Brody Donay (3-for-4) hit his sixth homer and Colby Shelton (2-for-4) logged multiple knocks.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 8 Florida dropped game three against Miami by a final score of 13-7 at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
Although the Gators (11-1) jumped out to a 4-0 advantage through three, the Hurricanes (9-3) plated 13 consecutive runs from the fourth inning through the top of the eighth to retie the all-time series at 136-136-1. Also worthy of note, Sunday’s crowd of 7,316 brought the total series attendance to a program-record 23,737 for a three-game set.
The Gators received a zero from starter Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/17322> in the top of the first, as the right-hander blanked the Hurricanes by inducing a 5-4-3 double play and flyout to left-center. Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337> led off the home half for the Gators with an automatic double to left, then scored the game’s first run on an RBI single to center from Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349>. A Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> walk and Brendan Lawson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brendan-lawson/17350> hit-by-pitch juiced the bags, allowing Landon Stripling<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/landon-stripling/17351> to make it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to left-center.
Given an early, two-run lead, Clemente went right after the Miami lineup and produced a clean frame via a pair of strikeouts and flyout to left. The right-hander struck out the side in the third to raise his daily total to five.
In the bottom of the third, Florida posted another two-spot to extend its advantage to 4-0. Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> smacked a one-out double and Donay doubled the lead with a two-run homer to left-center on a 2-2 offering.
Miami got the two runs right back in top-four to make it 4-2, beginning with an RBI single to right from Dorian Gonzalez. From there, Derek Williams drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Jake Ogden.
The Hurricanes scored again in the fifth, plating five runs to snag a 7-4 lead. With the bases loaded, Ogden was hit by a pitch to bring home Michael Torres. RBI singles from Gonzalez, Tanner Smith and Bobby Marsh accounted for three more runs. Gonzalez crossed home on a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of pinch-hitter Renzo Gonzalez for the inning’s fifth run.
Miami tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a pair of one-out, RBI singles to center. Max Galvin and Ogden drove in the runs for Miami to push the score to 9-4.
Freshman Jackson Barberi<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jackson-barberi/17354> pitched a scoreless seventh to hold the score for the Gators, but the Canes put the game out of reach with four runs in the eighth. A bases-loaded walk of Smith forced home the first run, followed by a three-run double to right by Marsh.
Faced with a 13-4 deficit, Shelton lined a leadoff single to right in the home half of the eighth. Donay followed with a knock to right of his own and Lawson produced an RBI single down the right-field line to score Shelton. Stripling followed with another RBI single to right to plate Donay, forcing Miami to bring in right-hander Will Smith with no outs.
With runners at the corners, Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> flared a single to left to load the bases. The Gators were unable to cash in further, as Smith registered two-straight strikeouts and a groundout to third to send a 13-6 matchup into the ninth.
UF right-hander Christian Rodriguez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/christian-rodriguez/17334> blanked Miami in the ninth and the Gators added a late run in the bottom half. With two outs, Lawson lined a single to center to score Boser and bring the game to its final tally of 13-7.
Canes reliever Carson Fischer (1-0) recorded the win, tossing 2 1/3 frames with two earned runs allowed on four hits while fanning two.
Gators southpaw Niko Janssens<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/niko-janssens/17357> (0-1) suffered the loss as he allowed one earned run on one walk.
Clemente did not factor into the decision, allowing four earned runs across four innings. He finished with two hits allowed, four walks and six strikeouts.
Miami starter Brian Walters also received a no-decision, lasting 4 2/3 frames with four earned runs allowed on six hits and two walks. He struck out four batters.
Shelton (2-for-3) and Donay (3-for-3) collected multiple hits for the Orange & Blue.
NOTABLES
* Sunday’s crowd of 7,316 brought the total series attendance to a program-record 23,737 for a three-game set.
* The Gators had their season-opening, 11-game winning streak snapped, which was tied for the second-longest in team history behind the 2020 campaign (16-0).
* The all-time series against Miami is now tied back up at 136-136-1.
* The Gators are 43-19 overall and 23-10 in Gainesville in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Florida is 81-52-1 in the series at home.
* Florida has won 10 of the last 11 series against Miami and is 24-9 across the last 33 meetings.
* The Gators have knocked at least eight hits in all 12 games and 10-plus in nine of 12.
* Florida has launched a homer in all 12 games.
* Donay swatted his team-leading sixth homer of the season.
* The Gators allowed more than six runs in a game on Sunday for the first time this year.
* Eight of nine UF starters logged hits in the loss.
* Florida pitchers have produced a 148-to-34 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 12 games.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the outcome of the game…
“I mean it’s disappointing. We got out to a four-nothing lead after three and it just kind of fell apart on the mound. We talked about before the game, we knew our bullpen was going to be a little light because we had to use Frankie [Menendez], Luke [McNeillie] and Alex [Philpott], Friday and Saturday, so they weren’t on the card today. We need our starter to go six innings, bottom line, and kind of piece that thing together to get the last nine outs. Just too many free passes. I think between walks and hit-by-pitches, they had ten on the day. We walked two guys in with the bases loaded. It’s really the first time all year that we fell apart on the mound. We’ll have to look at the starting rotation stuff, but we’ve been pretty clear with the pitchers we start on the weekend that we expect you to go six innings with three runs or less. Going into a Sunday with your bullpen a little light, you just can’t get a four inning start; that’s obviously not a recipe for success.”
On Barberi and Rodriguez’s outings…
“Christian threw the ball good, and Jackson threw the ball good. We tried to get Jacob Gomberg<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jacob-gomberg/17326> in there because it’s his first outing coming off of Tommy John and we’re down by five. Obviously, we’re trying to not look ahead to Tuesday, but we do have two quality midweek games. We were down by five, it wasn’t the results he wanted, but we still have to think ahead to who we’re going to start on Tuesday and potentially on Wednesday.”
On the quality of at bats today…
“They were really good. When we were down by a bunch in the eighth and ninth, I thought they were really good at-bats. Normally when we score seven, we’re probably going to win most games. The way we were pitching, today was just one of those days it kind of got away from us.”
UP NEXT
Florida travels to UCF on Tuesday (6 p.m. on ESPN+) before hosting Florida Atlantic on Wednesday (6 p.m. on SEC Network+).
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