The Gators launched five home runs and closer Brandon Neely threw three scoreless innings for the save.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 8 Florida opened its three-game series against No. 4 Texas A&M with an 8-6 victory in a back-and-forth affair at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
The Orange & Blue bashed five dingers in the victory, featuring a pair of early solo shots from Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> (2-for-5). Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372> (1-for-4), Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> (3-for-5, 2B, 3 R), Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> (1-for-4, 3 RBI) also went yard in the effort.
The Gators (11-6) received a clean top-half of the first from starter Cade Fisher<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-fisher/16369>, as the southpaw blanked the Aggies (17-1) including striking out each of the contest’s first two batters. Florida came out of the gates hot offensively, with Caglianone blasting a solo shot to center field after working a 2-2 count. From there, Shelton doubled to right and Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> made it 2-0 Gators with a two-out RBI single to left-center.
Texas A&M had an immediate answer, taking the lead with a five-run second. It started with a leadoff hit-by-pitch of Hayden shot and subsequent walk of Ted Burton, with Schott eventually scoring on an RBI fielder’ choice to first base by Ali Camarillo. Kaeden Kent then drove in Burton with a flare to center while Gavin Grahovac swatted a three-run homer to right-center to make it 5-2.
Fisher settled back in in the third inning, fanning the first two Aggies en route to a one-two-three frame. Caglianone wasted no time in cutting into the Texas A&M edge, hitting his second homer of the night over the batter’s eye in center field on the first pitch of his at bat. Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> then drew a walk followed by a Shelton single to right, allowing Shelnut to unload on a three-run, go-ahead tank to deep left-center for a 6-5 Gators lead.
The Aggies evened it up at 6-6 in the fourth. Leading off the inning, Jackson Appell cranked a home run to left-center. Fisher rebounded in the fifth, stranding one runner on third to hold the score. The southpaw returned to the hill in the sixth and fired another scoreless frame while tying his career high with 10 strikeouts.
With the Gators offense stuck in a lull, Kurland stepped up the plate with two outs in the sixth looking to provide a boost. He did just that on a 2-1 offering, hammering a breaking ball into Dizney Grove in left-center field for a 7-6 UF advantage.
Closer Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373> took over for Florida in the seventh and quickly retired the side in order. Shortly after with one out in the seventh, Shelton gave the Gators some insurance with a solo shot to left for an 8-6 ballgame.
Neely stranded two baserunners in the eighth to maintain the two-run lead. He remained on the hill in the ninth for the three-inning save and again retired the side, logging two more strikeouts to give Florida a 1-0 start to SEC play.
Fisher (2-1) earned the win in his first-career SEC start. The left-hander tossed six innings of six-run ball on six hits and one walk. He also fired four scoreless innings including three clean frames while striking out 10 batters.
Texas A&M reliever Chris Cortez (2-1) was saddled with the loss, as he surrendered two runs on two hits and two walks. He fanned eight across four frames.
Aggies starting pitcher Ryan Prager received a no-decision. He allowed his first six runs of the year across 2 1/3 innings on seven hits, zero walks and one strikeout.
Caglianone, Shelton, Evans (2-for-4) and Guy (2-for-3) collected multiple knocks in the win.
NOTABLES
* Friday night’s official attendance was 5,863.
* The Gators hammered five home runs in a game for the second time this season (March 3 at Miami).
* Caglianone connected for his sixth home run in the first inning and his seventh in the third for his first multi-homer game of the season.
* Caglianone’s first homer broke Prager’s 24 innings scoreless streak to open the season.
* Shelnut hit his sixth homer of the season – a go-ahead, three-run blast in the third inning.
* Kurland smacked his fourth run of the season to give Florida a 7-6 lead in the sixth.
* Shelton hit his team-leading 10th homer in the seventh inning.
* Shelnut and Shelton both homered for the fourth game this season.
* Shelton has launched seven homers in the last seven games.
* Evans has collected multiple hits in six of the last seven games including five-straight.
* Across his last four starts, Fisher has recorded 33 strikeouts against three walks.
* Fisher tied his career high (Feb. 23 vs. Columbia) with 10 strikeouts.
* Heyman and Shelton moved their on-base streaks to 17-straight contests.
* Florida is now 13-15 all-time vs. Texas A&M including 8-3 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 12-9 against the Aggies under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (7-0 at home), having won six of the last nine meetings.
* Florida has won seven-straight games vs. Texas A&M at home.
* The Gators are 29-6 in home series since 2023.
* Florida is 44-11 at home since the start of last season.
* The Gators are 39-13 in weekend series since the start of last season and 48-16 across the team’s previous 22 series at any venue.
* Since Florida’s last home series lost vs. Tennessee from April 22-24, 2022, the Gators have gone 38-16 vs. SEC opponents featuring a 30-13 regular-season mark.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the win and using Neely to cement the victory…
“We talked about it a bunch this week, we played sixteen games, I don’t think he’s gotten a save. So, we’re not using arguably our best arm enough. We talked about it early before the game, you would see Dave Vanhorn come in and use Hagan Smith in situation like that. You kind of have a feel that you might be able to get one and in this league and if you can get one, then sometimes you don’t want to get too cute and try to steal one more inning here and all that. I felt good about the way we were swinging the bats tonight and thought we had a really good approach, but wins are really hard to come by and the whole thing is if Jac (Caglianone) continues to throw like he has and especially pitching against other team’s number threes, then you’re trying to really split one of the first two in case you get the opportunity to win the series. Other than the second inning, which has kind of been our MO the whole year, we scored two in the first and hit lead off hitter Schott, I believe, on a one-two count, but it’s always the walk after. That’s the one that creates all the chaos, so to speak. I think it was Burton who he walked. But I thought Cade settled in. I mean he could’ve easily gotten a little rattled there after the second. Next four innings gave up one run, that being the home run to Apell. I thought he pitched great other than that second inning, so if we can continue to talk about these things about the beginning and the rebound runs and that type of thing. Then we will be that much better, but with that being said, he put the second inning behind him, put up a zero in third, fourth, gave up the solo home run to Appel and then got us through six innings and I thought he got stronger as the game went on. And then Brandon came in and did exactly what he would hope he would do…”
On Ty Evans'<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> performance this season…
“Obviously, I’ve been around him for three years and we recruited him, but he’s a tough kid. He’s all about the Gators. He’s a great teammate. He brings the same attitude day in and day out. He’s positive. He’s a had a really good start to the season, for sure.”
On using Neely for the final three innings…
“I’m tired of losing, honestly. We’ve got arguably our best arm, we have not been able to use him as much as we’ve needed to. There’s nothing worse than losing a game in a tight game and you’re sitting over there, you make one mistake. For me, at this point, what’s the difference for the seventh, eighth and ninth versus the eighth and ninth if [Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373>] gives you the best opportunity to win knowing that you have [Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365>] sitting there on Sunday. Now, Jac’s got to continue to pitch like he’s been pitching, but it certainly makes you feel good. For us, to the point where he threw three innings in only 38 pitches, that was outstanding. That’s as good as he’s looked since opening night. I think some of his outings, he’s maybe been frustrated he hasn’t pitched. You go down to the pen, he’s a competitor. He wants to pitch in every game and it hasn’t quite gone that way for the first 16 games.”
UP NEXT
The Gators and Aggies face off in game two, scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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