The Gators return home to host Vanderbilt next weekend.
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. – No. 4 Florida dropped the rubber game at Texas A&M by a 3-2 score at Blue Bell Park on Sunday afternoon.
Florida starter Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> blanked the Aggies (28-20, 11-13 SEC) across the first three innings, which allowed the Gators (37-12, 15-9 SEC) to take a 1-0 edge in the top of the third. Leading off the frame, Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> blasted his sixth home run of the year over the left-center field wall to open the day’s scoring.
Texas A&M got to Caglianone in the fourth, scraping a run across on a bases-loaded walk by Kasen Wells to plate Austin Bost. That prompted Florida to turn to Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/15506> out of the bullpen, who quickly induced a groundout to shortstop to eliminate the threat.
Slater worked a clean fifth to hold the score, with the Gators jumping back in front, 2-1, in the top of the sixth. Florida produced another leadoff homer, as Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> deposited an 0-1 offering over the road in left field for his 12th big fly of the year.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jace LaViolette led off with a triple to left-center and came home on a Ryan Targac sacrifice fly to center to tie the matchup back up at two runs apiece.
After a one-out single by Max Faufer in the seventh, closer Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/15499> relieved Slater with the go-ahead run on first base. The right-hander punched out Hunter Haas and induced a foul-out to BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503> to keep the tie intact.
Neely churned out a one-two-three inning in the eighth, but the Gators went down in order in the ninth to give the Aggies an opportunity to walk it off. With runners at the corners and no outs, Travis Chestnut was awarded home via a game-ending balk.
Aggies reliever Brandyn Garcia improved to 2-2, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless frames with one strikeout. Neely dropped to 0-2, allowing one run over 1 2/3 innings on one hit. He struck out two.
Caglianone received a no decision after providing 3 2/3 frames of one-run ball. The southpaw allowed three hits and three walks while fanning three.
Texas A&M starting pitcher Will Johnston also did not factor into the decision, going 4 1/3 innings with one earned run surrendered on three hits and two walks. He struck out five.
NOTABLES
* Shelnut hit his sixth home run of the season (second in SEC play) to lead off the third inning.
* Shelnut (2-for-3) was the lone Gator with multiple hits.
* Langford swatted his 12th homer of the year to lead off the sixth inning.
* Florida has struck out 508 batters in 417 innings – translating to 11.0 per nine innings.
* The Gators have 495 hits through 49 games (10.1 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 46.8% of batted innings (184 of 393).
* Florida dropped to 12-15 all-time against Texas A&M.
* The Gators are 11-9 in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> and 4-5 in College Station.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the finale…
“It was a good game. Both teams played really well. We certainly threw the ball a lot better today. Obviously, their pitchers did a real nice job. We only managed five hits. I think they walked us three times. We had to earn everything we got. Their pitching was very, very good today, as was ours. It just came down to the last inning.”
On Caglianone’s start…
“He was better. The margin for error, we walked in a run with the bases loaded. Obviously there in the ninth, we hit the leadoff man. The margin for error to win in this league is very small. We did some things that when you look back, they just kind of hurt us. That’s the bottom line. We’ll get back at this thing next weekend against Vanderbilt and hopefully get back on a winning track.”
On playing on the road in the SEC…
“Yeah, it gets to this time of the year, the margin for error between winning and losing is so small. We just weren’t able to do enough offensively today. Pitching wise, you look back and we walked in a run and hit the leadoff man in the ninth, which can lead to some issues and certainly, it did.”
On the rest of the regular season…
“The biggest takeaway from the weekend is I think we’ve solidified our bullpen. We just ran into a pitching staff, they certainly didn’t pitch like their (season) numbers this weekend. They were pretty good. Tough matchup. We saw a ton of lefties and it kind of minimized Jac a little bit this weekend and BT, other than Friday night. The bottom line is we just gotta get back to work.”
UP NEXT
Florida returns to Condron Family Ballpark for a home series against No. 5 Vanderbilt from Friday, May 12 to Sunday, May 14.
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