Blake Purnell threw five shutout relief frames while Jac Caglianone tied UF’s single-season home run record (26).
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 Florida came from behind for the 17th time this season to post a 7-5 victory over Florida State for a season sweep in the Sunshine Showdown at 121 Financial Ballpark on Tuesday night.
Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> (2-for-3) and Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> (2-for-5) turned in multi-hit nights while swatting back-to-back home runs. Blake Purnell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-purnell/15502> was untouchable out of the bullpen, tossing a career-high five shutout innings with eight strikeouts.
The Gators (36-10, 14-7 SEC) pounced on the Seminoles (15-28, 6-18 SEC) with a four-spot in the top of the first. Caglianone opened the scoring with a two-run single to right field, allowing both Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514> and Langford to score due to a fielding error in right field. Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> followed with an RBI single to left while Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/15512> drove in Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> with an RBI groundout to third base.
Florida State quickly responded with five runs in the bottom half to snatch a one-run lead. The outburst was highlighted by RBI knocks from Jamie Ferrer, James Tibbs, Cam Smith and Jordan Carrion, with Ferrer and Smith knocking a double and triple, respectively.
Florida turned to Nick Ficarrotta<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/nick-ficarrotta/15493> to escape the jam with zero outs in the first. The right-hander limited the damage and proceeded to work scoreless frames in the second and third.
Blake Purnell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-purnell/15502> entered a bases-loaded jam in the fourth and held the score by retiring three Noles in order. That allowed UF to regain the lead in the top of the fifth, beginning with a solo home run to left-center by Langford. Caglianone made it back-to-back with his nation-leading 26th home run, tying Florida’s single season record. Heyman capped it off with an RBI double of the right-field wall to make it 7-5.
Purnell cruised through the next two innings, facing one over the minimum. The right-hander returned to the mound for the seventh, stranding a Nole on third before stranding two more in the eighth to finish with a career-high five scoreless innings and eight strikeouts.
Philip Abner<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/philip-abner/15488> relieved Purnell in the ninth to close it out for the Orange & Blue. The southpaw retired all three batters he faced to record his second save and a season sweep over FSU.
Purnell (1-0) picked up the win by firing a career-high five innings of shutout ball with four hits allowed and one walk. He struck out a career-high eight batters in the process, doubling his previous best of four.
Seminoles reliever Andrew Armstrong (1-2) was charged with the loss after forfeiting two earned runs on four hits across 3 2/3 frames. He struck out three.
NOTABLES
* The Gators have won 22 of the last 26 meetings against the Seminoles.
* Florida improves to 127-131-1 all-time against FSU.
* Florida is 35-19 in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* Florida has not lost a regular season series to FSU since 2015.
* UF finished 12-2 in midweek play including 10-straight wins.
* Florida posted its 17th come-from-behind win of the season including comeback victories in all three games against FSU.
* Caglianone tied Florida’s single-season home run record with his nation-leading 26th home run of the season in the fifth inning.
* Caglianone went back-to-back with Langford, who swatted his 11th homer of the year.
* Purnell worked a career-high five innings while striking out eight batters – a new personal best.
* Rivera extended his team-leading on-base streak to 19 games.
* Florida has struck out 487 batters in 394 innings – translating to 11.1 per nine innings.
* The Gators have 476 hits through 46 games (10.4 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 47.6% of batted innings (175 of 368).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the relief pitching…
“I think all three guys were really good. Nick came into a really tough spot. Blake came in and got a bunch of outs, probably the longest outing in his career, and Phil bounced back from a tough day on Sunday, getting three outs with a two-run lead. I think that was huge for his confidence. I thought the whole bullpen was really good tonight.”
On sweeping FSU…
“It’s good to sweep anyone, let alone your rival. They all three were competitive games and we really wanted to get through this game without using Neely, Slater or Cade Fisher<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-fisher/15513> and we were fortunate enough to be able to do that. We needed some other guys to step up and they did.”
On having players tie the home run record in consecutive years…
“I think we’ll probably look back in a few years from now and really, really enjoy what we’re watching. I’m still waiting for a thank you from Jac because we went to the replay. He didn’t say thanks for that so I’m still waiting for the thank you.”
UP NEXT
Florida treks to College Station, Tex. For a three-game weekend series at Texas A&M.
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