Brody Donay homered in both ends of the twinbill and Jac Caglianone increased his hitting streak to 25 games.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida split a doubleheader against No. 3 Tennessee, dropping game one by a score of 6-2 before rallying for a 4-3 victory in game two at Condron Family Ballpark on Thursday.
The Gators (24-22, 10-13 SEC) tallied six runs on 16 hits across the twinbill while the Volunteers (38-9, 16-7) totaled nine runs on 18 knocks. Florida was led offensively by Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621>, who homered in both ends of the doubleheader and finished 4-for-7 with a pair of multi-hit games. Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> also homered in the nightcap for his 16th big fly of the season.
Both Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/16631> and Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> were stellar on the mound in game two, with the former opening with four shutout, one-hit innings highlighted by seven strikeouts. Jameson fanned eight across four frames of three-run ball (two earned) to earn the Gators’ lone victory of the day.
Game One | Tennessee 6, Florida 2
The Gators received a clean top half of the first from starter Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373>, but the Volunteers took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Dean Curley singled through the right side to score Dylan Dreiling, followed by a double steal that saw Hunter Ensley swipe home.
Florida responded with a two-spot of its own in the bottom of the second, beginning with a one-out single to left-center from Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372>. Two batters later, Donay uncorked a two-run home run to right field to even the tally at 2-2.
Tennessee answered back in the top of the third to regain a 4-2 edge. Billy Amick doubled home Christian Moore and the former scored on an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Dreiling.
Neely rebounded to strikeout the side in the fourth, then was lifted in favor of Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/16366> at the onset of the fifth. Clemente followed suit by retiring the side in order highlighted by consecutive strikeouts to end the frame. He struck out two more in the sixth while stranding a runner on first to hold the score.
Frank Menendez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/frank-menendez/16627> relieved Clemente in the seventh, using a 7-4 double play on a flyout to left field to navigate the Gators away from damage. Tennessee later added a run in the eighth to push its lead to 5-2, as Reese Chapman produced a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Amick. The Vols tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, as Dreiling singled through the right side to bring in Blake Burke to make it 6-2.
Neely dropped to 1-3 after allowing four earned runs in four innings. He finished with seven hits allowed, zero walks and seven strikeouts.
Vols reliever AJ Causey (8-3) picked up the victory on five-plus innings of shutout relief. He was charged with four hits allowed, zero walks and seven strikeouts.
Tennessee relief pitcher Kirby Connell earned his fourth save, tossing one clean inning to close it out.
Tennessee starter Chris Stamos did not factor into the decision either, lasting three-plus innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits and one walk. He fanned four batters.
Game Two | Florida 4, Tennessee 3
Starting on the bump, Peterson opened game two with a scoreless first inning while logging two strikeouts. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> extended his hitting streak to 25-straight games in the bottom half, but a Tennessee double play sent a scoreless matchup into the second.
Peterson blanked the Vols again in the second and third, raising his strikeout total to five. The following half inning, Donay brought an end to the deadlock by launching a solo homer to left. Shelton made it 3-0 Florida, hammering a two-run home run to right after a two-out Caglianone single.
Running into some trouble in the fourth, Peterson stranded the bases loaded by utilizing a strikeout of Chapman – his seventh of the night. Following Peterson’s departure in the fifth, Tennessee got on the board via an RBI double to right-center from Burke.
Returning to the hill after entering in the fifth, Jameson struck out the side in order in the sixth. The right-hander then chucked a scoreless frame in the seventh while picking up his sixth and seventh strikeouts.
The Vols cut their deficit to 3-2 in the eighth inning as Amick led off with a solo homer to left field. Jameson battled back to retire each of the next three hitters in order, wrapping up the frame with his eighth strikeout of the game.
Holding onto a one-run lead, Florida made an insurance claim in the bottom of the eighth. Caglianone led off with a single to right, then advanced to second on a throwing error at third base as Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> reached on a fielder’s choice. With two men down, Kurland came up clutch with an RBI single back up the middle to score Caglianone for a 4-2 edge.
