Florida collected 14 hits and three homers as Yoel Tejeda Jr. won his first-career game.
Gainesville, Fla. – Powered by an eight-run second inning, No. 3 Florida defeated Florida A&M by a score of 17-7 in seven frames at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
Four Gators picked up multiple knocks in the 14-hit onslaught: Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> (2-for-2), Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> (2-for-2), Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> (2-for-2) and Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> (2-for-4). Heyman and Caglianone paced the squad with four RBI apiece while swatting homers. Deric Fabian<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/deric-fabian/15492> (1-for-3) left the yard as well.
Florida starter Yoel Tejeda Jr.<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/yoel-tejeda-jr-/15518> worked a scoreless first inning, allowing the Gators (31-7, 11-4 SEC) to bust out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom half. Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> and Langford set the table by reaching via a walk and single to center, before Caglianone and Heyman came through with sacrifice flies. Shelnut capped off the outburst with an RBI double to right-center to plate Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504>.
The Rattlers (18-18, 12-3 SWAC) punched back with two runs in the second to cut the UF advantage to 3-2. Sebastian Greico and Adam Haidermota connected for back-to-back home runs, leaving the yard to center and left field, respectively.
The Gators responded with an eight-run second – their most in any inning so far this season. Langford started it with an RBI double, followed by a three-run moonshot off the bat of Caglianone. Heyman then blasted a solo homer while Fabian polished off the frame with a three-run tank out of the ballpark to left field – his first of the season.
With an 11-2 lead in hand, Tejeda Jr. blanked the Rattlers in the fourth while the Gators tacked on two more runs. Heyman produced his second sac fly while Shelnut drove in Caglianone on a fielding error at third base.
Florida A&M plated four runs in the fifth, beginning with an RBI single to left by Jared Weber. Ty Hanchey then tripled home a pair while Janmikell Bastardo singled in Hanchey.
Florida plated one run with an RBI groundout from Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/15512> in the fifth, but the Rattlers got it right back with a Joseph Pierini RBI double in the top of the sixth.
Loading up the bases in the sixth, Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> roped a single to score Robertson. Heyman then drove in Richie Schiekofer<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/richie-schiekofer/15520> with his third sacrifice fly of the night while Tucker Talbott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tucker-talbott/15509> rounded out the game’s scoring by crossing the plate on a passed ball.
Reliever Clete Hartzog<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/clete-hartzog/15521> entered in the seventh to shut it down. The right-hander worked a clean frame to quietly end the contest in a 17-7 tally as the game concluded via the run rule.
Tejeda Jr. (1-0) earned his first-career win, pitching four innings with two earned runs surrendered on three hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out one.
FAMU starting pitcher Jared Townsend (0-4) was charged with the loss after allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits and three walks in two innings. He fanned two batters.
NOTABLES
* The Gators won their eighth game via the run rule this season.
* Florida’s eight runs in the second inning marked Florida’s most since Feb. 27, 2021 vs. Samford (seventh inning).
* Fabian swatted his first home run of the season.
* Caglianone hit his nation-leading 22nd homer of the campaign – four shy of Florida’s program record.
* Tejeda Jr. earned his first-career victory.
* Heyman became the first Gator with three sacrifice flies in the same game since Justin Shafer accomplished the feat – also vs. Florida A&M – on March 7, 2012.
* Rivera extended his team-leading hitting streak to 11 games.
* Florida has struck out 403 batters in 327 1/3 innings – translating to 11.1 per nine innings.
* Through 37 games, Florida has a run differential of plus-160.
* The Gators have scored in 147 of 303 batted innings this season (48.5%).
* The Gators have 410 hits through 38 games (10.8 hits/game).
* Florida improved to 29-1 all-time against Florida A&M.
* The Gators are 13-1 vs. the Rattlers under Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On getting different players in the game…
“These types of games are good for team morale. Those other guys that haven’t had the chance to play as much as they’d like work awfully hard. It was good to get those guys out there tonight. Deric and Dale and Shelnut hadn’t played as much recently. I thought Clete threw the ball really well at the end. I thought Blake, even though he gave up a couple of hits there, I thought he was better tonight. He was more aggressive.”
On the pitching and FAMU…
“Yoel gave us four innings against a much-improved Florida A&M team. Offensively, their numbers coming in were really good. They swung the bats really well tonight, too. I think it was important for us to hopefully get the game, we had it close to ten runs there, to hopefully take advantage of the ten-run rule in seven because obviously, we got to go to South Carolina tomorrow morning.”
On Deric Fabian<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/deric-fabian/15492>…
“I can only tell you from my standpoint, he’s been awesome. I’m sure if you asked him, he’s disappointed he’s not playing as much right now. That’s normal and I would expect that. As far as him being a teammate and the way he comes to the field everyday and does his work and the teammate he is, he’s been incredibly awesome.”
UP NEXT
Florida hits the road for a three-game series in Columbia at No. 6 South Carolina from Thursday, April 20 to Saturday, April 22.
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