Brody Donay, Ty Evans and Jac Caglianone homered as eight UF starts logged hits.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 24 Florida rattled off 14 hits to defeat South Carolina by a final score of 11-9 in game three at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
Eight UF starters collected hits in the winning effort including five players with multiple knocks in Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> (2-for-4), Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> (2-for-4), Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> (3-for-5), Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621> (2-for-4) and Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> (2-for-4). Evans, Caglianone and Donay all went yard, highlighted by a team-high three RBI from Evans.
After trading zeros in the first inning, the Gamecocks (25-11, 8-7 SEC) took a 1-0 edge in the top of the second. Kennedy Jones drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a Dalton Reeves double and scored on an RBI groundout to first base off the bat of Dylan Brewer.
The Gators (18-17, 7-8 SEC) promptly answered with a five-spot in the bottom of the second to grab a 5-1 lead. Donay and Evans launched two-run homers to left field and left-center, respectively. Caglianone made it back-to-back blasts with Evans, sending the first pitch of his at bat over the right-field wall for his 20th of the year.
Ethan Petry got two runs back for the Gamecocks in the third, hitting a two-run shot to right field to cut the UF advantage to 5-3. Florida again responded immediately, with Shelton doubling to left-center and scoring on an RBI single up the middle from Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372> to push the lead back to three runs at 6-3.
Gators starter Caglianone blanked South Carolina in the fourth, then stranded the bases loaded in the fifth to hold the score. Following Caglianone’s exit at the onset of the sixth, the Gamecocks drew within one run thanks to a two-out, two-run double to right-center by Parker Noland.
Thomas and Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> hit one-out singles in the bottom of the sixth, allowing Evans to drive home the former with a base hit through the right side. Caglianone then found a hole on the left side of the infield to plate Robertson while Shelton (two RBI) and Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> (one RBI) swatted back-to-back doubles to score three runs.
With an 11-5 lead in hand, right-hander Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/16629> tossed a zero in the seventh by inducing a 4-6-3 twin killing to end the frame. Upon his removal in the eighth, South Carolina scored two runs to make it 11-7 on a throwing error behind the plate while Brewer came home on a 6-3 double play off the bat of Noland.
The Gamecocks did not go quietly, adding two late runs in the ninth on a two-run homer to right by Reeves. Right-hander Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> induced a groundout to third base and then struck out Brewer to cement an 11-9 victory for the Orange & Blue.
Caglianone (4-0) earned the win, pitching five innings of three-run ball on four hits and four walks. The southpaw fanned five.
South Carolina starter Matthew Becker (4-2) was saddled with the loss after surrendering six earned runs across 2 1/3 innings. He was charged with five hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.
NOTABLES
* Sunday’s official attendance was 5,772.
* The total series attendance for South Carolina reached 21,750, marking the second-largest-attended series in team history behind 2023 vs. Miami (22,830).
* Florida came within one hit of tying its season high with 14 knocks.
* The Gators snapped their six-game losing streak.
* Caglianone homered for the sixth-straight game and the 20th time this season to become the fifth player in team history with multiple 20-homer campaigns (Matt LaPorta, Brad Wilkerson, Jud Fabian, Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497>).
* He is the fourth Gator with back-to-back 20-homer seasons (excludes LaPorta).
* Caglianone has homered 12 times in the last 15 games.
* The home run marked the 60th of Caglianone’s career.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 21 games and hitting streak to 14 games.
* Donay connected for his fifth home run of the year.
* Evans followed a career-high four hits on Saturday with a 2-for-4 performance on Sunday including his career-high-tying ninth homer.
* Evans has drawn leadoff walks in each of the last two games since being moved into the top spot in the batting order.
* Florida is 33-10 in home series and 49-16 at home overall since the start of the 2023 season.
* The Gators are 45-21 in weekend series since 2023 and 54-24 across the team’s previous 26 series.
* Florida is 44-24 in its last 68 games vs. SEC opponents including a 36-21 regular-season mark.
* Florida is now 54-56 all-time vs. South Carolina including 32-18 at home.
* The Gators are 32-24 against the Gamecocks under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (19-7 at home).
* Florida has won 15 of the last 20 meetings in Gainesville.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game…
“At some point, we were going to snap the losing streak and today was obviously the day we did it. We had some really good approaches at the plate; went the other way I think four times in one inning. The guys had some really good approaches. We were trying to push the issue a little bit offensively. We had a couple double steals on, had a couple hits and runs to try and force the issue. It’s a big win, puts us one game under in the league and you start looking at the standings, except for a few teams everybody is kind of bunched together, so you know obviously today is a big win for us.”
On the confidence that comes out of this win…
“Yeah, I mean it’s human nature when things aren’t going your way, losing confidence is part of it. Coaching is easy when things are going well. I mean this is why we get in this profession to work through things like this and we are going to continue to work through it, but today was a positive day. I thought Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> had a really good weekend on the mound. I know he’s disappointed with the two-run homer there late but that’s two outings in a row for him and Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/16629> continues to throw the ball good. Jac gave us another good start, so things are starting to piece together for us. We’ll get Pierce out there again next week and hopefully he can build up his pitch count and get going.”
On Evans’ performance in the leadoff spot…
“I thought he responded well. That was one of the things I talked about this morning with the group, is that it’s not easy to put a guy in the leadoff spot or change where they hit in the order. Sometimes, they try to change their approach, that type of thing. But I compliment him on the way he handled it, and obviously he had a really good weekend offensively for us.”
UP NEXT
Florida remains at home to host Jacksonville on Tuesday, April 16. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. with coverage on SEC Network+.
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