Florida Falls to No. 13 Vanderbilt in Opener
Jac Caglianone homered for the eighth-straight game in the defeat.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Florida was defeated at the hands of No. 13 Vanderbilt by a score of 10-5 in game one at Hawkins Field on Thursday night.
The Gators (19-18, 7-9 SEC) grabbed an early 1-0 lead over the Commodores (28-10, 9-7 SEC) in the top of the first, with Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> leading off the game with a double down the left-field line. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> then picked up an infield single and Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> drove in Evans on an RBI groundout to second base.
Florida starting pitcher Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373> went one-two-three in the bottom half of the opening frame to keep the momentum in Florida’s favor. With the bases loaded in the second, Neely induced a six-three double play to navigate the Orange & Blue out of a jam.
Vanderbilt broke through in the bottom of the third to take a 2-1 edge. With two men down, Davis Diaz deposited an 0-2 offering over the left-field wall for a two-run home run.
The deficit proved to be short-lived for Florida. In the top of the fourth, Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> worked a full count before homering to deep left-center field to knot the ballgame at two runs apiece.
After two scoreless half innings, the Commodores took a 7-2 advantage thanks to a five-run fifth. RJ Austin tripled to right-center to score two runs, followed by an RBI single to center by Diaz. Alan Espinal polished off the scoring with a two-run homer to straightaway center field.
The Gators and Dores traded blows in the sixth to push the tally to 9-3. Shelton led off the top half with a double to left field and scored on an RBI single to left by Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370>. Troy LaNeve got the run right back for Vanderbilt on a solo homer to center on the first pitch of the bottom half. Three batters later, Austin added a fourth Vanderbilt homer to add to the lead.
Following an hour-plus weather delay, play resumed in the bottom of the sixth with right-hander Grayson Smith<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/grayson-smith/16640> toeing the slab for Florida. The freshman forced a flyout to center field to take the matchup through six frames.
Caglianone gave the Gators a boost in the seventh, hitting a two-run homer to left field to cut the deficit to 9-5. The blast marked Caglianone’s eighth-consecutive game with a home run.
The Commodores got one run back in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Jack Bulger produced a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Davis and make it a 10-5 game.
Freshman Frank Menendez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/frank-menendez/16627> pitched UF through the remainder of the matchup, blanking Vanderbilt across two perfect innings while striking out two batters. The Gators then loaded the bases in the ninth, but were unable to push a run across as the contest ended at 10-5.
Neely (1-2) was handed the loss after surrendering eight earned runs on 10 hits and one walk in five-plus frames. He struck out four.
Vanderbilt starter Bryce Cunningham (5-2) earned the win, pitching six innings of three-run ball. He was charged with five hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts.
NOTABLES
* Thursday night’s official attendance was 3,802.
* Shelnut hit his 11th home run of the season, adding to his career high.
* Caglianone homered in a program-record eighth-straight game on Thursday, moving within one long ball of tying the all-time NCAA record of nine set by Nevada’s Tyler Bosetti in 2021.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 23 games and hitting streak to 16 games.
* Evans has reached base at least three times in all four games since being moved into the leadoff spot for game two against South Carolina last Saturday.
* Evans is 9-for-14 with eight runs, seven RBI, four walks and two HBPs in that span.
* Across the team’s last 69 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 44-25.
* That includes a 36-22 regular-season mark.
* The Gators are 45-22 in weekend series since the start of last season and 54-25 across their last 27 series.
* Florida is now 147-80-1 all-time vs. Vanderbilt including 57-48-1 in Nashville.
* The Gators are 34-22 against the Commodores under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (9-13 away), having won seven of the last 11 meetings and five of the previous seven.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the game…
“I thought we were really good on the mound for the first four innings. We made the one mistake, gave up the two-run homer on an 0-2 count. We had a chance to look at some of the stuff when we had the lightning delay. It was a ball, a slider that was supposed to be in the dirt, he set up it up with two fastballs in. Slider backed up on him and ended up in the middle of the plate, or actually the inner half of the plate and ended up a two-run home run. Those mistakes happen. The real problem, we tried to go in on (Alan) Espinal and left that ball out over the middle of the plate. He hit it off the batter’s eye. Did the same thing with (Troy) LaNeve, tried to go in on a fastball, left it out over the plate, went off the batter’s eye. And the one to (RJ) Austin, we took a mound visit and told him you’re going to have to throw the ball in. We brought the infield in and we left that one over the plate. So, it’s really a matter of four pitches that kind of opened this thing up. Then obviously, we went to the pen and we weren’t real sharp. We had the delay, we brought Landon (Russell) in, that’s never happened before, lighting delay, made a pitching change, probably wouldn’t have done that if we were going to have an hour delay.”
On takeaways from the loss…
“On the bright side, I thought Frankie (Menendez) threw the ball really well tonight. Obviously Shelly (Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376>) had the home run and Jac (Caglianone) hit a two-run homer. We strung some things together. Going back to the first, we had scored a run and then we go backwards K. We hit a popup to the first baseman. It felt like we maybe could have scored another run or two in the first. It’s the same thing. We struck out 10 times, I think, tonight. We had five more free passes on the mound — three walks, two hit batters. Then the rebound runs. We had the big inning there in the fifth. We gave up five in the fifth. We just kind of keep doing the same thing. At some point, we’re going to have to clean this stuff up. I keep saying the same thing. All you can do is keep coaching them and keep encouraging them and keep pointing out the good things we do in the game and the things we need to correct. Bottom line.”
On bouncing back…
“That’s what this league will do to you. It’s a small margin for error and with Brandon (Neely) it came down to basically four pitches. We didn’t execute four pitches and it led to a two run homer and the big inning there in the fifth. Then LaNeve led off the sixth with the solo home run. So, it really boils down, the first four innings he was good and he was executing his pitches to both sides of the plate. We knew we had to throw the ball in, fastball in to command the ball on the inner half of the plate. The thing we talked about there at the end is they had to bring Carter in, that’s a positive. They had to bring him in there at the end to close it out. He’s normally their third starter. I’m sure they’re not going to start him again on Saturday, so I’m not sure who they’re going to start. (Devin) Futrell is still not on the 27-man. If we figure out a way to win tomorrow and then we got Jac on the mound on Saturday, we’re facing somebody that maybe has not started in the league before. It’s still in front of us that we can win the series. But we got to play better tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Vanderbilt meet again in game two on Friday, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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