsequent walk to Dalton Reeves that forced home Kennedy Jones for a 6-3 Gamecock lead, Purnell struck out three-straight batters to strand the bases loaded.
In the top of the seventh, the Gamecocks added three more runs to extend their advantage to 9-3. Reeves connected for a two-run homer to right-center and Parker Noland doubled in Will Tippett.
Florida got one run back in the bottom of the seventh. Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/16633> picked up a pinch-hit single to left, then advanced to third on a double down the left-field line by Evans. Following an intentional walk of Caglianone, Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> made it 9-4 with a sacrifice fly to center.
On the heels of a zero from Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> in the eighth, the Gators erupted for a four-spot in the bottom half to draw within one run. Pinch-hitting with the bases-loaded, Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621> drilled a two-run single to center. Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> then scampered home on a wild pitch and Evans singled in Donay with a knock to center to make it a 9-8 ballgame.
Freshman Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/16629> produced a scoreless top of the ninth for the Orange & Blue, but the Gators left two runners stranded in the bottom of the ninth as the contest ended at 9-8.
South Carolina reliever Roman Kimball (2-1) earned the victory, pitching three innings with three earned runs allowed on five hits and two walks. He struck out two.
Coppola (0-1) received the loss, allowing four earned runs across 1 1/3 innings. He allowed three hits, walked one and fanned three.
Gamecocks starter Ty Good did not factor into the decision after tossing four innings of three-run ball on four hits and two walks. He struck out four.
NOTABLES
* Saturday night’s official attendance was 8,109, marking the sixth-largest crowd in program history.
* Coppola made his first collegiate appearance in 783 days – since Feb. 20, 2022 vs. Liberty.
* Caglianone launched his team-leading 19th home run of the season.
* It marked Caglianone’s fifth-straight game with a home run.
* He has homered 11 times in the last 14 games.
* Evans hit his eighth homer of the campaign.
* Evans set a career high with four hits and finished 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles, logging his 15th multi-hit game.
* The Gators had their 15-series winning streak at Condron Family Ballpark dating back to 2022 snapped.
* Florida is 32-10 in home series and 48-16 at home overall since the start of the 2023 season.
* The Gators are 44-21 in weekend series since 2023 and 53-24 across the team’s previous 26 series.
* Florida is 43-24 in its last 67 games vs. SEC opponents including a 35-21 regular-season mark.
* Florida is now 53-56 all-time vs. South Carolina including 31-18 at home.
* The Gators are 31-24 against the Gamecocks under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (18-7 at home).
* Florida has won 14 of the last 19 meetings in Gainesville.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On getting Coppola back on the mound…
“First of all, it was great to have Pierce back. It was good to see him. He’s put in a lot of hard work to get back, to be able to pitch in a live game. Certainly, hoping as we move forward he’s going to be able to help us for sure.”
On the comeback falling short…
“We did a nice job coming back in the game. But to that point, there’s just a lot of things that are happening that, I’m trying to word this the right way, that we’re doing that are not allowing us to be successful. Bottom line. I mean, I can go through the game with you, there’s a lot of at bats where we’re taking pitches. We had the leadoff man on in the third, fourth and fifth and didn’t move them. We had an unfortunate situation where we got picked in a hit and run, and made the last out at third. I think we’re trying to create things, probably trying to push the issue a little bit too much. Honestly, a lot of it does come down to pitching, too. We missed two fastballs on the inner half, out over the plate to Messina and Petry that led to three runs. We had an 0-2 count to start one of the innings, and ended up walking him. Then the next hitter was trying to give us an out on a bunt and we go 3-1 and walk him. We walked another run in tonight with the bases loaded. We hit LeCroy with a two-strike slider that backed up on us, and the next guy hits a two-run homer. When you start adding all this stuff up, it’s the difference between winning or losing one-run games.”
On making the necessary improvements…
“Without getting into details, on March 6th I had a meeting right in here with the team, probably lasted 45 minutes. The very things that I talked about on March 6th are the very things that are still going on now… I specially recall, I wouldn’t have spent 45 minutes of practice time to go over this stuff if it wasn’t important but it just didn’t look right. The same mistakes that we’re making now, are the same ones that we’re making five weeks from that meeting. So, everything from the hitting, down to the pitching, down to everything. This is not something that just happened overnight. We’ve talked about it, and tried to be very specific with them about it. I’ve been doing this long enough to know even though you might be winning some games and some series, that you’re not playing fundamentally clean, winning baseball…”
UP NEXT
Florida and South Carolina meet in the series finale on Sunday, scheduled for 12 p.m. on SEC Network.
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