Following a leadoff single in the ninth, the Gators turned to right-hander Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/16629> on the mound. The freshman ran into some trouble, allowing an unearned run to score on an RBI groundout by Moore, but polished off the ninth to cement a 4-3 victory for the Orange & Blue.
Jameson (3-0) earned the win, pitching four innings of relief and allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits. He struck out eight.
McNeillie registered his second save of the year. He was charged with zero runs on two walks and one strikeout.
Tennessee starting pitcher Drew Beam (6-2) was stuck with the loss, giving up three earned runs in six innings. He concluded with six hits allowed, one walk and fourth strikeouts.
Peterson did not factor into the decision despite dazzling across four shutout innings. He surrendered just one hit and two walks while striking out seven.
NOTABLES
* Friday’s combined official attendance was 6,326.
* Donay swatted his eighth home run in game one and his ninth in game two.
* He became the first Gator to homer in both games of a doubleheader since Caglianone accomplished the feat on March 25, 2023 at Ole Miss.
* Donay logged multi-hit games in both of ends of the doubleheader, going 2-for-4 and 2-for-3.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 32 games and hitting streak to 25 in a row.
* Caglianone has hit safely in 44 of 46 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
* Caglianone went 3-for-3 with one walk in game two.
* Peterson fired four shutout, one-hit innings while striking out seven in his first start since April 6 at Missouri.
* Shelton hit his 16th home run of the campaign.
* McNeillie recorded his second-career save.
* The Gators are 53-17 at home since the start of last season despite a 17-10 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
* Across the team’s last 76 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 47-29.
* That includes a 39-26 regular-season mark.
* The Gators are 48-26 in weekend series since the start of last season and 57-29 across their last 29 series.
* Florida is now 157-96 all-time vs. Tennessee including an 84-45 mark in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 27-22 against the Vols under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (13-10 at home).
* Florida snapped its five-game home losing streak against the Vols.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the twinbill…
“It was difficult, to be honest with you. It was a long day. The idea was to hopefully get Brandon six innings and not have to use six pitchers in the first game. That set us back a little bit. When you’re playing a doubleheader and you have to use that many arms in the first game of the doubleheader that kind of limits you and that puts a little more pressure on the guys in the second game. Liam responded outstandingly. Fisher was outstanding and Luke finished it off. It was not how we drew it up, for sure. I thought our energy in the second game was much better, I thought our bats were better, and the first game I felt like once we tied the game up, I thought we were in pretty good shape but we went to a 3-2 count with Christian Moore and all of a sudden he gets a base hit through the middle and next thing you know, we don’t really locate a fastball on the outer half to Burke and next thing you know they got two more runs on the board. So, it was a little bit deflating at that point but going back to the first game, I thought Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/16366> was outstanding again. I thought our two-strike approach in the first game got better as the game went on, we started to make some adjustments, widen our base a little bit, and choke up a little bit…”
On Peterson coming back after injury and his throwing progression …
“We kind of progressed naturally. He didn’t touch a ball for some time until the swelling went down. In the big picture, you could kind of see the progress he’s been making in the Vanderbilt game. Maybe taking a step back for a couple of weeks may have been a good thing for him. Because you could tell his composure was a little bit different today, and against an outstanding lineup and I thought his stuff was really good. I think it was the third where he threw only mostly all off-speed pitches and started getting a feel for it, you could tell, and I think that’s a huge confidence boost for him.”
On the importance of small ball, namely Kurland’s insurance single in the eighth…
“It’s the two-strike approach of putting the ball in play. Anything can happen when you put the ball in play. But nothing happens when you strike out. We’ve been talking about this a lot and we’ve been spending a lot of time in batting practice and BP on situational hitting, but you’ve got to carry it over to the game.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Tennessee meet in the series finale on Saturday, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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